Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone

Short Version (TL;DR as we young people like to say ); I'm gearing up for my Aquaponics 2.0 and this thread will somewhat be the center of it all. I thank everyone who contributes to this forum (both by posting and keeping it alive) and look forward to sharing this second part of the journey with you (also keep a lookout for ducks and rabbits!)

Long version;
In January and February 2012 I joined this wonderful and amazing forum after casually haering the word "aquaponics" on the TV late one night (the famous Doomsday Preppers episode 1 that showed the Garden Pool setup). At first I went into all the forums (the australian forums, I mean) but when it became time to join I settled on this one after realizing it was truly the best one out there (I have even corresponded privately with Joel/earthbound once and he was extremely kind, even though it was on an aquaponics unrelated matter).

Then came the moment for my first system so I started shopping around for IBC's, while I tried to convince my mom about the whole concept and the idea that it could work. I honestly didn't really know what I was doing at the time, but I'm still proud of what I got out of it by now.

As my thread stated, it was a first and foremost experimental system, since I knew it couldn't possibly be the ultimate setup I was looking for (Pallets? What possessed me to choose pallets as growbed stands? Well they're cheap and were readily available, but I must admit now that I honsetly can't stand the sight of them and if I use them in the future I will have to figure out some cladding work or a decent paint job.) I actually stopped posting to my previous "member system thread" because I'm at this point somewhat embarassed about it

After setting up my system I soon realized Italy is quite an AP-unfriendly country, or at least my immediate area certainly is. I would never have thought that it'd be so difficult to find decent media (non-limestone, cheap, delivered possibly) or non-floating clay balls, for example, just like I never thought it'd be so damn difficult to find edible fish to buy (which is why I'm still using the original goldfish right now...).

Delving deeper into the realm of AP I realized that all the work I put into the first system, while at first it bothered me that I wasn't having the results I could see in many pictures, would be useful for the future. I kept on researching/studying, reading even more threads (esp. the long ones), talking to a biologist friend of mine, and I had a sort of AP 'renaissance' a few months down the line when I started to imagine different designs, new ideas kept popping up all the time and for the first time I had the farsightedness to write everything down in what I called my AP Notebook.

I also kept researching the hardware aspect and coming up with ideas of how to use what i already had at hand or what was cheapily and readily available, also writing down everything I could about the subject. I spent literally hours looking through pumps (both in RL at hardware/gardening/aquarium stores and on the internet) while also taking better conscience of my surroundings, meaning my house and yard/land, the sun and its' position in the winter, the temperatures and so on (which led to more ideas, more writing, more drawing, more planning.)

This is what led me to where I am now, typing this almost exactly one year later to the day i made my first post to the forum.

I intend this to be but the introductory post of my new series of posts. I have come to many enlightening conclusions and I will take my time to put them into words for the coming month or so when I'll have a lot of spare time to work on the system(s - i realized to maximize the effect I should have multiple systems spread throughout the house/yard/balcony dispositions, but that will come later) and will pester you wonderful people with even more questions.

I also had some major "scores" on our equivalent of Craiglist/Gumtree so I will also be posting those to both
'brag' and ask for suggestions in the use of the various elements I'm now looking at.

This year we're also looking at expanding our small "suburban homestead" as I refer to it looking at some bunnies for meat and some muscovies (maybe even some TCLynx style duckponics to save on water). We've also been interested in PV for a long time so hope to go that route energy-wise, we'll see what the new govt will do as in tax-cuts and/or incentives for solar.

This brings me to the conclusion of this "new first post", my "aquaponics reloaded" but with one year of experience and studies to work on this time! Last but not least, let me thank every major and minor contributor to this forum, your posts, ideas, designs and general brainwaves are all something I cherish deeply and couldn't have done any of this without you, and a major thanks to the BYAP team for offering this amazing service in a "freedom of knowledge" approach which I deeply admire.

Sorry if this is long, I wrote it in a stream of consciousness style - provided a TL;DR at the beginning just in case.


tojo

I look forward to seeing your AP system "Reloaded"

Good to see you having another crack tojo

So I had to look up what "TL;DR" meant, I guess I'm not young?

I liked your thoughts. Your AP notebook journaling your progression is and will be a great resource.

I think many of us can relate to this continuous evolution of design for our BYAP systems. I too am going on a year or so of first starting my adventure into AP. And I'm yet again enhancing my system by re-plumbing it to include new valves and reinstalling the common drain. It will be something like version 3.2 for me. If I compare my AP set-up to software, it is still a long way off from a vibrant smooth running system. Heck my system compared to some is like windows 95 compared to... Not sure, whatever is the hippest current operating system in your mind.

This tinkering in order to make your system better is fun for many of us. I can't think of a better hobby (i know a job it is for some) to spend time doing.

Looking forward to more of your posts.




- John
Qeqq

OK I give up what does "TL;DR" stand for
and yes im old and proud of it

IMHO, it's a sign of the dismal nature of education, reading and knowledge (for all ages) these days in our fast food, fast information societies... it stands for "too long; didn't read" If there are more than a few sentences on a page then some people just wont read it, regardless of how much useful information it contains. Sad, huh?

Thanks Charlie and Aquahues.

