Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Number nine next

So are you saying that there's been some sort of surface subsidence.. that's led to the cracking JohnRa???... was the ground levelled/compacted.. as part of the build??

Regardless... from the grow bed photos... it doesn't appear as though end walls of the grow beds are "tied" into the rest of the walls at all.... and effectively were bearing the entire weight of all the media and water in the beds... along the wall row....

The front and back wall of each bank of beds was twenty foot long and only tied in at the ends with the end walls. The other three walls in the middle to divide the bank into five boxes where not tied in. These beds were originally built to hold coco cuir and rice hulls - not near as heavy even when wet. When I changed over to gravel beds the builder though that since the pond walls had no middle support, none was needed here. He overlooked the fact that the pond is in ground and supported on the outside by heavy clay dirt. The GBs had nothing to hold them along the middle of the back wall and it buckled. I think when the wet soil being soft let the beds sink or whatever cause the movement, the weak walls then just came apart. Maybe. I am only guessing. All total in the GBs is used 10 Cubic Meter of gravel so there was five meters in those beds that broke not counting the water. What I am confussed about is all of the front beds look ok but leak like hell all around underneath. The brick waterfall area came loose all around the bottom from the base it sits on and that base pulled back from the pond wall about 1/4 inch. You are correct in that the walls were not properly tied in.

The GBs were built on undisturbed soil, very well packed. The four 20 foot walls that made up the front and back walls of the two banks of beds rest on iron reinforced cement beams. I had these installed for the first system, strong, just in case I ever added weight as I did when I changed to gravel. Four inches of cement was poured over the beams to form the floor which contains the same size and type of iron screen used when house building a slab foundation. I have the same stuff all through my house and drive way. The drive way has never cracked even when they delivered the gravel. That's why I don't understand all of these leaks from the front beds as tho the entire bottoms broke up. I will have to remove the gravel and look at the support beams and floors then. I will have to completely rebuild the GBs anyway.

Wow I am speechless.
The concrete blocks should support the weight of the gravel you had, but it looks like the whole front wall just collapsed.
Again, sorry to hear/see mate.
Hope you decide to carry on.

A few more, number 10

I just looked at the pictures again, some parts of the front wall seem to be 2 or 3 feet away.
It looks like it literally exploded.
Very Very Odd !

Number 11 photo

number 12 photo. Oh, I almost forgot. My MIL said she heard a boom, like a small bomb, turned around and saw cement and water everywhere. That's when she hollard for my wife.

here is number 13

Number 14 photo

Number 14 photo

number 15 photo

Here is number 18

The crack in number 18 above is in the bed that ties the two banks together. The wall to the left of that crack , cracked on an angle about two feet long while I was standing there. I guess it was still falling apart when I ran out. Number 19 now