Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The council requested that I remove the 'green house' as it was attached to the fence. They were afraid that the fence may fall over (well the way it was originally built it may have with the uprights just placed in soft sand. I have reinforced them).

To keep the council on side I have removed the 'green house'.

I haven't expanded my system yet. Any spare time I have has been spent working on my country back yard. With a bit of luck I will get the shed up this weekend which will give me some time to spend on the AP system. Luckily they do thrive to a degree on neglect.

Howdy Arbe, you have a awesome system, one that i think a lot of people a jealous of. Great work. I have enjoyed reading the thread. I have a question about your air supply. What sort of pump or blower did you use with the trout. I particular it's capacity. Also what was the specs onthe water pump. Cheers mate. Great looking dog
As well.

Mike, sorry for the slow response time.

My water pump is a Pondmax 4500. It is a dirty water pump and uses 65w.

This pump is still in operation and has been performing flawlessly. Touch wood it will continue that way for some time to come.

I have been through two PondOne 4000. It was meant to provide 4000 liters per hour of air to my system but the diaphragms kept breaking after about 4 weeks. The manufacturer would not return my emails (and I gave up trying to get a phone number). I would not recommend them to any one.

I am currently not running any air pump as I only have about 25 Koi.

I have talked to the shop I purchased the air pumps from and they advised that the 4000 was not a reliable pump and that they no longer stock them due to the high number of faulty units they became aware of. Replacement diaphragms are available but are most of the cost of a replacing pump.

Time for an update.

House is sold. Settlement is 16th of November. Now the system needs to be relocated.

Not sure how I am going to do it.

I could hire a trailer with a water tank on it so I can keep the water, but not sure if that is worth it or not.

Will get a clean IBC and relocate the fish - approximately 25 Koi.

Am thinking of getting hold of some bags so I can bag up the media in managable loads and then transport the beds and frames empty before setting them up in their new location.

Will need to source some solar panels and an invertor to power it until the main solar system gets installed.

Open to suggestions/ideas/what ever.

Any neaighbours with salt water pools. They should have a few bags lying around. I wish I did it that way.

I used as many crates I could find. I emptied half the media from my beds and then slid the bed onto the trailer and put the crates in the bed. I pumped a little bit of water in the bed, and dumped the rest.

I tied the bed to the fence and dropped it on a stand, then jacked it up using levers. Had to do it all myself so had to plan it all out.

Good luck with the move. Been a while coming!

I think as long as you keep your media moist you can probably get away without taking the water (other than what the fish need to be in). I did that with my first system that I bought second hand and it 'cycled' within a few days.

would be handy to have some de-chlorinated water at the other end and you'd need to get the media out of the bags fairly quick to stop the bacteria being starved of oxygen. Perhaps you could move some of the growbeds and do it in installments?

BYAP were kind enough to keep some clay media bags from their installs for me when I got my system. If the bags are any bigger they are heavy to lift with wet clay in them.

How far are you moving Arbe?

Thanks for the suggestions/ideas Dr Bee and Mattyoga.

Re the Bags - I pm'd EB a while ago. Hopefully he will be able to find some.

MartinC - about 160km.

Hi Arbe,

That's quite a move. I suggest strapping the whole thing to Charlie's back and he can run the distance. He is a tough guy after all.



Martin.

Your funny, Martin



Congrats on the sale and move, Ray, I know it's been a long time coming mate. I'll raise my glass with you to the next part of your life.

Awesome news!


When I moved my first system I just piled all the media onto the trailer, maybe you could pile it all into an IBC or something, although bags would make it easier at the other end. Don't think there's any perfect solution unfortunately

I believe in you Charlie!

Yeah we're moving in two weeks too. Don't have a system to transport. Would love to have that problem.

Hopefully I can set up a system in the new place, it's a nice sunny location.

Martin.

Good luck ARbe/ glad you finally got things settled and are finally moving to the new place.

Hey I hope you can incorporate all the things you would like to have in your new setup. I know I would like to change a few things in my setup. A sump design for example.

Did you need some help with the system breakdown?

Looks good ,the large outside Tank ,do you plan to build around that .like tunnelling

Congrats on the move Arbe.

I bagged my media months before I moved but kept it moist and in a cool dark place. There was no cycling once I set the system back up so I wouldn't worry too much about the bacteria.