DIY Home Aquaponics in Manila, Philippines

[Romy Venes]

Hello Guys!

I just want to share with you my DIY home aquaponics system consisting of:
- a 2000 gal FT (with about 2 dozen Koi, 12 adult Oreochromis Tilapia, one Shubunkin Goldfish and thousands of Tilapia Fingerlings)
- one 8ft x 4ft x 14in. F&D Gravel Bed with 20mm pea gravel
- two 8ft x 4ft x 14in. hydroponic beds (intended for raft hydroponics) which are currently filled with duckweeds and various aquatic plants like Amazon Sword, Red Tea (Ludwigia), Green Tea (Hygrophila), Bacopa Coroliniana, Hygrophila Difformis, Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Green Cabomba, etc.

The F&D GB cycles at a rate of 3 full cycles per hour. I have two kinds of Kangkong: a Local variety (which grows very well in my GB) and Chinese variety (which initial did well but later started turning yellow). Can anyone give me an idea what's wrong with my Chinese Kangkong? The water quality in my FT is very good: clear and clean water all the time. All the fish are healthy and I haven't had any fish killed for the past 6 months.

Another problem I have is that every 2 weeks, each of the 6 adult female Tilapia breeds more than a thousand fries each! I keep on harvesting fries to no end! When I do get to harvest the Moms that are still mouth-brooding her youngs are used as feeders for my adult Angel Fish.


Photo of the Fish Tank (It's under the 8' x 4' duckweeds tanks)
P1010201.jpg
FT_2.jpg

Photo of the Flood and Drain GB with 20 mm pea gravel
Flood and Drain GB.jpg

Kangkong and Tomatoes
Kongkong and tomatoes.jpg

middle photo show 2 duckweeds tank
Hydroponic beds_1.jpg

DIY Bell Siphon made from junk PVC pipes and clean out cap
Bell Siphon.jpg

Solid separator - I use an old egg crate with plastic wool or synthetic cotton used (sofa cushion material) as filter media
Solid separator.jpg

Materials used:
1. 9mm flexiboards as walls and base and lined with used tarpaulins for the hydroponic tanks (GB and Raft haydroponic).
2. angle bars as frame for the edges of the flexiboards.
3. For pump: I use a Resun SP-6000 220V/60Hz, 40W, 2800L/Hr w/ Hmax of 2.5m and pump outlet of 13mm.

[GaryD]

Hi Romy,

That's a great looking system that you've got there.

Can you describe your solids filter and its operation?

Gary

[Romy Venes]

Thanks Gary!

Can you describe your solids filter and its operation?
Gary

Since the Fish Tank is at the lowest point in the entire system, water is pumped from the deepest part of the fish tank to the the solid separator. The tank bottom is surprisingly clean at all times perhaps due to the 1 degree gradient of the floor inclination.

As for the solid separator, it's just an old box, with lots of holes, used for transporting eggs made of hard plastic basket which I lined with synthetic filter wool (the kind of material used for making sofa upholstery), which costs something like US$1 per yard of 2 meters width. It functions as a mechanical filter. I use it as a cheap and easy to wash solid separator. Since my system is small, it takes around a week for it to clog. So replacement can be done every week. Since the material is so inexpensive and available, I keep stock of around 3 sets of it for replacement. The material can be washed with a light pressure washer and reused up to around 5 times.

In the future, I would like to add a trickle bio-filter into my system. I am sold to it after reading your article in your other website.

[GaryD]

Hi Romy,

Your solids filter arrangement is a good example of cost effective and easy solids removal at work. Congratulations!

Gary

[kellenw]

Hello Romy,
Too often, people completely neglect the need for solids removal. Great to see you've got it in your system.

[Romy Venes]

Thank Kellenw! I just thought that it would be simpler to do regular maintenance cleaning on one small part of the system than having to shovel out the entire gravel bed every so often which is messy and requires a major work plus it could upset the existing beneficial bacteria in the GB. The other more important reason is that I think that the GB if kept clear of sludge can be more effective in being a bio-filter than if it were full of sludge.

[kellenw]

Romy,
You are exactly right!

[squareroot]

Hi Romy, Kabayan,

I am just starting to research on aquaponics. Since I have a Koi pond, I wanna utilize the nutrients of the waste generated by my kois. Right now, I am getting water from my pond to water our garden. I tried planting pechay and lettuce but aphids keep eating them. I am now trying the soap and chili spray to shoo them away.

Anyway, Most Koi enthusiast get rid of Nitrate via Bakki shower or water garden and maximize their water quality. That's where I got the idea, why not use the nutrient for veggies instead of lilies?

How's your project going? Any updates? if you can post new pics, it would be appreciated much.

Cheers!

Square

[vihalvor]

hey square root greetings from Makati.. there are several of us aquaponicans here.. in makati i know of 2, then we have erwin and madodel across the river, and a few more i believe

where in manila are you from ?

[Pugo]

Welcome to the Aquaponics HQ.. Kmusta