My first Aquaponics System (Travis Hughey Barrel Ponics)

[Walter]

Today (2nd September) we are continuing with the setup and hopefully we can complete to commence the water flow.

Here are some pics of the area we are preparing for our first little system.

Finca Land & Trees, La Chorrera - Panama

[Pugo]

Welcome to Aquaponics HQ !! Welcome to the world of aquaponics, I am sure you will enjoy it. Everyone else I know does Cool system you are building I haven't seen that style of system for a while. Nice to see it is still around.

[Walter]

We chose the Barrel Ponics because these barrels are easily found and inexpensive (2nd hand) here in Panama.
Then we have our own wood in the backyard (gmelina).
The solar system's main purpose is to provide some basic power for our 4 bedroom earthbag dome. We intend to use it also for experimenting with our first Aquaponics setup.
We had some delay because the "Rancho" space we chose turned out to be too dark. We replaced the upper part of our thatch roofing with some see-through panels. This was completed today.
Hopefully tomorrow we can advance on the setup.

[Pugo]

Great will love to see the completed system.. keep the pictures coming I noticed the hogan roof.. if I did know it was Panama I would think it was the Philippines

[Gfunk1127]

I'm jealous of the big square blue bins!

[Walter]

Gfunk: Them blue bins I found at a hardware store in Panama. They are actually laundry bins, came with a nice trolley each. I picked two of them for USD 300, and the trolleys come in handy at our farm.

[Gfunk1127]

holy crap that is cool. I have never though of using those. cool

[Walter]

GW: Like your idea of the fountain airation. You seem to be using the fountain device to pump water into your growbed, correct? What I found installing the piping on the bottom of the fish barrel (according to specs from TH) that the noise is quite high (i believe it comes from the water suction through the piping). We are preparing a second fish bin where we plan to put a submersible water pump. It seems a fountain like yours would also have been worth a try. Good thinking!

[Gfunk1127]

Yes, thank you! It was an exciting accidental purchase. You are correct, the kit came with an attachment that diverts water to the growbed.

They have 3 attachments. I choose the umbrella one and manipulated it so it would hit the water in a way I think creates some noise and a lot of bubbles, which in turn aerates the FT.

[Walter]

o.k. See through panel now in at top of Thatch Roof. This may be enough light for our first little system.

Question:
Ref. Greenhouse made of black sunscreen material or Thatch roofing?
In a tropical climate like Panama what would you recommend as a greenhouse? We feel we have the following two effective cost options:

- Thatch roofing structure with enhanced "see through panel' on top of the roof
- A greenhouse made of Sunblock screen material.

Pics on both here attached.

The first (Thatch Roof structure) we like to use as our principal working area like chop wood, store our agricultural produce (persian limes) on and offloading in general, make Adobe blocks etc. It is a nice cool area to work in.
The second, made of "sunblock screens" is used to plant and grow vegetables. Height is about 5 meters in the centre. Its not as cool as the Thatch roof structure but it has good lighting conditions and we could catch rain water.