Aquaponic and Hydroponic Hobby Growing

[Fapington]

Interesting!

Yes, I know Bob, great guy. Hope to have a chance to meet him in person soon.

Interested in seeing the pics when you are ready to share.

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]

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

I figured it would. Having never checked but can you get the corrugated roofing metal in clear plastic?

[Fapington]

This is what I'm using.

[dinger]

This is what I'm using.

And where on earth did you come across that?

[Fapington]

The builder I had construct the roof was able to source these panels at a local shop. I purchased the remaining stock of these panels that the shop had, and I was told they had no plans to restock the panels as they took a very long time to sell. They were 300baht/sheet, and the sheets are only 1M long, by 50cm wide.

I was told that Thai Watsadu carries something similar, and I plan to go there soon, will check for you.

I realize this isn't particularly helpful, but there are clear poly-carbonate sheets in country. Hopefully you'll be able to find something in your area. Where are you located?

For future projects, I think I will probably be using Poly Film. You could quickly and inexpensively construct a hoop over your grow bed, and cover with poly film to keep the rain off.

[dinger]

I will check at Thai Watsadu tomorrow. I live in Maha Sarakham. Would like to find something fairly substantial so it doesn't get ripped apart by the wind

[cdmtdm]

i have seen poly sheets also in global house , same profile as the fibro cement roof sheets .... if not use plastic just to shield the major down pours

[dinger]

Differently going to get something today. Huge rain storm last night, I was up at 0400 dumping water so the fish tanks didn't overflow. So looks like I need some cover and some sort of overflow set up

[DerkMR]

Comercial thai breeders using concrete tanks have a PVC tube 90° element cemented into the bottom (with tube leading to outside).

In this you just push a straight element of desired length and cover the top with mesh - overflow.

Pull the element - emptiying the complete tank.

Cheap and easy

Bye,

Derk

[WatUp]

How do you guys start your cycle? I can't pee enough in to get the Amm above .50 and I could never find any real ammonia to add. I've added 6 4" koi to my tank to see if they can add anything but they can't get the Amm above .25.

Any advise?

[Fapington]

More fish!

I've started both my cycles with fish, no issues. Tilapia, and Pla Duk won't blink an eye during the cycling.

[cobbler]

How do you guys start your cycle? I can't pee enough in to get the Amm above .50 and I could never find any real ammonia to add. I've added 6 4" koi to my tank to see if they can add anything but they can't get the Amm above .25.

Any advise?

Hi I have an idea . Pai kee .Shit in the fish tank 555.

Cheers cobbler

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[WatUp]

That was my next move (fapinton not cockler... uh Cobbler). Thanks for the confirmation!

Edited June 4, 2014 by WatUp

[cdmtdm]

seaweed extract works well , Seasol or something similar....

[Fapington]

Who knows WatUp, cobbler may be on to something....lol

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[cobbler]

Sure am.free fish food . recycle. 555

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[dinger]

Greetings

Will make this quick as about to lose power from latest storm

Received my test kit today and ran 1st batch of tests.

PH 7.6

Ammonia 0.25

Nitrite 0.0

Nitrate 80

Any feed back would be appreciated

Regards

[Fapington]

Highly indicative that your cycle is complete, with bacteria doing their job.

You'll want to run tests again, daily if you want, for a few days to confirm, if you have any doubts.

In most instances, the natural balance will keep your ammonia and and nitrites very low, if not 0.

Plant veggies, your nitrates are good to go When you have juvenile/mature plants actively consuming nitrates, you'll notice a drop over time. Later, you can start manipulating those nitrates if you choose to do so. Don't become concerned when you see the nitrates drop. Many systems run 0 nitrates and perform just fine. Mine are currently at 10PPM, and I'm trying to get them down to 5.

I probably just told you a bunch of stuff you already know, I just get overly excited when discussing AP. lol

[dinger]

Thanks for the info, hadn't had a chance to check on anything yet, but this is good news.

Looks like I get too start having some fun now, have been looking forward to planting some vegies, but will continue small and slow to see what works.

Am still losing a few fish a day, will just have to let the fish sort themselves out. Not to worried about it as I figured it was going to take some time to stabilize the fish.

Also covered the grow bed to help with the rain problems so that should help a bit

Thanks Again for the help, will keep posting as things progress

Regards

[Fapington]

If it's any consolation, I always experience fish losses when I first put them in.

I did learn the hard way that Pla Duk are very very sensitive to salt. I killed some (a lot) myself by salting.

I'm not sure they are always in the best shape (at least from where I buy them) and I stopped letting it bother me. They are cheap, fortunately, and the only time I lose any if when I first stock.

Just think of it as nature following the "survival of the fittest" laws.

[dinger]

Survival of the fittest, exactly my thoughts. I figured I would give them another month and then move the all of the survivors into 1 tank and start a new batch in the other one. And as you said they are pretty cheap to replace

[cdmtdm]

drop some EM into the system worked wonders for the fish ....its also passes thru to the plants eventually ... i dosed at 1 litre per 1000 litres of fish tank water ,,,, then just add a little from time to time ...i also use it in my rafts and sediment tanks

[dinger]

drop some EM into the system worked wonders for the fish ....its also passes thru to the plants eventually ... i dosed at 1 litre per 1000 litres of fish tank water ,,,, then just add a little from time to time ...i also use it in my rafts and sediment tanks

Thanks for the tip, however as being a complete novice to this and this may sound dumb, what is EM, I hope it isn't elephant manure

[wolfrunes]

Effective micro organism. I asked the same question in another topic some time back.

It's sold in fertilizer shops if I rem correctly

[dinger]

Thanks. I wasn't looking forward to finding an elephant to follow around.

So how do I ask for it in the shop and I would assume it's carried by the larger shops and not in the village

[Fapington]

I found it in home pro in the garden section. Thais seem to know what it is. I was shocked when my knew.

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[dinger]

Thanks will have a look today.

Also Global has the clear poly sheets as well as the clear corrugated fiberglass roofing panels, not cheap but fit the bill

[Fapington]

Nice. Did Thai Watsadu carry anything similar? Maybe you didn't check if you found what you needed at Global.

[dinger]

Both stores have pretty much the same things at similar prices

Now that I have my grow bed covered we haven't had a single drop of rain. Hope the Thai's don't blame me for causing a drought

[cdmtdm]

yes you will find EM in most hardware stores and even the small garden fert shops ... cannot recommend it highly enough , it will also help your bio filter function better ( for you media beds) ... cheap too