Aquaponic and Hydroponic Hobby Growing

[Fapington]

Since my initial post, I have brought the Hydroponic Dutch Buckets inside the yard, and hooked them up to the Aquaponics system. I'm running 3000L+ liters in my Aquaponics, which maintains a cool water temperature. I was only using 100L reservoirs for the hydroponics, and it just gets too hot. I was not interested in battling water temperatures in the Thai summer, so I just relocated the buckets.

Waiting for my tomato seedlings to get big enough to transplant. When all is said and done, this round I'll be growing Sungolds, Black Russians, Mortgage Lifters, Pink Brandywines, Beef Steak, Ingido Rose, and Triple L Crop.

Aquaponic Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Hoping I get some fruit set on this Pink Brandywine from these flower clusters. If not, I'll pull it out, it's already 2 meters tall. Had some fruit on the first go around, hard to beat the flavor.

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Dutch Buckets Added to the AP system

[rice555]

Hello All, nice set up Fapington, keep the updates and pic coming.

rice555

[David48]

Hi guys ... just dropping by to say thanks ... I have catch-up reads when time allows.

Great thread and posts ...

[wjhall]

Can anyone give me a lead on a company that can provide Nutrient A and B by mail order. I live near Sa Kaeo and cannot find a supplier anywhere locally

[rice555]

Hello All, for greens or tom/egg/melons?

ACK hydro in BKK did at one time, google.

ACK use to express mail my 10Lt dry mix

to me from BKK.

I buy all my nute supplies from a store in

Korat, they also have a store in Pac Chong,

but it's 25K bags and weigh your own.

rice555

[Fapington]

You may search for a local fertilizer shop that sells NOT an "A" and "B" solution, but a water soluble NPK such as 20-20-20. The NPK will typically be clearly marked in such a matter. These ferts wont contain micro nutrients, unless otherwise stated. For micro nuts, you can add another readily available liquid product.

If you haven't played with water soluble fertilizers before, and you want to try it (they are more readily available and cheaper) just shoot me a PM, and I'll show you what I know. The concept is all the same, but as Rice555 mentioned, you'll just want to determine a nutrient ratio depending on what your growing.

[rice555]

Hello All, sorry for not being clear about the the 26Kg bags of chem and the

two 1Kg bags of micros that you would need to mix your own, plus a scale

to weigh things. If you are going to "grow/sale" or have a big home hobby,

you'll save over 60% on store bought A-B nutes.

The dry A-B kits that ACK had saved you as you weren't paying for water to

be shipped which is a bulk of whats inside the pre-mixed A-B bottles.

I switched from kits to mixing my own after 6-7 kits, if you loose interest in

hydro and havve baught the chem, all is not lost, you can use them in the

garden/farm/orchard over time.

Pic 1 is for lettuce/greens, pic2 with adjustments are fore melons, peppers,

toms and eggs. These formulas is what WESCO was for nute mix info.

rice555

[cobbler]

Wow Fapington.Great setup.I had a dabble in this in OZ using trout.Nothing asflashas yoursetup though.well done.

Cheers cobbler

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[cobbler]

Dont know if this is 8f any help to you guys.If it is good if not not,.We have a cement tank 5ft wide by 10ft long by 3ft deep next to 8ur shed.It colects rain water.Put some fish 7n it with a plan to do aquaponics.About 4 varieties.put some palm leaves in for shelter and bits of pvc pipe for homes for them.Threw in a heap of weed from the river whenever we remembered to do it.pla duk jumped out over a period of time.jolimed got big and we ate them Gave some to my wifes aunty who is our mentor and loves fish

Anyway a year later I pulled out a bit of pvc fly screem I put in there to grow weed in.Founf it had about 200 tilapia fingerlings.

So if you cant get a good surply of pla nin .This works.Any pond or big tank will do.Just let it get slimy and dirty.throwin coconut palm leaves and leave if.

Hope this is of help.

Cheers Cobbler

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[rice555]

Hello All, 99F outside and clouding up for a late afternoon shower.

It's been a struggle the past few months with the plants, all new chilies went tits up,

but the toms are still hanging on some what.

The indigo apple are getting bigger and starting to get their color and the blush is getting

some of it's color too.

My pic's and TGS ad pic's of the same tom.

rice555

[Fapington]

Hey Rice,

Looking at the photos of the nutrient mix.

This is how I understand it:

Mix the nutrients at each of the suggested weights indicated, to make 10L of A Solution, and 10L of B Solution.

