Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oh Shelgeyr, you do have some adventures. Your thread is a mix of highs and lows and an enjoyable read. Sorry about your ducks and did you find out what had happened to the fish?

Thanks, Faye, and yes... the two back-to-back fish losses were caused by a stupid plumbing error on my part in the Frisco system which caused the tank/tote to get pumped dry while I was out of town, and somewhat the opposite problem in Dallas where the pump just up and quit working - and since I was using it both for circulating through the growbed and aeration (from the returning water), all the fish asphyxiated.

Between the two, that wiped out all my adults (excepting the ones still up at the Frisco school, but my access to those is somewhat limited).

Between a clutch of juveniles I had previously taken from the Dallas tank, and some fingerlings I purchased for the Frisco tank, I've been able to restock and both systems are chugging along fine - it is just that it will be quite a few months before we're back to having "plate ready" sized fish.


I did have one other minor mishap that I'll post about shortly, but thankfully in that incident nobody died.

On Friday, October 4th, I was moving a greenhouse from my Frisco site to the Dallas site, and had to do so in segments because my ancient trailer is too small to hold the whole thing at one time while still assembled, and I was too lazy to disassemble it to the point where all the parts would fit - preferring instead to make multiple trips with large pieces.

Here's a picture of how I'd strapped in the first section to get ready to head South:



When I arrived in Dallas, and pulled in front of the big double gate through which I planned to carry the frame, I was pleased to be reminded that the road tilts ever so slightly towards the curb, which meant that if I parked on the left (which I did) the greenhouse frame kind of balanced itself while I unstrapped it.

This was foolish, naive, stupid, and something I definitely should have known better about at this age. Nevertheless, I unstrapped the frame, walked around behind the trailer, and opened the trailer gate, which put me standing in the street to the right of the trailer.

BANG!

The falling frame (which I had not seen coming) smashed me across the top of my head, knocking me almost to the ground.

I stumbled into the neighbor's yard across the street and lay in his grass for a moment before I realized "Duh! I can't leave it blocking traffic like that!" (not that there was any traffic), so I got up, and finished the job of unloading the frame and dumping it in the back yard, hindered only momentarily by the flow of blood obscuring the vision in my left eye.

Long story short: 3 inch long laceration across the top of my skull, which was also quite wide because the cross-bar which hit me could NOT be called "sharp". It took 13 staples to close. I have before/after pictures of that as well, of course, but I'm not posting them here out of what I hope is taken for good taste.

I strongly considered going as Frankenstein this Halloween, but alas the staples have since been removed, and all is well.

I'm fine.

ouch! Glad to see you are still around.

Ouch!!!!!

Just putting out feelers again - I have to get rid of my last big tank that I'm storing on the industrial property that TXDOT is taking for the I-35E expansion project. Anyone interested in it?

As I've said to others, at this point I will be letting it go for somewhere between "little" to "nothing" since I'm working with a tight deadline and I want SOMEONE to benefit from it.

Any and all options/feedback will be welcome and appreciated!

Shelgeyr,
It sounds like you build some pretty impressive systems! I wouldn't mind seeing that one at the Frisco Center. I sadly have no use for that 12k tank you have. Do you have any IBC's you're willing to part with?

We can certainly arrange a visit to the system at the Frisco CTE center - just let me know when you'd like to see it and I'm sure we can schedule something.

As for IBCs, yes I do! Same as above - let me know when you'd like to cross paths. Most of my IBCs are down in Dallas, very near Preston @ LBJ (I-635).

PM'd you my contact info. Would like to do something soon on the IBC.

The fate of my last giant 12Kgal tank has now been determined!

Parker817 and his buddy/business partner "A." came to my assistance, and we happily loaded up the tank this afternoon.

It will hereafter start a new life in Weatherford, TX, safe from TXDOT's rampaging bulldozers. The guys are still probably driving West as I type this - they had a long way to go!

Here's a couple of pictures of us starting to load it. I didn't get any after we successfully got it on the trailer, but rest assured we did.

Good luck, Gentlemen!

Crazy

I got the "dangerous when in the presence of someone stupid" greenhouse frame put together at my Dallas site (except for the door, which I'll install last since you can't get an entire tote through it), and am attempting to expand it by attaching the frame of a circular trampoline (using half on each end, turned vertical), and connecting the "leg" fittings with pipes.

Here's how it looks prior to attaching the trampoline frame:




And here is how I hope the un-skinned frame will look(ish) once I have the tramp frame attached:



Installation didn't go according to "plan" today - but fear not - there were no injuries!

I bought some metal straps from Lowes which, along with self-tapping screws, I had used to keep the tramp frame segments together (they have a tendency to fly apart), however it turns out that when I try to install the frame all alone, by myself, in the cold, in the rain, in the dark, I apparently have a tendency to put too much torque on the frame, so I ripped out one of the straps JUST as I was about to get the darn thing in place after having struggled with it for a half hour, sending it (just the tramp frame - the greenhouse is fine) crashing to the ground.

I'll try again tomorrow, when I can hopefully see what I'm doing.

Anyways, if I'm successful, the expanded part will hold three IBC totes, while I'll be hiding a 500 gallon flat-bottom and a 450-gallon conical-bottom tank behind the greenhouse so they'll be out of sight from the house. I still lack several things I want for this new system, but since the greenhouse is hard up against a seasonal well and a seasonal creek, then unless we get one of those epic droughts next year one thing I won't lack is water.

It's a nice piece of property there. I was definately jealous when I saw it!

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How are you planning to skin the tramp frame section? I'm a bit worried that you may experience "ponding" of water on top if there isn't enough slope and sagging of the connecting pipes could mean collapse if much water is able to collect on top.

I covered a structure with similar design with clear plastic. Rain collected near the top until I had hundreds of gallons of water hanging over head. The problem was caused by the horizontal supports. It starts with a small puddle weighing down the plastic and from there it only gets worse.