Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone.

My wife and I recently built a house in Piara Waters, heard about AP and I came down to Jandakot some months back on a Saturday afternoon and listened to the introduction the AP and became hooked. The system we are putting in (Bearing in mind its a modern house in a modern estate with little garden) had to be incorperated in the the Alfresco and 'asthetically pleasing' to use my wifes words. So now the alfresco is built including a rather large brick/concrete sealed pond in an'L' shape and if i do say so myself it is more than asthetically pleasing - more like a work of pure art. Near as i can work out it contains about 6000l of water. Im going to pump the water around to two grow beds around the side of the house and gravity drain back to the pond (ebb and flow). i will be in the shop in the next week or two to buy the two grow beds grow media etc etc as we are now in the final stages but I have about three thousand questions, but to start with........The pond is full of rainwater (it gets fed from the patio roof built above it) but at the moment it is naturally rather green with lots of algae/weed growing in it and two rather freindly frogs. Should I empty all this water out, clean it out and start again before starting, or is there some way of cleaning the water...or will it clean itself once we start filtering through the grow beds?

As for a pump.......using a submersible pump we will have to lift the water about 1300 - 1400mm and the length of pipe it has to travel about 10 meters. Any pointers on the correct pump, pipe sizes etc would be greatly appreciated. of course any other help/ advice/suggestions etc would also be most welcome.

Faye ive read all of your posts re your home system and garden and i think its one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful Ive ever seen/heard of. You and hubby are amazing people.

Kind regards
Steve

What a lovely story Steve, I think I like you already
The size pump that you are looking for will be partly determined by head height - the top of the surface where the water is being pumped from to the height it is pumped to.
Perhaps you can post up a photo so I can see what you are doing. I'll be here tomorrow and be happy to discuss pumps with you. I do hope that aquaponics will bring you as much enjoyment as I have had from it over the last six years, the enthusiasm for growing fish and veges never runs out for me. If it does, I just spruce it up, replant and take a few more pics, stand back and watch it grow.
Oops I hear the sound of a champagne bottle popping, must be time to go
Glad to see that you found the forum and welcome Steve.

Hi again Faye

you asked to see a picture of the pond, here it is. It measures 3.5 x 4.5m x 750 average width with a depth of about 650.
I took your advise and stocked it with 'sacrificial' goldfish to help clean up the algae and weed growth and they are thriving.

it was nice to meet you on Saturday and put a face to the wonderful garden ive read all about, thanks so much for spending time with me and answering all my stupid questions. The footings are now in for the grow beds which you delivered on Sunday so the end is in sight now. Once they are positioned i will post a pick of the growing area which is around the side of the house.

look forward to many more chats, thanks again for all your help.
Steve

PS as you can imagine, once stocked with trout the alfresco will be a good place for a glass or three of wine

Welcome Steve

What a stunning location for an AP system This is one Ill be watching with excitement.

dang, looks very aesthetically pleasing - not far for the trout to travel to the BBQ I'm guessing?

welcome

Thank you for saying so Matty and Charlie I was leaning right between the pizza oven and barbie taking that pic so yes it can be out of the water and on the hotplate in a very short order.

The whole thing has been a labour of love we have done everything ourselves (my wife and I) no tradespeople other than an electrician so thanks very much for the comments

Welcome stephenk. I agree with Charlie and mattyoga's comments - your AP setting looks sensational! Well done on doing it yourselves.
Is that a water wall I spy at the back of your pond? Wow, that will certainly deliver some valuable aeration.

Based on my calculations, your pond has a volume between 3,530L and 4,270L, depending on where you measured the 3.5m and 4.5m lengths from - inside or outside of the 'L'. It would be prudent to have someone confirm these figures, or otherwise, before you base decisions on them.
Good luck!

Well that pic is a little bit more than awesome StephenK
The trout will love the goldies, I am pretty sure. You can look for them sold under the name "feeder fish" which are often the boring coloured ones and are sold a little cheaper.
Your pond looks great, but be warned that trout are jumpers, particularly on their first few days and love to swim upstream, so they may head up your waterwall At least some shadecloth or bird net until they get used to the surroundings, alternatively drop the water level.
There was a story about a customer that had 25 trout delivered one day, the next morning 24 trout lay dead beside the tank. A heartbreaking loss.

Wow that is really good advice Faye thank you for sharing I will have some flyscreens made to fit on top for the first week or two as you advise.

Yes PLJ that is a waterwall, we intend to have it run for an hour a day to help with airation, and of course we have it on when we are barbequing or using the pizza oven as its really nice to have the sound of falling water. Thanks for the calculations, the dimensions were internal and i came up with about 6000L hmmm back to school for me it seems.

I have been thinking about the volume of water missing from the pond by filling two grow beds at the same time and wonder if there is a way of filling one grow bed then thirty minutes later filling the second one while the first is draining back. is there a way to do this from one feed and one return anyone some kind of automatic valve? As always being new to this any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

So grow beds are now installed around the side of the house (about 15 metres pipe length away) , plumbed up and everything working. So far so good. Just planted over the weekend. this may sound like a daft question but where can I get some worms to put in the grow beds? there is a distinct lack of them in the garden and ive never thought about buying them. Also how many should I put in each bed?

You can buy red wrigglers (compost worms) from most Bummings stores. Or, wait it out, they seem to turn up eventually. They are not cheap from B but I think you can buy them online too. They come in a box with soil so you have to pick them out, kinda slow process. Earth worms are different and Ive had no luck getting them to survive in my GB's. Grab a box of 2000 or so.


p.s. wheres our photo's????

Hows it going Steve? Have you got something started yet or should I remove my bookmark?