This 10L of each A and B solution should then be diluted to 1:100 i.e. 1 Liter of A and 1 Liter of B to 100L of water.

Or, just mix directly into 1,000L of water, and apply to plants.

Thanks in advance for your input

Ryan

Hello All, sorry for not being clear about the the 26Kg bags of chem and the

two 1Kg bags of micros that you would need to mix your own, plus a scale

to weigh things. If you are going to "grow/sale" or have a big home hobby,

you'll save over 60% on store bought A-B nutes.

The dry A-B kits that ACK had saved you as you weren't paying for water to

be shipped which is a bulk of whats inside the pre-mixed A-B bottles.

I switched from kits to mixing my own after 6-7 kits, if you loose interest in

hydro and havve baught the chem, all is not lost, you can use them in the

garden/farm/orchard over time.

Pic 1 is for lettuce/greens, pic2 with adjustments are fore melons, peppers,

toms and eggs. These formulas is what WESCO was for nute mix info.

rice555

[dinger]

Greetings All

Have been reading this thread with interest.

Question about forum etiquette: Would like to post up some pics of my new system and get some feed back but don't want to seem like I am hijacking the thread as it is already ongoing

Thanks

[Fapington]

Add your pics brother. Sharing is caring.

P.S. I started the thread. upload em!

[dinger]

Okay here goes

System has only been running about a month so still sorting things out.

Have 2 tanks with around 150 +/- Pla Nin fingerling size fish each tank, I figure the fish will dictate the proper stocking rate. That runs to a clarifier to try to settle out most of the solids, then to the grow bed / bio filter and back to the tanks.

Tanks are 2mt x 2mt and a grow bed 4mt x 5mt with 0.4mt gravel

Fish doing fine now, but mortality rate at first was pretty steep until the water got some of the right nutrients in it and most of the junk from the cement leached out

Right now in the grow bed, I have just thrown in some seeds that I got at the feed store, herbs only to see what might work. The one that is taking off is some sort of Chinese long grass according to my wife and what I call cilantro is starting to come in. There again I am waiting for the nutrients to build up before I try to plant something.substantial. The first shots of the grow bed are 3 days ago and the plants are fairly small the last one was this morning, and there are new ones coming up every day. And again all I did was throw some seeds in and nothing else. So we will see how long they keep growing

Am trying to get my hands on a water test kit, but where I live I can't find one, will be in BKK next week so should be able to find one there. Until then water quality is just a guess. Temp around 30C

Feeding the fish #1 pellets and they will eat as much as I put into the tank so they seem to be doing okay. But still lose a few now and then

Here are some general shots of my system and please any feed back you might have .would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Fapington]

I have an online source for test kits if you want to order one just pm me. Dont have it handy now cuz im on the phone.

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[Fapington]

How did you pour your concrete fish tanks? Blocks? Or one mold and pour? Interested to see how your ph balances out. You have more balls than me. I wouldnt run concrete without a liner.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[rice555]

Hey Rice,

Looking at the photos of the nutrient mix.

This is how I understand it:

Mix the nutrients at each of the suggested weights indicated, to make 10L of A Solution, and 10L of B Solution.

This 10L of each A and B solution should then be diluted to 1:100 i.e. 1 Liter of A and 1 Liter of B to 100L of water.

Or, just mix directly into 1,000L of water, and apply to plants.

Thanks in advance for your input

Ryan

Hello All, sorry for not being clear about the the 26Kg bags of chem and the

two 1Kg bags of micros that you would need to mix your own, plus a scale

to weigh things. If you are going to "grow/sale" or have a big home hobby,

you'll save over 60% on store bought A-B nutes.

The dry A-B kits that ACK had saved you as you weren't paying for water to

be shipped which is a bulk of whats inside the pre-mixed A-B bottles.

I switched from kits to mixing my own after 6-7 kits, if you loose interest in

hydro and havve baught the chem, all is not lost, you can use them in the

garden/farm/orchard over time.

Pic 1 is for lettuce/greens, pic2 with adjustments are fore melons, peppers,

toms and eggs. These formulas is what WESCO was for nute mix info.

rice555

Hello All, Fapington I mix up 10Lt. of A & B at a time, but mine is 200 to 1,

I don't like handling the extra 10Lt. water and store in these 20Lt. units.

The reason I don't use a larger tank than the blue barrel's is we've been in

a "going to move to the farm" for two years and my 500Lt. tank stays under

the mango tree.

For mixing up for the blur barrel I use two milk jugs to hold the A-B I'm using.

