Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looks more like a squirt than a leak!!

sure does!...
plant look happy though

Anyway, like i said, i got sick of seeing all you blokes building proper systems, so i spent a little time on mine today. Was going to make it a permanent setup, but cracked the shits at the "B" when i found that they were charging $4.53 for 32mm END CAPS didn't even bother looking at the rest of the stuff, and they didnt have the 4-way T's anyway!

So i have made do with yet another "slap-up temporary" system until i can get myself organised to go to a real plumbing store with a list of fittings i need.

I set up the bathtub on the frame that i had welded months ago, and half filled it with expanded clay, which apparently doen't count becasue you don't have to break your back and bleed your fingers LOL

I bought 3m meters of 50mm DWV and a 50mm trap to connect to the bath drain as return to the fish tank.

I ran 19mm LDPE up the 50mm drain and out the stand pipe (looks much neater than having pipes hanging mid air) The jury is out of whether the remaining space in the dwv will be enough not to clog.

Anyway, i transplanted all the indoor strawberries and a few of the pak choi from the outside system into the bath tub grow bed, and T pieced into the pump that is still running the original 60L "grow-tub" under the mini-green house.

I got excited and sprinkled some arugula, capsicum and radish seeds into the grow bed aswell.

Pump is still running 24/7 but i may put this on a timer when i divert full flow to the bath tub bed (a few days)

Rather than drill holes in the stand pipe i slotted it with an angle grinder. I also placed a large helping of sea shells around the base of the stand pipe before filling with expanded clay.

Like i said, its still a temporary set-up, but better than the original.

I'll try and post pictures tomorrow

Steve

Such a tease.
Cutting slots would be quicker than drilling holes, too. Next time I need holes in a pipe that's the plan.

It may cause problems with the integrity of the pipe and bed when you go to spin it. Say a wee bit of gravel hooks under a slot, gets dragged in circular motion, eventually cuts hole in bed...

Could be wrong, Steve can be guinea pig. (or cave canary) which do you prefer Steve

cave canary

Here is the return to the fish tank. you can see the pump outet pipe T'ed off and running up the PVC return.

Within the next day or so i'll branch off the black LDPE pipe to get better coverage over the bed, and transplant the remaining two pak choi from the original tub and also move the original media over to the bath tub.

I'm expecting a little "shock" becasue the bulk of the bio filtration is happening inside the original tub, and i'm sure it will take a week or so to adjust to the new water paths though it.

The PVC return is not even bonded to the trap, as i'll be changing the system around at some stage, and i found that becasue the trap had a 400mm "tail", it being on a slight slope, and the fact that the DWV slid snugly over it there are no leaks. Makes it easier to change around without cutting and wasting PVC

Steve,

Good to see you like mowing the lawn as much as I do.

LOL...
God invented fire for people like Steve... if you wait long enough anything can be burnt, and steve knows this

oh yes, good to see some progress at your place Steve...

Pipe within drain is a good idea.

I thought you meant upright cuts on the pipe Steve, those look fine.

I think you have to behave as you will hate it in Hell, everythings already burnt!

BigRed, have you seen the earlier pictures of Steves torched lawn mower?

i must have missed that pic too Joyce, off to look for it now..

that's it, now steve wants to go to hell, heard that it was all full of fire and stuff