Solar aquaponics

[Mitch]

Hi, I'm looking to build a small aquaponic system to my 1000 imp gal pond with a 50w uv and 6000l/hr pump. The system will consist of 6x pots suspended in the lid of my homemade filter box. The pots will have clay balls and I am looking to plant established young plants that already have established roots so that the roots trail down onto the 1st stage filter media. In addition I will fit a solar air pump in the bottom of the filter as I don't want the roots to deplete the filter of all oxygen. I had a solar air pump before which worked great but left it outside and the frost got to it.

I have 15 x koi and 10x goldfish all 3-4 inch and 1x Lilly.

Will the fish provide enough nutrients? I was thinking tomatoes but I know they can get hungry for nutrients.

Any other advice?

 

[MitchM]

Hi Mitch
I also have an aquaponics setup and I find that the expanded clay medium raises the PH which tends to prevent the nutrients from being available for the plants, so you'll need to monitor the PH level.
Tomatoes do very well in an aquaponics setup, but their root system will overwhelm the media bed and plumbing.
That many fish will certainly supply enough nutrients for what you're describing.
How large of media beds are you thinking?
Do you have any diagrams or pictures?

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[Mitch]

Thanks Mitch. I'll watch the pH. I've no pics yet as i havent got all the equipment I will take some pics though. My media is 2 layers of foam and 1 layer of fleece. 40cm x 70cm. In that case I may go down to 2x plants. It's experimental so if the roots take over I'll swap for other smaller leafier plants like basil, spinach lettuce etc.

What plants/ veg have worked for you?

Mitch

 

[MitchM]

I have had good luck with pak choi, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, basil, marginal pond plants, kale, tomatoes and rosemary.
I have had challenges with keeping iron available for all plants.
If I had to do it again I would use a media that was more inert. I find the expanded clay to have too much of a negative impact on the water chemistry.
Also, because of my climate, I have to keep my aquaponics system restricted to an indoor heated greenhouse and that allows plant pests like aphids and whiteflies to live and reproduce without natural predators. Pest control is a major problem for my setup.
You can see more of my system here: https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/aquaponics-build.11471/

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[Mitch]

Thanks. I've been reading about your setup over the last couple of hours. Think I will stick with 1x tom and 1x basil. Go for the Italian water garden.
Will post how I get on.

 

[MitchM]

Good luck!

 

[Mitch]

Hi. So an update, my solar pump didn't work. Whilst my plan was to run the pump in the long summer days and move panel so it catches the early sun and move in the afternoon. In the evening I thought that the roots would be ok through the night as it is cooler and less evaporation through the leaves given no sunlight. However this wasn't the problem. My downfall was the unpredictable British weather, having 2 weeks over humid overcast weather meant that I didn't have any sunny spells which my solar pump needed to raise the water high enough. My tomatoes that I planted are just barely alive but have literally just a dozen leaves and no flowers let alone fruits so it's not something I recommend in the UK. I have however just uses some guttering pipe and drilled 2 inch holes at 8 inch intervals which I have dropped in mature seedlings. The water runs from the filter under gravity so no additional pumps were necessary, they have only been in a week and everything is showing signs of growth and healthy roots. I will set up another run of guttering in the next week. I will post an update in a couple of weeks

 

[MitchM]

For the most part, people underestimate the energy required to replace our carbon based energy sources with solar energy.
Even in the peak of summer weather here, I still need a bit of natural gas heating to supply us with our heating needs.
Some people here say.. Alberta should get rid of our oil sands projects and replace it with solar energy.

pfffft...they have no clue what they're talking about....

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