Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Some more Images

RupertofOZ & Jessy.

I only found what you had listed on SEPT. 1st. 2008. We are slow in Victoria.lol.

The NFT channels on the wall have 25mm, fall in 1 mt. or 1 inch in 3 ft. They are aquaponics. I have been doing hydroponics for 33 years & AP the last 3 + years.
I DON"T do ANY tests on the water, it is all judged on years of experience, as I use to import tropical & marine fish for many years (6000 - 8000 a week) Old hobbies do come in handy lol.
My AP system is a bit different than most, NO GB, only NFT & Autopots.

Cheers,
Laurie.

http://geelonghydroponicgardening.com

Now that I have my Channels up and running, next step is to prepare for the Pot System below. This will be a Drip feed from above each Pot I guess and my question is, "How do you get the whole surface wet as the Pots are 300mm round" Can anyone point me onto any previous Systems that use this method and I can see pictures of what I need to do? Thanks.

Well I know how the old pot growers use to do it they would have a 6mm feed line going to a tee then make a circle connecting both sides of the tee then drill some holes around the circle

Use a watering ring.. sometimes known as a "horseshoe ring" ....

OK thanks Lungy and Robert, I was going to use 18mm Tubing for all this but guess the 6mm would allow a more constant water flow without washing everything away.

Second Question

In the Channels I have, can I plant Beans and Snow Peas? I was going to add wire above to allow them to climb, just wasn't sure if their root system is much bigger then Lettuce?

Here are the Results 3 weeks after planting the Seedlings. All seems to be growing weel except the Snow Peas which are beginning to go brown and die off.

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All is growing better then I could have imagined.

Just can't believe how easy it is compared to ordinary Gardening. Just would never bother doing it in dirt anymore.
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Well finally I've gotten my Decking Material and begun completing the Deck around the pond. I've removed the Planting Channels while I complete the wall. The White Strip is still to be done, I have another Green which will be painted on a Timber Strip and possibly 10mm off the Wall to allow LED lighting. The Pot System you will notice is now hidden within the Decking to improve the look, I've centred all the Pots within each section which means I have to re-drill the 50mm holes. Lots of changes to my original plans as you will see with the below images.

A couple of quickies: How much sun do the autopots actually get? None of the photos actually show them in sunshine....

Those lillies and other pond plants would be sucking up nutrients, so if you're low on Nitrate then you could prune or remove them.

+1 ... lillies are a major nutrient sponge.... but the plants in the NFT are looking just fine... so if you're not planning on any other growbeds immediately they wont be a problem...

Mind you, I do seem to remember someone saying that some types of water lillies could be poisonous to fish...

Photo was taken about 4:30pm yesterday. Normally the area has good strong light for about 5 hours of the day. Sun hits them early morning. I haven't used them in this location yet so if I find not enough light then I'll use them for something that requires less light. Channels will be added at the top of the Fenceline where they were before. This time I'm splitting them into 3 metre lengths with the highest point in the centre of the Fence.

Banana Lillies are there just over winter to give the fish plenty of cover, this is the first winter I've had the pond finished so I wasn't sure if the Lillies would die off. I'll do a good trimming before Winter Ends. Even with all these I haven't had any problems with lack of nutrients.

G'day Ken
Just had a look at all of the pics (from the link on page1)
WOW what a transformation
Who says AP cant be pretty? You have put us all to shame.
Sorry I cant show this to my wife, she will expect me to make something more aesthetically pleasing. Well done.

Wow is right, Ken. That looks really great, you have done very well.
Great to see it finished and so nicely too.

Can we get a mod to delete this thread? If my GF finds out that it can look PRETTY, I'll have a lot of work to do.