Kohfe's Aquaponics System

System Update - aquaponics gone crazy!!!

2011-12-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Hi folks just wanted to upload some photos from today, I'll back date some of the earlier photos from when the system was being built. DECEMBER 12th 2011

Cucumbers growing

Broccoli and Cucumber

Sweet Peppers

Lettuce

Cantaloupe

Lime and Basil

Tomato and Pineapple

More Lettuce grown in fish tank

The system thus far!

Gathering Stuff For System

2011-09-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

Made some runs today to get some stuff for the system. Got some mosquito fish to add in the duckweed tank to keep down the mosquito population. Caught them at a lake by the airport. Also bought some gravel for another grow-bed and pipe for the auto siphons.
Went to the beach to get some salt water to start growing plankton to feed the fish. I want to be able to grow the fish food to have them organic.
Here are some pics from today.

Folks I'm Back

2011-09-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I haven't updated my blog in a very long time. But I come bearing good news. Thank The Lord I was help to receive about 30-40 Tilapia fingerlings, worms and duckweed from some special friends. I took some pictures of the duckweed and worm bin I created so far, will have to include pictures of the temp system at a later time.
Here are the pictures of the duckweed and worm bin with worms at the bottom.

I placed a little bit in the containers to test the growth. This was taken 10pm 9/13th/2011.

Attention Attention!!! Greenhouse is Gone!!

2009-04-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

The wind and I took down the greenhouse about 2 days ago. I had one end of the GH closed and the other end open, so when the strong wind shifted it did alot of damage... So I decided to just take it down and start a design to expand easier. I like this setup.. Not as hot, fish tank is covered more from the sun and I can add grow beds easier.

By the way found out that only the big fish is a Tilapia and the small ones are Gambusias a.k.a Mosquitfish. So have to go fishing for more Tilapias.

GOT THE FISH!!!!!!

2009-04-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

GOT THE FISH .... Thank God .... Went by the airport yesterday and caught alot of the small fish.... About 200-300 .. maybe 400... A friend of my own caught this big guy. Well he's about 6" long. Next step is to setup an over flow pipe in the fish tank and have it running to the growbeds.

This is just my sucking fish. Thought I would take a pic since he/she was posing.

LATER

Special Project

2009-04-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I've been working on a special project for the past couple of days... growing rice!! The first set of seedlings are just starting to sprout. I will try to post a pic of it, I don't have a high end camera so plz excuse me. WHAT DO YOU THINK... comment

Progress

2009-03-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Back again with another update... I added the last loop to the greenhouse, so I have another five feet added to my space. I just have to had the front on and we are good to go. Since the last post I setup up the system in the GH. Next step is to build a long grow bed to get the lettuce production underway. The bio filter is running well, I can see the difference in the algae level. Still don't have any tilapia as yet.

Had to add some ducktape to keep the plastic from making so much noise, it is getting very windy. Well check out the pics and make some comments. Thank you for your interest.

So Far.....

2009-03-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

So I'm back after a long break from blogging. I am was working on putting up the green house and killing fish. I'm sorry Sherrell, you can call me a fish killer now. What had happen was...lol... I did a 100 % water changed with the tap water, I know, dumb and even dumber. But that stupid algae didn't want to go away. Well I lost 6 gold fish. The sucking fish and cray fish is still alive. I would not try to change the water like that again.

Well the greenhouse is almost finished, have to add one more hoop and the front side with the door. Inside there is extremely hot is I am going to be making a few adjustments to correct that. Love going inside there tho, it's like another room. If my yard was secured better I'd move a bed and tv in there. Then I can work late nights.

So make comments and ask questions!

Still Alive

2009-03-12T04:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys. I'm still alive and moving along with the aquaponics. Just a little busy setting up the green house, so give me a day or 2 and I should have the pics to show you how it went. I'm building the greenhouse out of 1" PVC pipes covered in plastic. Wish me luck.

