Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

That is one awesome system, DT!!

Looks very sturdy. Great to have you back!

THanks all... It is good to be back.

Dbl Post

Good to see a system coming together in the 3rd world. Some great ideas witht he concrete beds. Just a note you should look at ferrocement. Now where was that thread?....Here it is

I looked at the thread and would really like to see a pic of your tanks. That is something I have been considering since I first started AP.

I have used cement Growbeds and it does rais the PH a bit and holds it there. Tilapia can handle that and the plants will lsort of tolerate it until the system matures I believe.

My fish tank is cement and my ph is right at 7.0 after 8 months of AP in it. It started at 8.3 though. The plants have definitely imoproved as things have stabilized.

It has been a while since I have been on. I had around 10.000 posts to catch up on. It is good to be back.

I had a go at the ferro cement Growbeds and they are not turning out to be what I would like. They are really heavy to move and I haven't ben able to find a good mason who will do things the way I ask. I am sure if done correctly they will work, I ma just having a hard time getting them done correctly for the price I need to make it feasible economically. I definitely will keep experimenting when I get the time and more R&D Funds.

For the mean time, I am going to make them out of locally available pine boards. For $14.00 US I can make GB's 30 cm wide, 30 cm deep by 2.8 m long. These will be lined with locally available black polyethylene. The GBs should last at least three years if the liner is long enough to flop over the sides and protect the wood. I will also be using locally available lava rock from the neighborhood volcano.

I will try to add pics as I progress.