Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was actually laughing at Faye's comment, not at your miss fortune Abdul,
I really want to here you comment when you finish your project, you have a way with words.
All these things have been a great learning experience.
get back up and keep going buddy!!

Matt

Thanks for all the support you guys, I really appreciate it [:

And of course I din't take offense, I've been very lucky to learn very early in my life that the best, and really the only thing to do when something goes wrong is laugh about it. Nonetheless its very heartening that you guys would apologize before I even had the chance to get my feathers ruffled, you guys are the best

I got the same input from my aquarium friend ivan, told me that the Styrofoam base was essential, will make sure that is covered when I get another aquarium.

VERY VERY lucky it happened in front of me, another 10 minutes and my blues would have been very different.

On the progress note, haven't fed the fish yet, pretty sure they're all still happy and alive in the ST with a filter and an air pump going. Went and bought approx. 80 kilos of river rocks, am pretty sure that should be enough for all three GBs that I have, they're a bit on the large side but I think they'll do, will put up pictures of them and the new ST I have as soon as I can.

Have decided to definitely shift the system to the roof, can live with the rooftop garden, theres a pic of that earlier in the thread, I think I'll put it on here for convenience. Will use another plastic 'chest' same as the ST for the FT and it'll be GB:FT:ST ratio 1:1:1. Should be up tomorrow God willing, long as I can liberate the FT chest from my mom, pretty sure the sad puppy dog face ought to do it.

Will get an aquarium for my room though, I liked those fifteen minutes the fishies spent swimming around in it before it broke [;

Much love you guys, I'd be significantly more crestfallen if it wasn't for you guys.

Ya can get by with large rocks if you must. Here is a link to a system where the rocks are big.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=235612#p235612

Thanks TCL

The roof top looks like a great place for a system. Just seems a bit crowed already. Have you put on your sad puppy look for permission to move some of the existing plants??

Or will the existing plants simply be re-potted into the AP system?

oodles of progress, the sad puppy dog face worked

So, i have the ST and the GB's set up on the roof, have sealed them all, one of them not firing properly but am pretty sure thats happening because the elbow from the standpipe to the ST is very long and at an incline, either that or the bit of foam I put on the outlet, which is on all three GB outlets, to try and keep any solid matter from getting into the ST and messing up my pump. Flow is more than enough, set up the distribution bit as well so all bits of the system other than the SLO from the FT to the GB is tested and ready. River rocks out on the roof waiting to be put it.

Two 'Moneysteria' plants, a cutting from a lemon tree, and a flower will go into it to start, will be germinating some pea seeds I have tomm those will be added soon as they are ready, I figure will germinate them in soda bottle greenhouses watered with a spray bottle and kept in the dark, will take a couple of weeks tops, unless I'm horribly wrong.

Am a touch worried about the water getting too hot up there, so am going to get a big green tarp and cover up the FT and ST with it, that won't stop the FT/ST getting enough fresh air for aeration will it? Whats strange is that the thermometer currently in the FT has been reading 30 degrees centigrade since I put it in and the water feels quite cold.

Anyhew, tomm will get it done before I go to rehearsals at 5:30 pm, will take pictures of it with a phone camera and make sure I put up pictures of the finished bit. Will start a new thread, link it here, and document the system there, been looking forward to doing that for weeks now

So, will covering the FT/ST with a tarp be detrimental to aeration? and, perhaps this is just me being paranoid, but if the plastic chests I'm using as a FT/ST decide to break down due to UV or heat or water or whatever and start leeching into the water I'll know won't I, because the fish will die...?

I would just make sure to place the tarp such that air can still get under it to the water, don't seal it down tight to the tanks.

It is possible that the thermometer is faulty, I've run into that several times with cheap ones. One guy told me that if I wanted an accurate reading, I needed to use three and if two agree then use that reading.

Leaching, well it is a small system so I wouldn't worry too much at this point. The biggest worries most people have with the chemicals that leach from plastics has to do with the fact that they sometimes act in the body like hormones (another reason why people are getting more and more concerned with plastics and babies/young children since the wrong balance of hormones can mess with development.) I don't know that the possible leaching from the plastics is likely to kill fish. The more problematic plastics tend to be the flexible ones and/or the clear or translucent ones. HDPE plastic seems to be the safest choice followed by a few others. I wouldn't get too wound up on this small system though, remember that much of our food comes packaged in plastics, simply re-using a water bottle is totally dangerous according to some people. (as I take a swig out of my big #1 PETE water bottle that I re-fill daily for weeks at a time before replacing.)

When you start designing a system that is meant to feed you and a young family 100% of your food, then you might get more worried about what kinds of materials you choose for the project.

Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! My system is up! By God its up! After a couple of days of troubleshooting and leakplugging it is all finally up and running on the roof. I've transplanted a moneysteria plant and a chilli plant into it so far, tommorrow some flowers and other greens the names of which I don't know will also go in.

If I can get my hands on a camera right now will put up a video of it with a new thread today along with the final specs.

Couldn't have done it without you guys, I owe you many beers.

Maybe a haircut
bit of a hike to get it though!

good to see that its up and running.
Photos, photos, photos.

regards
Matt

Way to go Abdul...

Will pop the chamapgne in celebration Abdul, and look forward to seeing some pics.
Looks like the bus has left on its journey woohoo

Congrats Abdul - you've done well !!

THanks you guys The bus has indeed left the building!

Have written an inaugural post for the system, am just waiting on youtube to upload my video and I'll put it up.

Oh its up itss uuuupppppppp

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