Countertop Aquaponics-Jason's new system

[Jason Palenske]

So since we currently rent the space our home sits on, and space is a commodity, I decided to start small and make an Aquaponics unit that could sit on our countertop and not take up too much space. Now this is in no way to be considered a high yield project but merely a space saving experiment to prove the concept. Then I can move on to making my Eco-Shed to house my larger system. it will also be built to be year round, as our winters here can include a couple feet of snow on the ground. Now since I was raised in the states and we don't use the metric system all of my measurements will be in inches and gallons, I'll try and convert whenever I can.

Now from my readings I'm going to follow Gary's example of of showing my goals of what it needs to do and then see if form follows function.

Goals:
Space saving: takes up a footprint of no more than 3-4 square feet, or roughly 1 square meter.
Economical: not require more electricity than your average home aquarium.
Asthetically Pleasing: Not my own requirement for this first one but my wifes, it is taking up her counter space after all.
Viable Crop: Can produce a viable crop to be harvested on a reqular basis, in this case herbs or perhaps lettuce.
No chemicals of any kind including supplements.
And finally, made entirely from materials either recycled or easily found within a local department or hardware store,
and a budget of $40 excluding fish and plants.

Seems a little daunting, but so far so good.

I'm doing my build today so I will take pictures as I go.

[GreenCow]

Hi Jason,
Welcome....there are some small aquaponic projects that are very successful. I remember reading about the 1 foot project. You might find some info on that.

When you have photos avail, please post.

Good luck with the project.

[Jason Palenske]

The Concept

Now since we are space saving I need to be very creative in my delivery of water from the fish tank to the grow bed. So I have decided to do a stacking style system that uses a hydroponic trough with continuous circulation and pea gravel, or aquarium gravel, used as a support and bio filter for the plants. For a pump I'm using a $10 aquarium pump guaged for 5-15 gallon aquariums. (not sure how many liters that is)

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5729.jpg

The Equipment

For my Tank, I am using a rubbermaid container that I picked up at Target for about $5 that holds roughly 5 gallons.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5727.jpg

For my grow bed I will be using another smaller container made by Sterilite that costs about $3 that holds roughly 2 gallons.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5728.jpg

Now the grow bed will have two pipe fittings built into the bottom, one for drainage, and one for the feed for the circulating pump. The lid of the Tank will have two holes for the pipes to fit through but will otherwise have no alterations planned for it. Construction may decide otherwise.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5734.jpg

In the bottom of the grow bed I will attach 6 caps from 12 ounce gatorade bottles, the bottles themselves will be cut in half, the top portion will be used inside the the grow bed and have holes cut for drainage and circulation. This is where the plants will be supported and can be removed easily without disturbing the whole system. The bottom of the bottles will be used as seedling planters for future plants.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5736.jpg

My pump is a side attaching aquarium pump that will be mounted on the grow bed and and then hang down the side of both containers. My drainage will be attached to the bottom of the grow bed and set to height I want my water level so it will auto drain back to the tank, especially important as this is a recirculating system. It will also serve to aerate the water as it drips down. The gravel will help promote good bacteria growth, I hope, and protect the roots of the plant. The plant themselves will be planted approximately 1 inch or 3 1/2 cm above the water level so they do not drown but the roots can easily reach the water. The screw in bottles are for easy transplanting.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5735.jpg

There you go, one assembled Counter Top Aquaponic System. I can already see alterations or alternate materials I would like to use, but for my first set up I kinda like it.

[Jason Palenske]

Hi Jason,
Welcome....there are some small aquaponic projects that are very successful. I remember reading about the 1 foot project. You might find some info on that.

When you have photos avail, please post.

Good luck with the project.

Thanks for the suggestion GC, I've actually read about that some.

The system is together now and I've begun circulating the water.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5738.jpg

I only sprung one leak around my pump intake but it isn't proving to be more than a trickle. I think I didn't have it all sealed.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5741.jpg

Water level is proving to be maintain exactly where I want it to be.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5737.jpg

Once I have the rest of my gravel in it should displace the water to just the right level.

