Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Set one of these up a while back - Heres some pics showing progress:

Pics are taken a week apart - did have a blip when someone pulled half the plants out a few weeks ago.


29th Oct


5th Nov


13th Nov


19th Nov


26th Nov

The bathtub has woodchips in the bottom (with som eBlood and bone) then potting mix/compost/mushroom compost on top. I'll take some pics of the next one I construct (another 2 in the pipeline) - has a fairly large reservoir in it (2 full lengths of 90mm pipe) - think it may be too much as I've not watered it in a month and there's a mild anaerobic smell coming from the filling tube. theres also a worm farm in the middle.

They seem to be taking off more at one end - not sure if that's shading effects or the fact that the base of the bath is slightly sloped - I installed it so the top was level - might not be much water at the other end thinking about it unless its filled - I've been avoiding filling it as I wanted to run it low to get it to 'breath' a bit.

The woodchips will make it a little like hugelkultur and should help with the wicking.

Nice but I know my wife wouldn't allow me to have old bath tubs in the garden.

Could you shift the worm farm to the drier part of the bath? That would mean you were putting moist items into that area and the plants would be down where the worms were and away from the drier area.

Or you can just keep it zoned and keep the plants which like water down one end and the more arid varieties down the other.

PS Where is the overflow? is it a standpipe through the old plug hole?

great idea - will do that.




Its built into the drain fitting - I extended the pipe all the way to the top so I could inspect it - the pipe has about 10 8mm holes drilled in it at the wood chip level with shadecloth wrapped around it.

Do you know which plants like drier conditions for the dry zone? Does not look like the spinach does!

PS thanks for the hugelkultur ref- had to google it - amazing what you don't know you don't know!

I have some herbs that don't like having their roots wet and a a quick google brings up: Rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram, thyme and winter savory.

There are probably many others as well.

Ha -that explains why we can grow rosemary and thyme in our conventional (beach) garden. Will try a bit of marjoram.

3rd december
cuc's are taking off - worm hotel yet to be relocated
mulch added

10th December



worm hotel relocated - discovered it was too compressed and the worms were not getting in and out - have packed it more loosely, though need to put some material in that will keep it from compressing in future (eg straw).

filled with FT water for the first time since installing - great if I only have to water once per month! though I expect that to pickup once the plants have more foliage to transpire though.

17th Dec



Still a bit odd why growth at one end is so much better than the other....

growth has gone downhill other than the pumpkin - cuc's and toms all but dead/static, laksa is happy. I put one of those two electrode (galvanic) pH meters in this morning and it read 5 so I think my Ph may be too low.

Wondering if its best to add lime to the top up (well bottom up) water to correct or sprinkle on the surface and water it through the soil. I think it may have gone acidic due to the wood chips and blood and bone in the bottom layer - smelt a little anaerobic when first installed - not too bad now....

I have heaps of wicking beds and mine also smell. The blood and bone might be the issue or the mushroom compost.
I've put sand in the bottom of some, soil and also tried coir.

Some of my designs



You should try a worm bucket to allow more produce and easier access to aerate. Plants grow so well around these things

The worm bucket looks good, though would probably take up too much area in such a small bed - Will use that when I do my clamshell wicking augmentation project to the standard veggie beds.

Do you add lime to your beds?

always

ok thanks - do you add it to the top up water or to the top of the soil?

Just put another BT WB together with a twist - this one has the option of conversion over to AP wicking bed at a future data (pending modification to system one and installation of system 2! )

I'll be plumbing in the level externally which will allow me to set the height for wicking bed drainage and also flush the system if need be, ....and plumb it into an AP system if I so choose - this will go into my experimental system when it gets installed..(with expendable fish - sorry fish )...

more pics to follow - run out of light last night.

Only prob with this approach is I can't spin the media guard - was thinking of putting a narrower on inside of it to chop any plant roots should they get through....

I would say your water level is to high in your setup it needs to be a max 1/2 the dia of the bottom pipe max also if possable completley drain it for a few days