Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

CC bear, thanks. I'm trying to find someone local with a set I can borrow for an hour. They are a few hundred to buy.

thats what I was thinking charlie, I was going to go for a 10k lph but I was given some smaller ones pretty cheap maybe ill keep them both as emergency spares

Your project sounds interesting! I would like to try and help...
8 IBC beds is about right for 70 fully grown fish, but there will be alot of time before the fish are producing enough nutrient for 8 grow beds. Maybe you could add them as you go?
Problems with the massive tank could be the accumulation of waste, so make sure you have a system to clean the bottom of it.
The fish like a little light, is there a window in the shed?
RE yabbies, they will thrive if you let the waste build up, but the fish and system may suffer. You could spread hidey hole pipes throughout the tank, but you still need to clean it.
Fruit trees are ok - you will need plenty of potassium to grow good fruit I imagine.
The grow bed pumps depend on your drainage system. A normal 25mm siphon needs more than 180l/hr to start draining, but due to friction losses a 3000l/hr pump generally manages to run 3 beds in my experience.

yeah was going to set up all 8 grow beds and start running them 2 at a time and starting with 5 20cm fish then adding fingerlings every few months or so to get my stocking up slowly.

cleaning shouldn't be an issue as its a big enough tank that I can get in there with my mask n snorkel on and siphon the gunk from the bottom (if It doesn't kill the fish from stress) but either way I will sort out a cleaning system.

as for drainage i'm just going to have a timer for the pump so a standard flood and drain rather than a siphon as i'm using so many gbs maybe 30 mins on 30 mins off? (ill figure this one out eventually myself)

and as for the yabbies I was thinking about suspending a bio pod sort of system ( those individual pods about the size of 600ml coke bottles) to keep them separate from each other and from the fish. I would like to grow yabbies out in there just because i can easily catch as many lil ones as i need and i love to eat them

pretty close to starting the measure ups and prepping what materials I do have, just gotta make sure all will go to plan as much as possible and I don't make any noob mistakes before I start throwing what little money I have into it. will draw up some plans and upload when I get the chance.

So keen to get this going but so low on cash right now haha people are so impatient

as for lighting I have done alot of measuring and assessment of the contents of my shed and it turns out the FT is staying where it is. I will be covering the whole FT area with shade cloth and the FT will have half a lid on it so that should be ok to keep the fish happy and the algae away.

EDU (extreme density unit cells) system is what I meant for yabbies has anyone tried this?