Now the fun begins. I stocked the tank with 35 comets (feeder goldfish) to kick start the system. I washed out all the soil from the seedlings and planted celery, chives, lettuce, peas, silverbeet, parsley and at first not much growth. By the 8th or 9th week things really started to improve. I believe it takes about 2 months for the bacteria cycle to get going and I was starting up over winter with less hours of sunlight. The growth rate continues to improve with the celery about 30cm high and the lettuce about the same.
The peas have taken a toll (something ate the whole lot) so another crop has been planted and have started climbing the grid trellis.
It is a simple system, one pump from the tank up to two grow beds. The return water isn't just a hole in the base, its a water trap that only takes from the very base comprising a smaller tube inside a larger one. Water travels up inside the outer tube to overflow over the inner tube which is cut at half height. This was too much water so I drilled holes along the length of the inner tube to regulate the flow - this seems to have worked well. The syphon system seemed too much effort in comparison.
This system faces north, under the eave so during cold weather it is well protected and in the height of summer will afford some shade to avoid too much evaporation and overheating.
I hope to set up two more systems side-by-side and connect them up to house yabbies and silver perch.
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