Aquaponics and plastic system materials

I’ve had many people ask me about PVC and “Risky” plastics and I suppose I need to post about it.

Here is the latest answer I gave.

You need to make a distinction between rigid opaque PVC (like plumbing) and the flexible vinyl that may contain nasty plasticizers (even if certified “food grade” or “Potable . . . → Read More: Aquaponics and plastic system materials

How to Size Your Sump Tank

Aquaponics Sump tank, Why? Either to deal with water level fluctuations or gravity drains or both.

So once you decide you need a sump tank, you then need to figure out how big it needs to be.

Start out by figuring out the total volume of all the flood and drain Media grow beds you . . . → Read More: How to Size Your Sump Tank

Deep grow beds

Originally posted by TCLynx on AGC, June 14, 2010

The common recommended minimum depth for flood and drain gravel beds is 1 foot deep. Some people do attempt beds less than that but the effective bio-filter in a shallow bed is more limited and managing flood and drain by siphons becomes farm more difficult with . . . → Read More: Deep grow beds

Gravel washing

Originally posted by TCLynx on AGC, June 9, 2010

Many people will ask “What’s with this Gravel Washing?” The answer is you don’t really want the random unknown sediment settling into your system and possibly damaging your pump or clogging up your grow beds and plumbing.

Now some media is fairly clean and some people . . . → Read More: Gravel washing

Recommended Stocking Levels vs Max Stocking Levels

Originally posted by TCLynx on AGC on May 29, 2010

It has been brought to my attention that quoting the “max stocking levels” with system design information might be counterproductive with many people new to Aquaponics. It seems that many people take this number and figure it is standard and that they should stock their . . . → Read More: Recommended Stocking Levels vs Max Stocking Levels

Aquaponics is it simple or complex 3

Now that you have done some research into your water, media, space, and goals for your aquaponics system and perhaps built a small learning system. You will be cycling up your learning system.

You need to have a test kit and the system set up and any water issues already sorted out (chloramine or chlorine . . . → Read More: Aquaponics is it simple or complex 3

Aquaponics is it simple or complex 2

So now you have done some research in to the water, media and materials for you Aquaponics system to understand how they will work for you.

Now you need to design an aquaponics system. What kind of system? How much space will it take? How will it work? What kind of plants will it grow? . . . → Read More: Aquaponics is it simple or complex 2

Aquaponics is it simple or complex

Nature is it simple or complex? YES they are both. On the surface Aquaponics is very simple (and it can be fairly simple to operate too) but under the surface there can be some rather complex chemistry going on.

For Aquaponics lets start with some of the seemingly simple starter ingredients for building a system.

. . . → Read More: Aquaponics is it simple or complex

Contact me

But please remember to leave an e-mail address so that I may respond.

This Blog Post Goes out to Robert in Texas who contacted me through my www.TCLynx.com web site but didn’t leave an e-mail address for me to respond.

He asks for some pointers and notes how I often recommend starting small. Well yes . . . → Read More: Contact me

Pump Sizing

So you are designing an aquaponics system but how do you figure out what pump size to use? There are some simple minimum rules of thumb that can help. For media bed aquaponics design it is generally recommended to pump at least the volume of your fish tank each hour (and I usually pump more . . . → Read More: Pump Sizing