Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They were kinda progress shots i started building it in November. I only put the lawn in at the end of september. I promise to post better progress shots of the next system.

Here are some current photos of the growbed. I think things are really taking off after i reduced the salt content from 5ppt after christmas. I have heaps of squash and pumpkins on the go and the fist tomatos are starting to form. All the plants seem to be going well except the dill and the spinich which went a bit crispy in the hot weather maybe some shade would have done them good.

nice garden, but where's ur ap system?

Just remember to hide these photos from your other half's. You don't want them getting the idea that AP should be this neat and ,,,pretty.

In all seriousness we should have a AP system of the year with different awards, This would be neatest I've seen lately.

I'd agree with that. Mine would be most cluttered. I know who would get the imaginary prize.

Totally awesome planning there Fish Fingers. Looks totally awesome.

LOL Oh thats funny. As long as it not about me.

PS Tried to post several times my awe at your pretty system. Sarah (my wife) wll not be shown these pictures.

me? My system is just around the corner, so slack! but I'll take the award.

Just a bit of an update and a word of warning on water bridges/no holes overflows. I had my water bridge between the pond and the sump give up the ghost last week and lost enough water to run the sump dry and leave the fish without any air
It seems that air out gases from the water very slowly in the water bridge until a bubble forms it cant handle and it cant keep up. This has happend once before but seems to take 3 weeks and i guess the heat does not help.
So im now a fish murderer after killing 2/3 of what we had in the tank.
I drained my pond and drilled through the side to make the outlet back to the sump a standard 50mm pipe without smoke and mirrors. So having fixed that i got onto Monya and restocked the tank.... not the best time weather wise methinks as today my tank was at 30 deg by 7 am.
Well i have covered my growbeds and sunk 45kg of ice into the system today only to watch it vanish but it did help drop the tank temp 2 deg temporarily.
So anyway a 1/3 daily water change is most likely more useful than the ice and may well happen if either this freezer and or fan setup does not work tomorrow.
For now the fish are getting some bottled oxygen. To combat what was our hottest day in 70 years here in Adelaide.

Desperate measures-

Ooops. She just walked past and announced that that would be a great idea. I think the idea is out. She might start a competitior forum - http://www.neatbackyardaquaponics.com

Chatty

Awesome looking system FF. Certainly brings AP into the real world in a really unintrusive and classy way.

Chatty

Yes but in some ways its not as practical as i would have liked. Im having trouble with the heat both for the fish tank not being under cover and the growbeds not being in a green house or under shade. Even the plants in the dirt garden are getting hammered as the heat radiates off the gravel. I didn't really think about just how hot that could get
My sub-surface lawn irrigation is doing well though so i may still have that at the end of this week.
I must get the pergola extended to cover the tank at the very least as i had planned to do in the beginning.

Thanks for the compliment, but really I was just lucky i found out about AP before i finished the landscaping so i was able to work in the growbed. You should have seen this yard a year ago, full of old car parts and weeds upto my waist. The idea AP system really got me motivated to tidy the place up.

Have you tried laying shade cloth over the gravel between the plants to try and intercept some of the heat? Could you install an above ground irrigation system in the grow bed to mist water over the gravel? Something like a normal 13mm irrigation system and a few misters would do??

Certainly something I need to be wary of for my new system!!

Chatty