Fill and mix, dial in the right EC, like ridding a bicycle after a few times.

rice555

[Fapington]

Ya, easy enough I think. Thanks Rice, I will order up the nuts. I just finally found the black grow bags in Thai Wasadu. Thinking of doing a few hundred plants in bags of coco.

[dinger]

How did you pour your concrete fish tanks? Blocks? Or one mold and pour? Interested to see how your ph balances out. You have more balls than me. I wouldnt run concrete without a liner.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Did the tanks with block, the small red ones then rendered it. Drove my brother in law nuts as he had never done a round tank. I let it set for a couple of weeks then, filled and ran the system for 5 days, emptied and did it again. Then finally filled and added fish. I figured my first lot of fish were pretty much sacrificial, but they were cheap enough. After 10 days had a mortality rate of around 60% to 70% best guess. Put all remaining fish in 1 tank and restocked the other with new. Lost a few of the new ones at first but everything has settled down now, but do still lose some .

The whole thing is just a hobby so learning as I go, no plans to expand

[cdmtdm]

How did you pour your concrete fish tanks? Blocks? Or one mold and pour? Interested to see how your ph balances out. You have more balls than me. I wouldnt run concrete without a liner.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Did the tanks with block, the small red ones then rendered it. Drove my brother in law nuts as he had never done a round tank. I let it set for a couple of weeks then, filled and ran the system for 5 days, emptied and did it again. Then finally filled and added fish. I figured my first lot of fish were pretty much sacrificial, but they were cheap enough. After 10 days had a mortality rate of around 60% to 70% best guess. Put all remaining fish in 1 tank and restocked the other with new. Lost a few of the new ones at first but everything has settled down now, but do still lose some .

The whole thing is just a hobby so learning as I go, no plans to expand

nice dinger , i used a jotun product on my tanks its a two pack to stop the cement issues , so far its standing up well ... also non toxic ... the ph will be your biggest issue , u will need to get down into the high 6 area at least to give the plants a good chance at sucking up all the right nutrients ...juggling to keep the fish happy as well with the ph .. a fresh water test kit is a must esp in the early stages , u need to know exactly where u are at daily ... u can get them in bkk , pm me i will give u the contact details ... what does your bio filter consist of and do you have an airpump for the fish and Bio ? goodluck ..

[cobbler]

Go to chutle chak at mochit station.round the back have many fish sales

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[cdmtdm]

sorry dinger , you are using your grow bed as bio of course !!

[Fapington]

I really like Dingers system. Looks much cleaner than my IBC's.

[dinger]

Ordered the test kit today thanks to Fapington

I coated the inside of the tanks with a waterproof compound. Bought it at Global so definitely not food grade but seem to be working so far

Grow bed/bio filter is simply 3/4 in rock.

I have a small air pump to the tanks and get a bit of aeration when the return pump kicks on (see photo) that's about every 45 min.

Thanks for the feedback

[Fapington]

My systems in Thailand have always cycled very quickly. I would think by the time you get your test kit, you'll be picking up nitrates already. At the very least, you'll have your nitrite spike, and well on your way to nitrates.

Looking forward to seeing updates as you start to grow more things.

[cdmtdm]

i agree fapington they do, however u will need to wait a few months to get some good growth in the media bed , dont be fooled by the initial growth spurt .... should get mature about the time the good weather comes back !!

[Fapington]

cdmtdm, Have you shared your system? If so, I missed it and would like to see.

If not, please consider doing so!

[cdmtdm]

no i have not yet , i have a 30,000 litre fish tank capacity ( 3500 fish), 15,000 litre of rafts and just put online 50 buckets that will grow to 100 ..plus my nft is laying idle until the weather improves, that will be about 3000 holes , its a bit hot here in Isaan , i have a hybrid system i designed not your normal deal ... working well so far been 6 months since i turned it on ... i have pictures but need to transfer from my mobile ... i also irrigate my house gardens when i want with fish water ... i believe we may have a mutual friend fapington ...Bob from AP Thailand

[dinger]

I figured it would take a while to build up to some real plants in the bed, that's why I just started with the simple stuff like herbs. Will slowly try out new things as time goes on. Ultimate goal is tomato's.

We have been having some really big rain storms here for a couple of months. Some mornings I will see a marked increase in the water levels of the tanks so I am sure that will be messing with the P H levels, so will need to keep an eye on that

[cdmtdm]

yes u will need to shelter the Gb from the rains for sure , it will create a nightmare other wise mate ...