Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Fresh from my intro post, I finally have a couple of snaps of my set up.

It started out a small fishpond but grew into a 5,000 litre hole in the ground. After seeing the Royal Show display, the filter idea went out the window and a 1.000 litre grow bed evolved out of limestone. The limestone capping is till to be added as are the remainder of the river stones to the pond surrounds. Both are lined with liner.

In trying to keep it simple, the sole pump pushes the water to the grow bed where it circulates up one side and down the other before aerating down a bit of a water fall via a spillway. I was initially gowing to fill the GB with medium, however after reading the forum, did not envy the idea of having to clear it out when the time came. Instead, I have used plastic pots with holes drilled all round to permit water circulation and root growth. Medium is pea gravel (needed a second mortgage to go with the hydroton!). The space underneath has so far been great to breed yabbies. There are also a couple of silver to keep the mosquito larvae down.

Throw in 60 odd silvers and 20 marron in the pond and so far it has been working well. The water is clear, there has been some algae growth (plenty of sun exposure). Only just started testing water. PH 7.5 and still to get nitrite / nitrate / ammonia test kits.

Landscaping is to follow as are the rest of the stonework - when my back and wallet recovers......and my wife gives me permisison!!!

Great work. I presume your system is still new? Otherwise you must be pretty hardworking since the spillway is still looking clean.

Nice work Ray. Pleasing to the eye.
Is the pump constantly going? Does the water get a chance to drain away from the pots at all or is the water level pretty much constant?

Just as well you lined the "limestone" grow bed... limestone will hold your pH high...

As long as there's not too much runoff over the limestone capping... from the system or rain... you should be right...

Looking very tidy...

The system is reasonably new but I give it a bit of a clean to keep the green under control.

The limestone capping will go on top of the GB and will not contact the water. It is cosmetic only. The runoff will continue down the spillway so the water level remains constant at all times. The excess in the pond below spills into a couple of overflow pipes at the base of the stone work and into the garden. When I bought my second and third batch of silvers from Nagle Fish Farms in Gidgiegannup, Carey Nagle suggestedI drop a big lump of limestone in the pond to keep the PH slightly alkaline and add some hardeness. As a result, one of my pond stones is a big lump of limestone. I understand the plants prefer it a little the other side of 7 but figure 7.5 is not too bad for PH level (I think).

I run the pump 24/7. It is a Pondmax 8,000 lph so turns the water over roughly every 40 minutes. This keeps the oxygen levels high although the fish mass to pnd / gb is still low at present as most of the silvers are only between 40 and 120cm long. The marron are much bigger and seemed to have grown quicker.

Ray

I like the setup but worry a bit about the constant height water in the GBs. Keep us posted on how it goes.

Nice one Ray.. Enjoy the Lilly while it's there, you'll find that the marron and silver perch probably won't give it a chance in the long term. Mine lasted about 12 months I think before they dug it up.

Wowsers! I hope my SP grow to that size soon!!

BTx

Typo.... Make that mm not cm!!! I wish!!!

Hey Ray, nice looking setup.
If you think about going a gravel GB. Washing is not that big a deal. I got an old flyscreen door. Put one end on wheelbarrow other end on couple of milk crates. Shovel gravel onto door wash with hose, upend into wheelbarrow, easy as.
I am using bluemetal as many others do, a mix of 14 and 20mm I think from memory. It is way cheaper than pea gravel.
Ps when dumping , dump on road or driveway, much easier to shovel.
As my GB is on the ground I just put a plank on side of GB and tipped in with wheelbarrow.

Sorry Ray I miss read your post, emptying not washing is your concern.
Thought I better get that in before someone else.

Great idea Skipd. I have been using small buckets to date. Your idea sounds much better. I do have to clean some more though so will see what I can rustle up. Thanks for the idea.