Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I thought I would start up a thread of my bulky setup here in Karratha. Since this is my first attempt at aquaponics I thought I would keep it simple and cheap.

So I’ve got the GB on top and FT below and ive made up a bell siphon for a flood and drain. Basically copied the setup from BYAP. Hoping to grow Barra below and some herbs and vegies up top.

Here are some pics of the progress.

I've got the bulky sitting on a pallet and a bit of 20mm ply I had lying around. I also cut a groove out of the ply to allow for the drain which sits lower than the base of tank.


I acquired some scrap roofing/wall insulation from a builder mate of mine. As you can see I've wrapped it around the tank to reflect the sunlight off it. Summers in Karratha are in the mid 40's everyday so I don't want to cook the barra.




And to try and reduce that killer sun I have wacked up some shade cloth.


Here is a YouTube clip of me playing with the bell siphon.



Scored some media today! Not exactly sure what its called. All i know is that it's free and doesn't react with vinegar so hopefully it'll be ok. This is me washing it with my cool cooper tube tool. Good for stabbing deep into the media.




My little girl Elora fell face first into the run off from the cleaning. Couldn't help but take a photo


Well thats about it for now until my pump arrives and i'll do some plumbing.


I'll keep you all posted.

Brendan

Looking good mate

Nice work. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll be saying it again soon, I love the simplicity and productivity possible with these single IBC systems!

Just a tip for "next time" (there's always a "next time" once you've been bitten by the AP bug!). You can cut the GB taller than the top rail of the cage and it still wont bow out, allowing for more media ==> more filtration ==> happier fish and "less" chance of things going awry with water quality. As you have it at the moment, I will guess you'd be just under 200L of media, meaning a fish density of less than 8 fish in the virgin system, you might be able to support up to 10 fish in subsequent seasons. If you had cut the GB just a little bigger you could have 300L of GB meaning 12 fish in the first season and 15 fish thereafter; a 50% improvement without really sacrificing too much FT volume. Of course, you'd still need careful management of pumping and oxygenation, but you've got to be cognisant of that anyway.

Be prepared for the behaviour of your bell siphon to change when the bed full of media and when you install the actual pump instead of using the hose. They can be tricky beasts, as demonstrated by the number of "siphon wont start/stop" threads. Enjoy


Scott

Nice start Brendan - certainly sounds like you've done your homework, which is refreshing to see !

Hope Elora pulled through without too many tears

Thanks guys!

Hey Scott, I hear you. When I measured up the bulky for cutting it was above that top rail. But the weight of the media has squashed it down, live and learn But I am hoping add GB's to the system and have the one FT, which will add to the filtration i guess. Also when you say 8 fish, do you mean matured fish or fingerlings?

Chillidude - Elora was all smiles once i gave her the hose to play with. Funny little things kids are.


Brendan

Fingerlings aren't edible (well, I don't think so anyway) so you need to plan on having "grown out" fish i.e. plate-sized. Many people fall into the trap of "they're only small fish" but as a parent you'd know that little-uns eat a lot, make a lot of mess and are always on the go; same for fish, just because they're small doesn't mean they don't produce a lot of waste and don't require large volumes of clean, well oxygenated water.


Scott

Maybe we have stumbled on a niche market! Instead of sardines I could start canning and selling little Barra fingerlings in a tomato sauce

Pilbara canned barra and beans.

Here is another little vid.

And another...

When your finished you can pop over and clean mine . Your not far off an expansion there. Lots of room.

I lived in paraburdoo about 10 years ago and I remember the water being very high in calcium and chlorine, Im not sure if Karatha is the same but make sure you "off-gass" your water for a while before adding fish. It will be interesting to see what PH you get as well.

YEah the water is shit up here. 'off-gas' is that boiling the water before I add it to tank. I think I saw Wal from Newman do something like that. The little paper testers showed no chlorine but hi alkalinity (well its blue, the scale is green). As well as the water being 'hard'. pH is around 7-8 at the moment.

heres a pic

By "off-gass" Im referring to aerating the water to disperse/vent the chlorine from the water, usually takes 24 hours, faster in the sun.

A PH of 7 is considered neutral, over is alkaline and below is acidic. Your definitely on the alkaline side, it might be worth treating your water with hydrochloric acid. It will eventually come down as the nitrification process is acidic but with your high temps and high PH you may have issues during the cycling period.

We'll tackle this one as you go

No worries, thanks for the advice, I appreciate it !

Cheers