dasboot

Just read through this and thought how unfriendly it was,the bottom line is Aquaponics/Hydroponics are really simple and fun,its ourselves that make it overcomplicated at times, in aquaponics what is difficult in having a fish tank,a media bed put a few fish in then a few plants,follow the rules on stocking and turnover /filter size and there you are. As things go on a small amount of supplements and your of and running,adding swirl/radial filters etc etc is almost in every situation unnesecary ,providing the known rules are followed. Commercial systems are different but for backyard systems just follow KISS,keep things stupidly simple and you won’t go wrong.

Hey dasboot,

I have seen your system(s) both here, and on the Backyard Aquaponics forum. Your stuff looks good man.

The roller hooks and vine clips I order from the US. Not sure if I could find them in country. A piece of string would work just as well I think, but the vine clips are really nice for attaching your plants to the string exactly where you want them.

What variety of tomatoes are you growing up your way?

Ryan

Not trying to be secretive but the three varieties i have grown have been Thai Seeds given to me by the father in law,everything on the packet in Thai,could do the Photo thing if it would be of interest.

Rice555 Thanks for the lead on the Tom clips.

One more thing,how do you deal with fruit flies,at the moment I’m getting hit bad.

Once again many thanks…...

Hi Fapington,really nice looking systems,I’m up here to the north of Chaing Rai,almost to the border at Measai. Can i ask you where did you get your pulley system from ? I guess you brought them to Thailand with you.

I take it my requirements are Passport,Marriage papers,wifes id and house book,have i missed anything ?

Many Thanks ubonjoe,will take the Savannaket route and ask for a one year non O,maybe have a bit of a break while we are there.

Sorry if I’m asking this for the millionth time,i need to renew my Visa I’m on a non O being married to a Thai,is it still possible to do this in savannaket without proof of funds in the bank and what are my other options ? I was just granted a 30 day at Measai so i need to do it soon.

HI Everyone,

Sorry i have not been back here for a while but hoping to catch up with everyone,how are things going with Aquaponics ? there seems to be a growing interest in Thailand that i hope i can help with.

Our system here goes from strength to strength and we are just in the process of upgrading again,heres hoping to catch up with more like minded people interested in the field of Aquaponics so we can keep this thread going to everyones benefit.

A few more pics,it's pouring down with rain again here so thought I would spend some time indoors. The system was moved six weeks ago give or take a day,so am pleased at its progress, the sponge as the next set of lettuce to go in,theses are green oak,my timing is out slightly as we have eaten a lot leaving empty holes in the tube,should get slicker the more we do.

Hello Dasboot,

Thank you for this thread as it has saved me from having to ask about sources of chelated iron, etc. I have a small coffee plantation at 1200m elevation on the Bolaven Plateau which I will gradually turn into a sustainable farm and maybe have a farmstay as well. After 10 or so years of studying about aquaponics, I've begun building. My system will go a bit beyond standard aquaponics, including fairy shrimp, algae, freshwater prawns-- the greater the biodiversity, the better. Anyway, stuck in Vientiane as I am at the moment, I spent a couple of weeks putting things together on digital paper. Although it is 7,730 words, you may be interested in an article (blog) I wrote and published on my website. I try to make my blogs informative and entertaining, but it's hard to make the nuts and bolts of aquaponics entertaining, so don't expect too many laughs. It is really just me thinking out loud, but the bit about Thai fairy shrimp, especially, might come in usefull if you are planning on doing freshwater prawns. I'd love to get feedback. It's titled "From Algae to Wabbits-- A Revised Aquaponic System Design," and it's here:

http://www.wrongwayhome.com/2013/07/from-algae-to-wabbits-a-revised-aquaponic-system-design/

Many thanks for this,I have been missing in action for a bit,my four month old daughter first decided to try chicken Potts,then upgrade it to Pneumonia,so we have had a short stay in our local hospital,quite an experience,still thank god she's better now and continuing to improve.

I will sit and read through this with great interest,in the mean time if I can help with anything towards your project just give me a shout.

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I live in Chiangrai, but I thought there may be online shops here in Thailand

Hi,iam in Chaung Rai,Meachan to be exact,if I can help with anything give me a shout.

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I live in Chiangrai, but I thought there may be online shops here in Thailand

Hi,iam in Chaung Rai,Meachan to be exact,if I can help with anything give me a shout.

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I live in Chiangrai, but I thought there may be online shops here in Thailand

Hi,iam in Chaung Rai,Meachan to be exact,if I can help with anything give me a shout.

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you could always marry a local

looool

but that might cost you half your savings, after you spend the other half with her first

555

No might about it.

The main problem,I ended up giving up,I had everything placed so she didn't have to walk ten steps,still didn't work,so much more fun to burn it, sigh .

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I agree a with rice555 concerning Wesco,on his recommendation I phoned them to be greeted by a Dr someone who spoke very English and was genuinely interested in our conversation,between us we sorted out what I required cost postage etc,he even added he would like to pop in and visit because of his interest in what we were doing,swapped emails etc. throughly recommend them.

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Just another 2 questions for you Gurus ...

Do anyone here produce a saleable crop from the Vegetable/Plant side of the equation?

If it produced in any quantity ...

1/ What do you produce?

2/ Where do you sell it?

3/ What price do you achieve?

.

Not as yet,but my inspiration and it's doable,is a Hydroponic floating raft system,set in 5 polytunnels absolutely going from strength to strength. Hydroponics you say,but the system they use,get rid of the nutrient sump tanks,swap these for tanks stocked with tilapia,maybe four tanks with different age groups of fish,this would ensure constant supply of fish and nutrients,and you have a very viable system.

