Operation of the Green Trust aquaponics system

[JoshABand]

what kind of fish do you grow?

[sspence65]

@JoshABand Most people seem to be raising Tilapia. I prefer Channel Cats. I hope to try Bluegill this spring once it warms up.

[JoshABand]

@sspence65 well if you ever need a supply of tilapia, let me know. i breed white nile tilapia.

[sspence65]

@JoshABand Thanks. I don't see us raising Tilapia.

[JoshABand]

@sspence65 well good luck with your systems :) i look forward to seeing your progress :)

[ursmarts]

What determines when the water flows to the plant beds? Also what is the purpose of the barrel, if when it fills up, it sends water to the plants anyway. Why not just have the pump supply water to the beds without the barrel, is this for water pressure?

[sspence65]

@ursmarts no water flows to the beds until the barrels fills. That's the point of the barrel, with the siphon inside. It's a timer for the beds. The beds need a ebb and flow, otherwise the roots get waterlogged.

[fang1998]

Nice work guys! Love seeing these simpler systems working well. It's alot easier building a system like this than most people think.

[kisa444]

having dealt with ponds, you will need to do a bit more to enclose your pipes & collection system a bit more or you will lose a lot of volume due to evaporation. Very cool though. Your earlier posts on this prompted me to rejuvinate my dug pond. I ripped out the liner and am in the process of digging it out & more than doubling it in size. It sits above my garden and should prove to be a good tool for easing the burden of on my well in deep August droughts. Thanks Steve!

[benmissimer]

Umm, what kind of pump do you have bringing the water back up to the blue barrel?

[sspence65]

@benmissimer It's a 800 gph pond pump. It's available at the url in the video description.

[ecoexplorer1]

This is great...good job...It would be a great idea if you did a step by step video on how to construct this ....please????

[sspence65]

@ecoexplorer1 documentation is available at the url in the video description.

[zeldahoffenheimer]

Wow! I would love to be able to do this in my backyard! What is approx total cost for this system? What have you grown (plant) and raised (fish)?

[sspence65]

@zeldahoffenheimer The approximate cost depends on whether you obtain scrounged materials or new ones. Could cost between $300 to $900. We have yet to grow anything, as we just finished building the system this week, but will start with catfish and kitchen herbs.

[dman99004]

Just a guess from what I could see on the video but it looks like you might even be able to add another half barrel or two to the grow beds. I really like what you have there and think I may give it a try over the next year o two. ATM I use straight hydro solutions and sand beds for growing. Have been using them for about 10 years now.

[sspence65]

@dman99004 I wanted the ability to expand. the pump and 300 gallon fish tank could easily support 6 additional grow beds and an additional flood tank (5 grow beds each, 7 plastic drums total) .

[marthale7]

You might consider using something different than your white gutter, as Algae will love that white surface, and being wet.

[sspence65]

@marthale7 algae cares about color? I have brown gutters and they have just as much algae as the white ones.. It's no big deal to wipe it out every once in a while. the fish will eat it.