Not quite following you….

Not right yet, it’s still in development, proprietary. Will keep you posted.

My advice is to learn as much as you can before making a move. If you would like to know some good source material, shoot me an email at bevan@aquaplanetonline.com

ERROR! Where I wrote ”the biggest flow” should read ”the biggest flaw”

Man, I’m sorry not to have checked in to see recent activity, I am of the generation where it’s something of a pain in the ass to do social networking, though I do love the results. Anyway, the Urban Garden vertical wall unit is a concept designed by a novice, seems like a great idea but why do it if it’s much less effective than a much simpler model? The biggest flow is using peat moss, which holds water…and holds, and holds, and holds. So you end up with something the consistency of a mattress recovered from a flood stuck to the wall. It holds probably ten gallons of water, which is over 80 pounds. To properly mount something that heavy, you have to screw into the studs, maybe they mentioned that, but I never got past the basic BOX with grid on the front. So, here’s the problem with people jumping into aquaponics design without knowing the basic principles, what roots need: nutrients, water, structure, oxygen. That peat moss is not so structural, and its lack of oxygen is inviting root rot. My apologies to the designer(and Urban Gardening) if I am missing something here, but don’t publish something without proper proof and understanding. Maybe someone built this and is having great results, please prove me wrong, but let’s compare it to a similar system that is horizontal, filled with sand, the proven optimal grow medium of my partner Dr. Mark McMurtry, who invented ebb and flow aquaponics in the mid-eighties. If you did want to do it vertically, use that stone fiber stuff..it doesn’t get all soggy, allows oxygen to reach the roots, which they love!!! No one, to my knowledge has done this yet, so if you make your mark in aquaponics with this concept, please remember where you heard it and be sure to buy my book, available at http://aquaplanetonline.com Stay sane in an insane world by growing fish and vegetables, that’s what I say.

I tried to build it and it has numerous problems, so beware!

My understanding of energy generation from drain systems is that it’s not pratical, you really need a stream of certain size to charge a battery. Siphons are great in theory, sometimes they work, I hear a lot about them not working.

A common fish food to grow is duckweed which grows fast and contains a lot of protein. Not sure if all fish like it but tilapia do. Otherwise I suggest have a plastic box nearby for compost. Buy a pound of worms and keep them happy with newspaper and veggie scraps, then before long the population will increase and you can start feeding them to the fish, whose waste nourishes the plants, which nourish the people, and the leftovers go back in the worm bin.

You can use a continuous drip system, just a trickle from the top on downward, no timer needed. The bacteria will thrive. Remember that it takes some weeks for the bacteria to really get going. If you use pond water or established aquarium water it will go faster. You can even add worms to the grow media, which can be hydroton or gravel. Small red wrigglers.

The thing about pH in aquaponics.. once the system is stable after a few weeks, it finds it’s own balance. You don’t have to mess with it. No one I’ve researched ever mentions it, except how it maintains its own balance point of about 7.

20 gallon is fine, you don’t say how many bottles you’ll use, but that should support a good number. There are no hard rules on how many will work, so feel free to experiment. Google EcoPlus 633 pump, it has a max pumping ht (head) of 7.9 feet. Which means that even though it’s a powerful pump, it will be a trickle at 7’, which should be enough. You don’t need a filter, the fish waste gets filttered and composted in the gravel grow media. Set up the aquarium as you woul ordinarily, no filter is needed. Species of fish don’t matter, it’s volume of ammonia, and goldfish are excellent at that, so you might splurge and get a few small koi.

Hi Meg
I watched your video, that’s the first I’ve seen anyone doing window aquaponics like that, quite cool. I am assuming that the gravel has not been charged up yet with bacteria?

Do you have photos or more details to share? Sounds great.

Hey Byron, I would love to see your work, maybe help promote it. We’re looking for creative partners. Please email me at bevan@accesstoaquaponics.com.

Depending on the fish you can do much more than 1’ of fish per gallon. With tilapia, and other cichlids, you can do one pound for 1.5 gallons of water. That would be maybe 8” long. Many fish love crowding, as you know they have schools? Ammonia levels will be fine if there is enough filtration through the grow beds. I might plug my book here, found at http://www.accesstoaquaponics.com

Tetras are probably not great ammonia producers, not a lot of biomass. So I would switch to goldfish. A ten gallon tank with 10 3” goldfish or 20 feeder goldfish should give you plenty of ammonia for 16 plants.

Remember that your system is like wine or yogurt: There is a culturing / maturing process of bacteria. If you start with some unpollluted pond water, that will help jump start your bacteria garden. Fill your tank with it. Aerate it. But even so it takes some weeks before this mini-ecosystem will be stable and all vegetables loving it.

You can also add worm castings to help strengthen the plants. It will turn the water dark, but don’t mind that. This is a working aquarium, not for show.

Remember that your bacterial garden resides throughout the system, even in the tubes, but the major population is in the clay ball or gravel grow media.

Make sense?