Aquaponics System, Passive Solar Greenhouse build

[pinballlooking]

I have been getting fine solids in my DWC. I drained it out and cleaned it out. I welded up a small stand for the new filter. I need to add some fine filter material to it.

[MEMPHIS91]

I've always had fine particles in my water. Is this a problem? I always thought the worms in the beds took care of most the bigger stuff and the fine stuff was ok to flow through the system? I could rig in a filter of some kind. My water color is closer to pond water than clear..... this might be why. lol

[jeff5may]

If the DWC reservoir isn't slimy and/or smell like a sewer, I wouldn't worry about it. The stuff is most likely waterborne compost. Fish and worm castings, beneficial bacteria, free proteins, etc. This crud is organic fertilizer/pH buffer and most of it will end up in your rock beds over time. It is an essential part of the aquaponic system.

To isolate this stuff from your DWC bed is no easy task. A screen or bag filter on the inlet will catch the big stuff, but by nature, the DWC bed acts as a big settling tank. The micron-sized particles and bacteria that make it through the filter will eventually find the bottom. The easiest way to prevent buildup is to allow the bed to drain fully every so often. If you didn't build your bed like a bathtub, it won't drain like one. Don't worry, the plants will survive a good drain cycle. Other, more complex methods, like protein skimmers and centrifuges and sand filters and membranes, work but tend to remove your beneficial microbes from the water along with the sludge. Plus the extra complexity factor. A couple of bottom feeders in the DWC tank does wonders. Me likes plecostamus. Or you could put your fiber filters in the bottom and fish them out every so often.

There is a good rundown on beneficials and monsters that exist in DWC systems here. The useful information continues for maybe half a dozen posts after the one I linked. My two favorite products for combatting the DWC slime come from Botanicare: hydroguard and clearex. For prevention, hydroguard establishes a colony of beneficials. For remediation, a tank drain followed by a fill with clearex and water (and maybe some peroxide) has wiped out some pretty bad infestations for me in the past. Hygrozyme also works well, but is EXPENSIVE!

[pinballlooking]

I will echo what Jeff said worms love the solids in the grow beds.
I was getting to many fine solids in my DWC. My plants roots had solids attached to them. This keeps them from getting nutrients and they will not do well.
Are you doing any DWC? If you are not I would worry about the solids at the low fish stocking we run.
When I was just running my just front GB I was using a filter and my plants did not do as well when it was installed.
I would not be doing any filters now if I did not put in the DWC.




Tomahooks without twine - 100 count - Johnny's Selected Seeds
Tomato Twine - 6,300' Roll - Johnny's Selected Seeds
This is $49 for 100 hangers with a lot of twine left over.
I have ¼ cable so each side needed bent to fit my cable.

My son bend the 100 for me then wrapped enough twine for two seasons.



I bought a step stool for the greenhouse. I really like it and it is only 7.5 lb.
3-Step Aluminum Step Stool Ladder with 225 lb. Type II Duty Rating

Gorilla Ladders 3-Step Aluminum Step Stool Ladder with 225 lb. Type II Duty Rating-GLA-3 - The Home Depot

This will make hanging and picking tomatoes much simpler.

[pinballlooking]

I transplanted my lettuce hopefully it was not too young to move into the DWC bed. This part of plants is totally new to me. Time to start a new batch of seedlings.







I was away on a school trip with my son to Williamsburg for four days. It was cold an rained most of the trip but my son still had fun. My wife was not feeling well for a couple of the days. Here is the tomatoes from that time. Time to make spaghetti sauce

[pinballlooking]

It is a jungle in there. We need to trim them more and they are hitting the roof. I need to redirect them to grow at a lower height.
But they are very productive.

The temperature is being regulated by the auto vents very well. I have to do nothing at all. It is keeping cooler than the outside temp during the day so far and warm at night.

[jeff5may]

You are way overdue for pruning. Before you wind up with some strange bugs or disease, you have to thin out all that growth. Be merciless: with all those roots below the surface, you could chop your plants like tree stumps and they would start growing from the suckers again in a week or 2. What you have there is the perfect home for aphids and mites.

You have 2 main choices: sea of trees or a few bushes. What you have now is a sea of bushes. Either way, tomatoes in general put out way too many suckers and have to be thinned. The clippings make for an endless supply of clones or an awesome source of nitrogen for compost.

[pinballlooking]

Yes I agree I started on them yesterday I have not trimmed the top yet. I still need to work on them some more.
I need to thin them out some as we have more than we need.

[Daox]

How have bugs been now that everything is enclosed?

[pinballlooking]

The bottom vents and the top vents are open to the outside when they open. That is most of the day this time of the year. But so far I have only had a few wasp and a couple bees in there.

I still have not ruled out screening in the vents. But that also slows down the air flow. I have really good air flow. Unless I am having issues I don’t want to mess up the air flow.

So far it is amazing how constant the temp stays.

I am getting ready to finally install my auto fish feeder. I will let it feed the fish over the weekend. Just a weekend I could not feed the fish. I have so many plants I want to keep feeding the fish to keep feeding the plants.