My first and second iAVS sandponics: the simplest form of aquaponics

I finally got the time to shoot this video after I finished building my second iAVS aquaponics system. See more videos at the website: solargeo.net/en
Note that under the second system's growbed, there is a separate air-to-water heat exchange and storage system to store heat for slow release during the night.

[@MohamedUAE]

Hello, I been using Aquaponic for now almost two years, and it's working fine. The thing is since we have plenty of sand here in my country (United Arab Emirates) I frankly speaking thought of diverting part of the greenhouse that we have to sandpanic system, similar almost to what you have. I suggest the watering time shall be moderated, in another way if you install a timer whereby you can control when the water shall start watering the plants.. I believe two to four times a day for about 10 minutes will be just fine for them.. and the rest of the times the roots will be oxygenated.. plus add some worms to the sand, it'll help cleaning your sand from the algae that form within time.. Thanks for the good video man 👌👍

[@AubreyZhang]

Thank you for feedback, I did just that. As for how to introduce the water into the sand grow bed, I have a better way in my mind that I have not tested: that is not to introduce the water from the top of the sand, but somehow bring in the water into the middle layer of sand. This way the algae growing problem is gone as there is no light in the middle layer and there is also less loss of water due to evaporation. Will test this in my new build in PyraPOD, an upgrade greenhouse using soap bubbles to insulate or as shading dynamically on demand. Check out website at pyrapod.com for more info.

[@MohamedUAE]

Aubrey Zhang thanks a lot 👍🏼🤲🏼🙂

[@garydonaldson1336]

@@AubreyZhang I would not advise introducing water into the middle sections of the bed...it will create problems. The algae is not a problem...it's part of the detritus layer - an important cornerstone of the iAVs method.

[@AubreyZhang]

@@garydonaldson1336 OK, thank you for your advice, Gary.

[@khaledassad4599]

@@AubreyZhang

[@wescress9958]

You should think about adding a baffle on the drain end. Maybe 6 inch es. Using a fine mesh to seperate the sand and try filling the baffle with rocks or the clay. Support for the mesh, Just a thought. Hope it helps

[@fungholio]

Thanks for sharing! This video was exactly what I needed. Your explanations were excellent. Thanks for taking the time to go into such detail.

[@AubreyZhang]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ernestbwalya5572]

Thanks. I see then that it will run perfectly on Solar!

[@brandongreen4524]

This could be phenomenal for root based plants that don’t do well in standard AP media bed mediums!

[@AubreyZhang]

Indeed, sand is the best for plants to generate roots

[@MrWackozacko]

Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge. I have just embarked on incorporating a sandbed into my scoria and clay balls aquaponics, maybe even convert and upgrade everything and go with just sand. Have you any experience with jebao pumps by the way? If i cant come up with a cheap jerry rigged version i will buy their wifi control pump, from an app on your phone you can control timing and pump output.

[@aquaponicscanada-noadditiv8471]

Sandponics ... very nice technique 😍

[@AubreyZhang]

Yes, it is a "set it and forget it" way to grow both fish and plants

[@ernestbwalya5572]

Hi, Thanks for your work. Do the grow beds always need a bell siphon in sandponics?

[@AubreyZhang]

Not at all. Just a pump that you use once every two hours and you do not need to pump water during the evening. Everything stops, which gives the whole system REST at night.

[@Anna-tc6rz]

How did you keep the sand from running out the drain?

[@AubreyZhang]

You can explore yourself, anything that allows water to go through. Cloth does not last long. I use a type of reticulated foam.

[@Anna-tc6rz]

@@AubreyZhang thanks for the reply! I'll see what I can come up with

[@iAVs-Sandponics]

a piece of shadecloth held in place with sand or a handful of gravel

[@denisdb725]

@@AubreyZhang Sorry for the question but English is not my native language. What is reticulated foam?

[@karstensodmann3437]

The bed is made of plastic foil. I had the problem that mice ate the foil and the sun ate the foil after a year. I'm here in Namibia Africa and the damp sand keeps everything cool, so very good system. Does anyone have a tip?

[@AubreyZhang]

Try using silicone based pond liner to make sand beds

[@mrdkoser]

Is this a continous flow sand bed??? I was wondering if it was possible to do that... almost like a channeled NFT and gets absorbed by sand. Do you have any root rot from this way?

