Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

5

House is almost complete so I can get to the good stuff out the back soon.

Pic's to follow.

Subfloor complete.
The water 2000 L tank is underneath.

Water level will be 100mm below underside of joists.

Heya,

It's been a while. Progress on the pond halted. I just rigged up a temp solution to feed my autopots on top of the wall and on the upstairs deck with some hardy flowering plants and the capillary Bonsai table is all hooked up.

It's very temporary but does the job.

The house is done and the deck is in and I have some time off so this is a good opportunity to start the dig.I have been trying to lock down the design of filtration / waterfall and balance ease of maintenance with a purty look. I have been grappling with this for ages.

Cheers,
DD

We have been getting some visitors to the pond.. This guy cleared out a bunch of goldies last summer. My yabbies and Aust Bass survived. When I dig the pond I think I may need to have a method of scaring off the local fauna.

The upstairs deck Autopots ( fed from the pond). Shot was from summer. Was very productive year - we got loads of toms.

Pots on wall are doing nicely. Not sure what species the red flowering one is. I started with one cutting and they propagate really easily. I want the plants to cascade down the wall and cover up the ugly pots.
The pigs face is cascading nicely, another 6 months and it should cover the pots and come a couple of feet down the wall.

I might throw in some vegies that cascade nicely and have them utilize the full sun on the opposing side of the wall in spring. Maybe some cucumbers and zucchinis

Ok so I have sorted the design for the pond dig including floating skimmer pump and drains.

I am going to use 2x 60 Ltr Drums one for solids and the other for filtration. Appreciate advice on how to configure the drums.

Re the pic, the pump is submerged about 400mm below the water line, the bottom drain draws to the pump and the pump expels to the skimmer and to the Drums - these then expel to a water fall.

Hmmm... Vertical garden aquaponics?

Anyone tried this?

It occurred to me that the lack of replies to my posts relates to the fact that my design is:

a. Not purely aquaponics - a hybrid
b. I am a bit spammy.

Despite the absence of responses, I will continue to post stuff as it's novel to have a catalogue of progress.

I moved 2 Sqm of soil from the ground and shaped the pond over the last couple of days.


Inspired by - Pic 1, Revised skecthup design layout - Pic 2

Dig

Hi, lovely setup, will be a great space when you're finished. But I'm a little confused as you said you had a visitor to the pond which you haven't built yet ? Just curious, do you know what sort of bird that is ?
Don't think a lack of replies equals a lack of interest, maybe its just that your system is so well researched and planned that there's nowhere we can jump in and say " no no, do not do that, you will kill all your fish". However I did wonder if decking oil or stain might drip into the pond ? Also you mentioned yabbies and bass, were they in the same pond together ? I thought sooner or later one would eat the other. What fish are you thinking of growing this time ?
cheers

Iooking good - I missed your previous posts so this is me jumping in to say 'don't stop posting!'

Where will that maple be planted? Will it have enough room/soil?

And since aquaponics itself is a hybrid, different variations are all still very valid, as long as they work for you :-)


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Dig Dig

Thanks Rendang. Glad to see that there is some interest out there. It was starting to feel like a "dear diary" journal!
The pond visitor was a Heron (I think - or some sort of waterbird thingy), the Yarra river is not that far from me and he must have spotted my "temporary pond" when flying past - the temp pond is just a large Barrel fed from another Bio filter barrel. It's pictured in one of the earlier pics near my bonsai. The temp pond has one Aust bass (he's getting on to 12 years old now) two yabbies that clean the algae nicely and prior to the wren visitor about 12 goldies... there are just 2 goldfish now.

Good point about decking oil. I coated the deck when first installed about 10 months ago with a non toxic water based product, and am just going to let the deck go grey and not oil it from now on. Particularly as the deck cantilevers the pond the likelihood of getting decking oil in the water is too great.
It's Merbau so it will stand the test of time just fine without oiling.

Still undecided what fish species to put in. The Murray cod is a strong contender as they are endemic to Victoria and apparently grow fast. The pond is 1.4 meters deep at the lowest point and probably 3200 Litres (haven't done the math yet) but given the volume and depth species options should be pretty broad. I toyed with getting trout but am told they can be a bit finicky about water quality and need lots of aeration. (the water fall should help on this front)

One consideration is that my Scotties like to fish, so if the fish are not nimble on the surface they could be lunch. The bass only touches the surface when he strikes for food and he is quick as a flash. The goldies are expendable.

Cheers