My Drain is working and the water flows

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5740.jpg

[GreenCow]

Great photos....neat little system. Look forward to hearing about your progress.

[Jason Palenske]

Thanks GC.
Me and my boy will be off to the store later today to pick out some fish. Mainly your ordinary fancy guppies, although the boy wants a catfish. Although not a food fish the guppies can have a high population in a small area and the poo they churn out should be plenty to feed some plants for the experiment. That and they're a very durable fish that can handle trauma fairly well. The catfish depending on type may be interesting. The nice thing will be they can be fed through the drain directly through the grow bed without having to remove anything.

[anniefish]

Hi Jason,
very impressed, love the coloured gravel, I'm sure it will be a winner.
Annie

[Jason Palenske]

Hi Jason,
very impressed, love the coloured gravel, I'm sure it will be a winner.
Annie

Thanks Annie.

So we went to get fish, needless to say my son has a lot to learn. Unfortunately our local store was all out of guppies. So we went with an old standby, Goldfish! 13 bright and happy goldfish, capable of handling just about any drama young children can dish out. Unfortunately and tragically, the catfish didn't make. I think the travel and the temperature extremes inside and out were to much for it to bear.

We also now have one plant, an old creeping vine my wife has been trying to kill for the last 5 years plus, it was still refusing to give up in the same soda bottle that it was originally put in as a cutting. Proof that hydroponics work!

So far so good. I'll get a picture up soon and we'll watch the vines progress while I see about other plants.

[Jason Palenske]

The Unstoppable Vine!
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5746.jpg

Happy Happy Goldfish!
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5747.jpg

[Jason Palenske]

Later this week I plan on getting some experimental cuttings from my mother in laws garden. It should give us some reasonable diversity of plants.

[Hamish]

That is a brilliant little system - really looking forward to seeing your progress! You should be able to grow some nice herbs in a system that size. It is a real pleasure to be able to have fresh corianda, basil, italian parsley on hand at all times in the kitchen. This has been one of the best things about my system so far as I wait for the larger plants to grow. Fresh herbs can be quite expensive - so your payback on system setup costs will be quite quick. I reckon I have had about $20 worth of herbs and lettuce out of my system already - and its still only a few weeks old and maturing. When you consider these systems can keep running for years - or even a lifetime then the payback will be great. Good to see you doing stuff like this with your kids - much more educational than TV! Keep up the good work!

[Jason Palenske]

Thanks Hamish! I appreciate it. It was really fun watching my oldest daughter explain to a friend of ours how it worked. I decided to get it fully going and we went and got some cuttings from my mother in laws garden. Their just flowers but they should prove to take really well. They were transplanted three hours ago roughly and not a single one is showing signs of strain. In fact they have perked some now they're out of the oppressive heat we've been having. Over 100F today.

Here they are in their new home.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5748.jpg

[Jason Palenske]

With that picture above the ripples show how well the water is circulating even with the feed so close to the drain. I've already begun planning how I can improve the next one I build. My wife has taken to calling it Bob the Contraction. Bob II as I'll call it should prove to be even more stream lined and efficient. It will be made purely for herb production now that I know my design is sound. If it proves to thrive then I can begin to stage up in size. I really need to get my shed cleaned out this week so I can begin gathering materials. I kind of follow Fish Foods mentality of recycle what I can find instead of buy.