The problem is down to the market,if there going from strength to strength that got that side already stitched up. Iam going to start small,grow so the family get for free,hopefully with a little marketing start selling something along the lines of pick your own,the few local shops sell some really limp and poor looking stuff,a minutes walk off the main road and they can pick still growing from the towers or beds. Maybe just a dream but,I love the planning thinking building and all of that,my first system has been feeding us well with basics,the expansion has started so lets see what happens.

One problem I have got is bug control, aphids,the garlic and pepper spray sorts them,but the caterpillars are proving tougher to eradicate safely for the fish.

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Another question, how many of you use EM in your systems?

I ask because I use EM in my aquarium and despite running a grow-lux type strip light for 14 hours a day, I've never seen any algae in the tank. Not good if you're growing tilapia I suppose.

Regards.

The Tilapia in a Aquaponics system don't care one way or another,but algae is detrimental to the running of the system,there are different types of algae,but they cause problems by clogging growbeds,causing PH swings and utilising the nutrients we require for plant growth,in Aquaponics we avoid it.

I have Koi in my system and I have got them to eat lettuce and cabbage,the left overs from the system,some of the Tilapia have cottoned on to this and fight along side the koi for these treats, it's just another way of recycling really,any damaged leaves or the left overs from a meal goes back in the system for the fish to eat,hopefully recycling some of the nutrients back into the system.

The fish in Aquaponics are fed quite heavily really as we need to maintain our nutrient levels, for those who do Hydoponics,your nutrient reading on your pens are ?, my pond heavily fed comes out 2.8.

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Second question ...

When you are converting the convert nitrites (NO2-) to nitrates (NO3-) ... how do you do it.

I understand that you will have a chamber which you flush the water through and a medium (I presume) upon which the beneficial bacteria grows.

How do you introduce the bacteria into that part of the cycle? (The answer maybe as simple as we pour it from the bottle)

What is the bacteria that you use?

I'll stop annoying you guys now ...

.

David,for you to inoculate the necessary,bacteria all you would need to do is use your pond water,everything you need is already available,nature does the next bit for you. In your fish tank until your bacteria are fighting fit you creep up on your stocking. This the way to get the strongest colony, Or in fish less cycling add ammonia,pee in it until you get a reading on your test kit,then stop nature takes over and does the rest. Your bacteria groups are nitrosomonas and nitrobacter these convert or oxidises ammonia to nitrite,both toxic for fish,onto nitrate,toxic but only in high levels. It is the nitrate that supplies the nitrogen for plant growth along with the other micro and macro nutrients.

Your chamber is a simple media bed,I use river gravel,but there are other media available,one of the better being crouched granite,this has a large surface area for nitrifying bacteria,so you need less to do the same job.

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I'm surprised there's a single fish left alive within 2000 miles of the Thai coastline.

Whats its name ?

Wanda?

Lucky

I have gone through every scenario, I don't think it will work,you have absolutely no control for your plants,PH,nutrients everything,but saying that in a stocked lake if you took a 4*4 sheet of polystyrene put holes at 6 in spacing s,put lettuce seedlings in the holes then floated it on the lake,(apart from the fish eating the roots) they would grow,maybe not world beating but they would grow. How though you could turn this into something profitable god knows,it is just the lack of control,6rai of water,what you have is what you have it's not that you can buffer the ph say to the level you want or need. It would be interesting to see the ammonium levels after feeding if there is any,or what nitrate levels you have available for plant food. In a commercial system with there feeding ratio any excess ammonia is taken up within the hour,in a lake ? If you want a boost of nitrate in small system for better growth you feed heavy,in six Rai ?

I would still try on a small scale to grow for the family,free food not to be scoffed at,you could take water from one of the ponds,filter for solids,then floating raft with lettuce maybe 50 heads,started in foam cubes,then placed in the polystyrene rafts,just see what happens. My family here can't get over what is being grown so quickly in my small system, we are the first in our local,I can't wait to get the expansion up and running,we will sell straight from the growbeds and towers,people can basically pick there own,much the same as the uk,our few local shops sell lank tired veg by the end of the day,ours will be still growing.

Ok i digress i think there is no way in MY opinion it can work as a profit making expansion,but I do feel you can get to produce veg for the family and learn a lot in the process,also being one of the first. If it was me I would love the challenge. If I can help I will, i thought it was tricky with 14,500 litres,6 Rai hahaha.

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Not quite Aquaponics but a link as I want to use Comfery as a foliar feed for my system. I ordered seeds from Thompson and Morgan in the UK, 11 day delivery pretty slick if you ask me. This is recommendable service.

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David it is practically impossible to use natural ponds for Aquaponics,the amount of solids in suspension rules it out,unless a complicated settlement arrangement was employed.

But I will think on it,this is such a good challenge,much better than just staring at the box.....

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[quote name="David48" post=

I'm really enjoying reading this thread ...

I looked a few links mentioned in the above post ... some interesting reading.

.

Hi David48,it was roughly this time last year you kindly assisted me and gave me a copy of your sponsor letter,enabling my wife to get her visa for the first time,eternally grateful.

Anyway, Aquaponics combined with freshwater prawns,could be an interesting project. I am lucky enough to have a prawn farm within. 5 minute walk,they have recently had problems and have drained several ponds,turning them over to Rice,but the main large ponds are still active. The neighbouring ponds are all still up and running,it makes a pleasant walk on an evening walking through the ponds,mountains in the distance and a chance to get a beer in there restaurant on the way back

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