[@AubreyZhang]

No, the water is pumped once every two hours. The point is to get enough hair and moisture to the root. This is the best and easiest system I have ever seen after testing it for 4 years.

[@thezebrafinch4650]

That’s very cool but how do you prevent the sand from not washing away ???

[@AubreyZhang]

Easy, you place some stainless steel mesh at the outlet, then pile some small rocks before you add sand.

[@timnitz2654]

Can you grow the fish in the plant tank itself, if you had more water in there? Just have a circulation pump in it, and an airstone? Like growing eels in a rice paddy?

[@TariqKhan-77]

An interesting idea wonder if it would work

[@MrWackozacko]

Plant tank is supposed to empty periodically, thats the driving force of the whole system, that aeration right through the sand to all the microbes and roots is what turns muck into nutrients. As i understand it.

[@narayanankutty1609]

Please use Quartz Sand most suitable for Sandponics

[@AubreyZhang]

For sure. I was just testing to see how iAVS sandponices works. It is indeed better than the aquaponics that most people is doing and promoting.

[@sohan2510]

Can we grow carrot 🥕 ,potato 🥔 ,garlic & onion in this method ?

[@AubreyZhang]

For sure

[@sohan2510]

@@AubreyZhang 😲 wow, i would definitely try this method. Thanks for the great idea....

[@xyooj96]

very cool, i have been investigating to use sand for my duckponic system. what type or size of the sand grain is best for this?

[@AubreyZhang]

Play sand too fine. Go to garydonaldson.net/home/iavs/iavs-frequently-asked-questions and look under Sand, you will fine the answer for your question.

[@xyooj96]

@@AubreyZhang dead-end links

[@AubreyZhang]

@@xyooj96 Dead end? I just tried, the link I gave works but links at the landing page do have problems. I think Gary somehow forgot to renew his domain iavs.info and now he has got it back and working on it. He might have lost all previous content :-( I am going to write him email and ask what is the problem

[@AubreyZhang]

@@xyooj96 I find Gary's video here which should help concerning sand: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnetpHaeZa6dfrs

[@xyooj96]

@@AubreyZhang thank you for the working link, many mini-videos which is annoying but good info :)

[@denisdb725]

More or less howmuch water you have in use to make shure there is allways enough to make the pump is not running dry? And what kinda sand is used so it does not slibs away?

[@AubreyZhang]

Good questions. How much water to use in order to make the pump not running dry? It depends on the setup. I used three sump tanks which made the problem worse as the drained out water would not return to the tank where the pump was located. To solve the problem, I added an overflow drain pipe to the fish tank so that the fish water on the top (wihout the fish poop) can overflow out and go directly to the sump tank with the pump inside. I used the play sand which turned out to be too fine. The drainage ports need to be stopped with fine wire mesh and then gravels before adding sand. This way the sand will not slip through the drainage holes. Check here for more info: garydonaldson.net/home/iavs/iavs-frequently-asked-questions

[@TheoLogosDotNet]

Not that we only pump the water for 10 minutes every two hours. Knowing how much liquid the pump can handle during this 10 minute period, then we know the minimum water amount required.

[@jbl2270]

Don't you find that plant growth is slower than in an Aquaponics system?

[@AubreyZhang]

No, did not notice the difference. One thing I do notice is that iAVS sand produces roots faster than the hydroton grow bed. Thermal mass of sand plays a role. The major problem with hydroton grow bed is that the fish poop is ended up at the bottom of the grow bed which becomes stinky, while in the case of sand, the fish poop stays on top of the sand surface and it is easier and faster for aerobic bacteria to turn amonia (NH3) into nitrate (NO3-).

[@jbl2270]

@@AubreyZhang Thanks for sharing your experience. What you say makes a lot of sense. Do you have an engineering background?

[@modestbigotsondkhar8371]

Can I use medium sand or use fine sand

[@AubreyZhang]

I would use medium sand at the bottom and mainly fine sand on the top surface. Make sure the sand is washed and going through some sort of sifting process to remove any grass sends. This way, you do not need to take care of any weed problem as there is not a single weed seed.

[@modestbigotsondkhar8371]

@@AubreyZhang Thanks

[@iAVs-Sandponics]

@@AubreyZhang The sand should be mixed uniformly - if you put fine sand at the top it would (could) just percolate down. In fact, zero fine sand! Coarse sand .4mm to 1.2mm