Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

that pH point is interesting..

i think i might do wood and liner growbed. but still open to further suggestion

Alex, you can look and see how I put my wood/lined grow beds together
My Thread With Grow beds
I simply used plywood and 1 x 4 screwed together and lined. I got some cheap 1 1/2" bulkhead fittings from Aquatic Ecosystems but I've also found that uniseals will work through liner and 7/16" plywood.
Aquatic Ecosystems
I doubt you would want to order from aquatic eco systems but it is a handy place to look up aqua culture stuff so you know what to look for elsewhere.

So some searching online to find a good price on liner with reasonable shipping.

I made my grow bed using 2 by 10's and .75 inch ply wood; lined with plastic.
I am pretty happy with them.

They are filed with pea gravel and if I had it to do over again I would have tuned the under side support boards "edge wise" so it would not bow as much as the system gets older.

Those are some nice looking grow beds.

I hid, I mean waterproofed mine with black plastic since I didn't want to deal with painting.

I just used treated lumber, I did not want to paint either

nice growbeds, both of you.

i've got some rebated weatherboard, lets see how it stacks up for growbeds.

How are the pools holding up? What's the diameter of them? I was considering an 8 ft. diameter but seeing your problems makes me wonder if there's possibly some toxicity issue with the pool material itself or the adhesive used in the making of it. If it's treated with any sort of algicide or anything like silicone II products it's toxic to fish.

ponds

The clear water has not been flushed (actually it is the flushing from the greener pond) as its shallower, i was probably better at cleaning fish out of it. I only put a few fish in this one - more for mozzie control than anything else.

The algal water pond has been flushed once, before putting fish in. Because this was the deeper pond, some dead fish may of remained in it (I thought i had cleared it out.)

the ponds are called 12' diameter. However the base is only 10' with the extra 2' coming from the dilation of the walls outwards (they're not vertical)

the hose is there because i'm currently siphoning the water out as i'm flushing this pond.)


lesson is flushing these ponds once probably helps things stay alive.

also, the piccies were taken yesterday. the water is the same age. ( i suppose the clear water is marginally older older)

OH, you just filled the pools and put the fish in....probably shoulda washed them first.

??

Sorry I was just going on a bit with AlexP. Don't think he much liked his ponds being called pools. All in fun AP

Heh call a spade a spade not a shovel

1 pond i flushed first, this pond i put most of the fish in. ie the fish went into good water.

other pond received the flushed water from the first, i only put a few fish in the second pond, mostly for mozzie control. ie the fish went into double flush water.

oh yeah its called a pond as a pool has certain fencing requirements.
i suppose i'll have a long way to go before i can row a boat in my aquaponics setup.

now there is a thought. that make a good photo