Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks for that catch FF, my wife is revisiting her math on that.
We can fit into these two grow bed racks, two 12 inch deep and one, 6 inch deep media bed. The beds are all 6 feet long 18 inches wide. This is why we're calculating for five full 12 inch deep media grow beds.
One of my more wilder ideas is building over the top of the fish tank/pond. I've actually had visions of a movable set of beds similar to a ferris wheel. Yeah, we are running out of space in the greenhouse fast and we've not begun

Time to expand

We're talking now about the choices: Flood and Drain versus Constant flood. Why use a stand pipe, over an overflow pipe? Are distribution manifolds needed on a media beds 18" wide 12" deep 72" long? Seems like water will flow fine down a six foot long and narrow bed just fine.

This weekend, I'm determined to finish the critical cement work on the pond. Sure there'll be more cement work to do, but my goal is get what's in the fish tank as smooth as possible, and let the cement cure for a couple weeks. Then we'll seal it with this too expensive Herco pre-rubber coat sealant. I swear these companies know how to play the DIYer, " Oh you've got to treat the cement with these four different proprietary products if you really want to be certain our crap works." Ever get the feeling we're all Marks?

Anywho, still deserving of thought; we're into vermiculture. We'd love to incorporate some worms into our system, in some way. I've got to do more reading on worms and aquaponics.
DWC, we already bought the Grow Grips, doh, before I realized how much media we'll need to clean 1500 to 2000 gallons of fishy water.

It takes me a while to switch gears. I've been in mason-mode for nearly six months, along with a full time job. I'm a tradesman, WiFi installer for seven years now.

I wish I could buy grow beds here for a decent price. My wife is having fits about the costs at this point. I'll be building our grow beds from steel, wood and lined with plastic, then there are bulkheads or Uniseals for each bed...

Now it is time to dig into plumbing. I don't know, is it a requirement to wear those pants that expose yer butt crack to do plumbing?

Flows: Trying to imagine flows without doing a lot more math. Although my wife seems to enjoy a challenge. Let's see if I have the variables. Head: Top media bed is 9 feet above the sump. Best estimation of FT size in volume: ~2000 gallons Media beds and transient water volume: 236 gallons. Pipe diameter yet to be determined. Pump yet to be determined.

Brian, A big NO on the pants with the butt crack lol, use at least a 35gmp pump, that would your FT over once an hour. You have a pretty decent head, so you'll need to make sure your pump will pump "up" enough and still get the gpm's needed.
I think 2" pipe would be good for the pressure side. May need up to 3" for the returns. I have a chart somewhere, I'll look it up.

thanks

Yeah man making progress

April Pond Update
I don’t know if I can type yet. This was a very busy weekend. I’ll add that it was a really great work week topped off with a fantastic weekend with family and that was topped off with a drive to make stucco even though I had to work alone. After all, Sunday was Easter. One neighbor said to me one Easter many years ago, ” Driving nails on Easter is like driving nails into Jesus.” Thank God, they hadn’t invented stucco back then. I can’t even bring up a proper mental image of that one.

Finish-coat-floated-3-sides-pond-view-from-French-doors
This picture was taken around 11:00 PM. I’m hurting. I mixed, ran the wheelbarrow from the mixer up the ramp, into the greenhouse and shoveled stucco onto the wooden tray I quickly built before getting started mixing. You could say I went over and above my normal commitment to see this project through.

Finish-coat-floated-3-sides-and-bottom-pond-view-from-French-doors
I love the color in this one. In reality for now, it is just grey. We’ve ordered white pond coat for the bottom to enable better view of our fish as recommended by aquaculture experts. Being able to see the fish gives us a better chance of catching fish health issues as soon as possible.

Finish-coat-floated-3-sides-and-bottom-pond-Under-the-boardwalk
I suppose there are other ways to make one’s vision a reality. Having a lot of money would be great, but that goes against my sustainable practice technique. Burning calories instead of money helps in so many ways; my aching fingers couldn’t scratch the surface. However if you’ve been following this project, you know what I’m talking about.

Finish-coat-floated-3-sides-and-bottom-pond-Brian-Rodgers-Man-on-a-Mission


I wanted to do a smooth troweled finish, however I could not get the trowel into all the inside curves without doing more damage to the finish. The idea was get the surface smooth so we can minimize the quantity of expensive pond coat needed to cover the walls and floor. Oh well, this phase of the pond project is anything but inexpensive. The stucco is nearly as pricey as the rubberized coating. It looks good though doesn’t it?

Makes me want to go swimming.

Take care and thanks for reading

Brian before God Rodgers

Looks very good Brian! They make a small curved(rounded edges) trowel for doing steps in pools/spas. In a pinch a large serving spoon will work also. Looks great man.

Looking great Brian, my fish would be jealous of a home like that

thank you, thank you very much

Wow, Looks great

Very impressive Brian.

I know how much work is involved in digging in a pond and you have taken it to a whole new level. Kudos to you.
How is the back holding up to the manual labor?

I have enjoyed the show so far - cant wait to see you get some fishies in there!

Cheers,
DD

I'm pretty sure Brian's got a strong back. Lots of experience.lol Around here we call that "country strong". Not a big meat head from working out at the gym, just real working strength and a functioning brain to go with it. One reason I like this forum...a lot of those types on here. Hard working, smart, ingenious folks. Get R done types. Having employed several hundred people over the years, I can attest that these type are getting harder & harder to find. Too many kids growing up inside playing video games and don't understand how to work.

Oh wow thank you everyone. I know in my head I sound more and more like my father. I can clearly remember the days when he would give me that look after I had been out partying or playing guitar all night when I was supposed to be up at the crack of dawn helping around the ranch. Now it is my ranch, dad's gone, older brother too, and my son, well if I'm very very lucky he'll be here like he said at 8:00 in the morning Saturday to work cleaning the public portion of our five mile long acequia Wait what happened there?

I had my kids, including my daughter, all help me on a landscape crew during high school and college. That made sure that they were all going to not only go to college, but get good grades, so they didn't have to "take over' my business.lol
They at least no the value of hard work, even if they choose to work less with their back, and more with their minds.
Amazing what a few Summers working outside in 90 plus degree weather will do to motivate you.