[Jason Palenske]

So last night we had a cold move in with the storm we're having this morning. The transplants are a little droopy from the temp drop by the window, considering it dropped 30 degrees overnight I can't blame them. They see to be holding though. All the goldfish are holding strong and we had no overnight losses due to transplant shock. The real surprise is the growth on my stubborn vine, it grew an inch overnight. I'm tracking its progress since it is the easiest to measure. Please not how far it has grown compared to its position over the drain in previous pictures.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e284/Eco-Shed/100_5749.jpg

[Jason Palenske]

So I was wrong as my daughter found out, we did have one casualty over night. The autopsy was inconclusive however.:o It was a smaller one so who knows, we watch the other ones and wait. The only other cause for minor concern was that the younger two children wanted to feed the fishies:eek: So they gorged and and now we have a bunch of floating pellets. I've actually decided to leave them in here because after reading the ingredients they may prove to be a good soluble compost for the plants. Hopefully it will be a risk that pays off.

[Hamish]

Slowly does it on the feeding. It will take a few weeks for the bacteria to build up in the system to be able to cope with the Ammonia from fish waste and food. Arguably one of the most important things to understand with AP is the nitrogen cycle. Also - if you havent already get yourself a test kit. API make a good one called the Master test kit. It tests for Ammonia and Nitrites which are both poisonous to fish and also tests for pH which is important for fish and plants. And lastly it also has a test for Nitrates - which is what the plants use for growth. Sorry if im telling you something you already know - but unless you build the bacteria in your system slowly with water tests and possibly partial water changes you will kill fish. Also I assume you dechlorinated the water? Find out if you have chlorine, chloramine or both in your tap water - or use rain water. Chlorine and chloramine are both harmfull to fish. Again sorry if im telling you something you already know - but would rather do that than have dead fish and upset kids :(

[Hamish]

Read that last post again as I corrected an error after I posted it.

[Jason Palenske]

No worries Hamish, any suggestions are helpful. We actually thought of using basic pool water testers to check things. The variety of goldfish we can get here are actually well known for surviving just about anything, dead losses can usually be attributed to temp shock. I'd say this one is officially in the wait and see category now.

[GaryD]

Hi Jason,


I've actually decided to leave them in here because after reading the ingredients they may prove to be a good soluble compost for the plants. Hopefully it will be a risk that pays off.

Food = Ammonia......best to remove uneaten food at this stage in the establishment of your system.


Gary

[Jason Palenske]

So sadly we lost all the fish the other day! Checked real carefully to see if it was as Gary worried about ammonia from the food, but in reality turned out to be my water company. I treated for chlorine but apparently as I was informed by one of my mother in law, the city no longer treats with chlorine and uses something else, Chloramine (I think that's how it's spelled) Needless to say it wasn't good for our poor goldfish. So I have refilled and retreated and have been running for over 24 hours now. The plants took a small hit but have so far held out well. I added more rocks for the bacteria bed and we lowered the water level some in the grow bed. So far the plants have begun bouncing back but aren't rooting as of yet, with the exception of my vine, its unstoppable.

[GaryD]

Hi,

Notwithstanding the importance of understanding the nitrogen cycle if you're going to run aquaculture systems, I notice that very few fish seem to die from ammonia or nitrite spikes.

The #1 killer of fish is low dissolved oxygen levels.....and the #2 killer of fish (by my observation) is contaminants (other than ammonia or nitrite) in the water. Chloramine, chlorine, herbicides, pesticides and some liquid fertilisers have all featured in fish kill stories that I've encountered.

Gary

[Jason Palenske]

Thanks Gary.

Very much a lesson in know your water supply.

[Murray]

cayenne pepper knocks them around a bit as well.........:o

[Jason Palenske]

So we went to look for new fish today and decided to go to the one billed as the largest pet store in town. Wow was I surprised! Locally owned, knowledgeable, and extremely happy to help out. They had a huge variety of fish that were horribly healthy. A net, and twenty goldfish set me back $3.68 and the guy even through a bag of duckweed free. So far the whole set up is much happier and healthier. I think I know where I will be getting my supplies for fish from now on.

[Hamish]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Hope the kids were not too upset. That chloramine is nasty stuff. Seeing that you wont be eating the fish you are lucky that you can just treat the water. When you get your bigger system up you might need to think about a rain water tank.