Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Why don't you start a thread Frank? Be fun to watch your progress..

I second that idea Frank....

Primarily because your ideas are scattered across many other threads...

Not complaining about that as such... just it would be good to have them all collected within a single thread....

And to be able to see your designs and ideas implemented/trialled... sometimes a picture can be worth a thousand words...

I plan to, Chelle and Rupert, don't worry
the reason I haven't so far is that I am building right now and that some of the insights come and are solidified as I proceed
like the ones on growbed location and orientation I just posted:
they have downed on me while working on my system only the last two days

It seems like I am doing some things in an intuitive way
even if I lack experience with AP as such, over the years and through studying I seem to have collected a lot of knowledge and common sense
put together with my experience on pumps and hydraulics, all pieces of the puzzle seem to fall into place

and I thank all you for enticing me to put on paper the ideas which lay at the basis of what I do: they motivate me enormously by being challenged and having to find and formulate the right arguments of the why and where and when

most of my ideas come out right but obviously I make mistakes too

I want to avoid starting a thread on my system that starts one way but ends in a totally different direction
Although the evolution of one's thoughts is undoubtedly interesting, I think there are already a sufficient number of threads on member's systems that have become virtually impossible to read if only by the sheer size of them and the time needed to struggle through them.
This is not a criticism, only a constatation.

I have also noticed that when I upload a drawing or a spreadsheet, it is quickly downloaded and examined by a number of people
but when I modify or adapt and upload a new version, it seems to attract much less interest
So a lot of people are stuck with an outdated version which is a pity as it is not the good one
I want to avoid that as much as possible and only post what I am really convinced is (for me) a good and hopefully the best solution.
So the first postings on a system must be well thought over and clearly explained if not self explanatory
I will assemble my ideas scattered here and there and organize them to obtain this objective.

it will be an exercise for me as I will probably have the first AP system in Belgium and I plan to promote AP as much as possible over here.

but rest assured that soon, maybe very soon, I will start my thread

greetings

frank

to each their own but having the whole journey documented in a thread can be a handy record for the person working on it as well as for others trying to understand yet even more so for people in the future. Perhaps how something starts out might not be the "best way" but as the issues are discovered and ways found to deal with them, that information can help people avoid those issues in the future and understand why they may have been issues in the first place.

A prime example I've seen of this on the forum is gravel filled pipes. Some people still decide they are going to try it but many after reading other people's experiences with them opt for other methods. It usually doesn't work to simply tell some one not to try something, they often need to read the experience of having to cut apart the system with the angle grinder to remove the tomato roots from the pipe.

Good luck with it.

Yes. The journey documented has been extremely helpful to me. I deliberately started it like an online journal hoping for the thoughts of others to be part of it all. With the input of others is stretches me and shows me my blindspots.

It is also very encouraging.... Just the nature of the people in membership here. I have belonged to a couple of really stuffy forums......

Go for it Frank! Your thoughts as they change are part of the fun! And it might well save a lot of school fees... setting up a system to find that there was actually a better or cheaper way to do it. I KNOW that it has done it for me. Solid experience is invaluable input when starting out. I was thinking the other day that this forum is better than any other way to learn about AP..... a sort of corporate mentoring. No university degree could compare!

all very true,

but I want to start with as solid a basis as possible and then add solid experience to it
and you all know that I try to analyze and explain very clearly what I do and why I do it

I plan to do that on my thread also: motivate my decisions
and include the results of other discussions with my conclusion
as said, I will need those motivations whenever I have visitors

frank

Fair enough. We are each different.... is what makes life interesting. WIll look out for it when you are ready....

In my mind what ever size comes free [or at the right price ] thats the most workable size

thank you

one of my growbeds has stepping stones in it to access the middle It is 3.5m in diameter

Use what ya got!!!!

Stepping stones, hay Jaymie if you set a chair and table out there you could call it an aquaponics patio

The size of Jaymies system TCL..... we call it a National Park......

I can reach 3 feet into an elevate grow bed easily and if I have access to both sides then 6 foot is about right. 4 feet wide is easier to dig around in though.