Didn't mean it to say anyone was old BTW - it's often found on forums and I could understand someone not wanting to read through the whole thing.
BTW I added the emoticon implying it to be a kind of joke.

Also I genuinely thought it stood for "Too Long - >>don't<< read"... Maybe I'm not so young myself.

And thanks upstateap too!

ohoh now I got it

NOT

It is sad, fast information is right though i think, ill read a couple/ few paragraphs, but over that i dont want to hear about someones life, so would rather it in list form with relevant info only.
im over 30 and part of this "spoiled" generation already. Its hard to blame "young" people for it i think as i wouldnt call myself young by any means.
Not forgetting that these things have been around for over a decade, so most people that get blamed for making such things up and using them alot probably werent even born when they were made up.

Tojo,
In 2011, we were in Italy (mainly in the north) and I saw heaps of stuff which could be easily used for AP systems! I was drooling at stacks of IBCs and bins at wineries which would make perfect GB/tanks, piles of (what looked like, orange/red) pea gravel on the sides of the road; being in agricultural/rural area, there were heaps of stores offering pumps and plumbing. Everything that you'd ever need is there to be found, you just need to get out and look for it.

Pallets can be made more aesthetically pleasing by knocking off the top boards from a few pallets and re-nailing them across the open ends of the pallet stacks, then given a lick of paint. Alternatively, you can clad the whole stack in something like fibre-cement sheeting and paint this, or even colorbond steel; all of which I know is available in your country.

Closer to the mountains, we found fish farmers, who, if asked nicely might even deliver fish to you? Coming from Australia, nowhere in Italy is far away from anywhere else, compared with our distances. If you're in the north-east, there are more fish farms in the hills in Slovenia which have some interesting fish (ugly to look at, but tasty to eat; I don't speak Slovene so couldn't tell you what species they were.)

As for your ephemeral planning, you can find sun-angle protractors online, or even better you can build a simple model of your area in Google SketchUp, position the model on Google Earth and then run through the entire year to show lighting/shading; it's an interesting project to attempt and will give you a good understanding of the limitations in your yard.

HTH. Good luck with your re-design.

in the old days you'd offer a "cliffs notes" version of somthing at the top, then launch into the long winded version. then people could choose the level of engagement they wanted.

I have no problem with a concise "this is what i'm gonna talk about" sentence, then you can decide whether to read the whole thing, or move on

Bunson - thanks, such an insightful post.

A few problems/clarifications pertaining to my area and the way things are done here.

Re: wine bins: my area is a very productive wine area (north - east, on the birder with Slovenia) and I already own one, a 200L small bin I got off a guy almost for free, but the problem with these more generally speaking is 1) most are fiberglass, which I yet have to understand if it's safe for fish and humans or has ti be coated and 2) the average size goes upwards of 700L costing almost double than an IBC. And even when they are 'small' (ie my 200L) they are an awkward shape for a growbed because they are kinda tall-ish. (I'll provide a photo later). It would make a great sump if I ever was to make a sustem with one though

Pea grael - I have literally tested eleven different suppliers in my area and all sizzled very much in the vinegar test i am no looking specifically for inert gravel / river gravel. My area has a lot of quarries but they make bigger blocks, I do have a lead with a very good friend of mine who works with granite daily and could give me the 'scraps' of his cuttings and workings for free, and it should be inert. We have to work around the fact that he has a legal obligation to dispose of it in certain ways.

Re pumps and hardware I must admit I'm pretty well served, though.

Re fish and fish farms: I have two major problems with this in my immediate area.
1) I live really close to the sea, walking distance in fact, so there are very few fresh water fish farms (mainly trout) in my area (in Italy)
2) the existing farms won't even consider selling live fish to a private citizen (non-business), also they usually have a 'contract' with the government that they have to provide X number of fish by the Y date to stock rivers. And this data I have it because I emailed a few farms in my general area and when I got no response, I delved deeper and spoke to a guy at an agricultural/gardening fair and was basically told I could lower my hopes to zero.

Re: Slovenia. I have often looked into it (even thanks to a few members from Slovenia here on BYAP - thanks guys) and have a lead on a small fish farm, last year they only had catfish fingerlings when I wasn't yet ready/cycled, so we'll see. Also there are a few people selling fish (from tilapia to any cold water fish actually) on the slovene equivalent of gumtree, whom I have emailed but have yet to see answered.

I actually kept very close tabs on the sun this year, going as far as taking a few pictures from different spots in the yard at the same time of day ince every two to three days, to see the shade projected by trees and such. I came to the conclusion that I actually hate autumn more than winter, my system never froze over even with very cold temperatures (I think the deeper Gbs helped in this) and stuff actually kept growing. What I didn't like wasn't the cold but the dark, days got to be very short at one point, now it's much better.

My re-design is actually ready, I just have to work up a decent post /diagram to get some insight

Tojo

Perhaps you need to think of a different design than a media bed system, if the media is hard to find.. Floating raft or NFT might be a better option rather than banging your head against a wall looking for media.

Tanks EB I had not considered that enough as of yet truthfully. I was/am anchored to classic media growbeds but will have to rethink it a little more now. (Even though my searches turned up something quite promising on a media front, we'll see how it goes, if it doesn't land I'll think of rafts and different filtration)