Coming Along

2009-02-26T15:58:00.000-08:00

Where do I start... I bought a crayfish and sucking fish Saturday to help keep the tank clean and keep the algae level down. Need to buy a few more. I was able to go fishing yesterday at a lake and caught 17 fingerlings that I thought were Tilapia. I was so excited when I thought they were, but had a closer look at one that died. Crazy me through the fish directly in the tank when I bought them home and the goldfish had an early dinner. So I quickly had to catch the goldfish out the system to give me time to catch the smaller fish to separate them. I placed a net hanging over in the water to keep the baby fish. Got new seedlings on the raise. Sweet corn, sweet basil, tomato and lettuce.

Pause

2009-02-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well went outside this morning to see how the system would flow. Found out that the shipping peanuts are not going to work. I placed them at the bottom and was hoping that the hydroton would be heavy enough to hold them down. It didn't work. So I'll have to buy some river rocks to replace them with. Here is the video ....

Full Blast Ahead!

2009-02-15T16:25:00.000-08:00

I got my hydroton today. I'm all ready to go. After I came from church I went straight in the back yard and wash them out and put it in the system. I used the peanuts that was shipped with the supplies at the bottom because I only had one bag of hydroton. Well here it is all setup.

First Water Test

2009-02-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

Did my first water test tonight. Don't have any plants in the system so just wanted to make sure that the ammonia level wasn't building up to high. There is 6 goldfish in a 28 gallon tank. Here are the results.

pH 8.0/Ammonia 0.25

Nitrate 0/ Nitrate 0.1

Almost Finished

2009-02-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

The system is almost up and running fully. I connected everything up together and working on the water flow to the grow beds. The only thing that is missing form the system is my hydroton (clay balls). Customs still has them. I also made some filters to clean out the rain water I collected and had sitting around.

Drilled holes in the drain to the fish tank to add more air to the water.

Hose added to the growbed
Hose added to the fish tank Full view of system. Need to tidy up a bit. And as u see NO HYDROTON

Reservoir with water pump inside

Plants in grow bed with perlite

Filter made with cloth and PVC pipe

6 Goldfish, Sponsored by CL aka ѕнєяяєℓℓ

Fish Tank

Opened for questions and comments

Auto Siphon Tested With A Bottle

2009-02-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to test the auto siphon setup. I'm going to use this concept to empty the plant growbeds. When I set it up on the grow beds I'll have to figure out how long it takes to fill up and empty so I can adjust the timer for the pumps.

Time To Get The Ball Rolling, Supplies Are HERE

2009-02-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

Got my supplies yesterday. Was excited so I opened up everything to check it out. I'll be setting things up until I get my hydroton from Customs, simple minded people, not too smart. Anyhow here are the stuff.

Getting A Head Start

2009-02-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

I want my system to kick ASAP, so I decided to transfer some plants I have growing in pots into my growbeds. Additional to that I will also be plants seeds to start in the AP system. I think I may need alot more barrels. Here are some pics of the plants.

Let It Rain!

2009-02-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

Well it was raining all day. Just stepped outside and found my 2 growbeds (55 gallon dump cut in half length ways) was filled with rain water. I'm going to use this rain water in my system because there is too much chlorine in the city water. Need system to be as safe as possible for the fish.

Celery On The Rise!!!

2009-02-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of a 2 weeks old celery plant from a 3 inch cutting.

Top View

This is another celery plant that is growing. 1 week old.

Why Aquaponics?

2009-01-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well I had taken a Agricultural Economics class in college and I was introduced to hydroponics. I was fascinated by the idea of growing plants without soil, so I start to google and youtube to find out more. Then I came over aquaponics, bringing the fish side of it in. I decide that I just had to make a system of my own.

I think aquaponics is going to be developed more all over the world as more information is shared and people see the many benefits of a close loop system of fish and plants growing together. And what better time to start making my own aquaponics system to help feed my family and share this valuable information in these hard economic time.

Any Questions? I'll try my best to answer!

Aquaponics

2009-01-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

"Aquaponics is an integrated aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponic (growing soilless plants) system. First, the waste from fish tanks is pumped to a section of the system to be treated with a natural bacteria that converts the waste--which is largely ammonia--first to nitrite and then to nitrate. At that point, the fish waste is in a state that can be used to feed the plants. The fish wastewater is then pumped to a media bed or other hydroponic system to be used as nutrient solution by the growing plants." -- Chia L., 05/29/2001

Example Video From YouTube