Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi all,

thought i would share a couple of pics of what iv'e been up to. shoveling dirt mainly. 8(. laying a few slabs on the side. anyhow as you can see in the pics i've been landscaping 2 even levels with the natural contour of the land. i have decided to make a large triangular pond to fit on the bottom level. i will have about 50cm of depth to work with the length about 10m and the width 5m. so:

0.5 x 10 x 5 x 0.5= 12.5

so correct me if i'm wrong that would make 12,500L. damn i like that number if my maths is right. at full stocking that would be 25,000L worth of growbed! that like 20 trailer loads of gravel to wash. ouch.

what i envision is having a large number of bed on the level above and using gravity to feed back to the pond.

you can also see in the pics a current project which involves growing algae in ibc's to feed zooplankton. so far my trials have been successful.

i welcome all discussion on the topic. this is all a huge learning curve. reminds me of when i first discovered the sandpit. the possibilities were endless.

ps many thanks to eb for making the algae trials possible. couldn't have done it with out you. i owe ya one mate.

Do you have a drawing of your proposed setup BF? I don't fully understand what you mean by triangular pond?

OK BF... how are you intending to incorporate the fibreglass tanks into the system?

I'd like to hear more about your algae/zooplankton experiment as well mate... how about a separate thread

that is 12.5 cubic mtrs of sand! a big dig!

reckon... reckon it's a backhoe dig .....

terrible drawing but gives you an idea what i'm on about.

the decline to the sump is for easy drain and harvest. growbeds will go where the ibc's are currently standing. im thinking of coving the front yard in growbeds. feed the neighborhood. haha.

as for the algae trial i will go into that in a bit more detail when i get some time. atm i'm focusing on practical work ie digging. its a lovely day today. some warmth in the air with a touch of spring to it. gotta love this time of year.

oh btw should have mentioned that the mesh fence will be moved parallel to the wooden one, running toward the front of the property. the trailer you can see will be within the fence. hope that makes sense.

Go BF... don't forget to keep the fluids up to ya self during all that digging

That's not a nice way to refer to Perth

hopefully this pic can give you a better idea. you can kind of tell the depth by the colour of the dirt.

oh and i confess my dog really dug the hole. haha.

Thanks for explaining the triangle bit, those measurements make up 12,500 litres (only have 1/4 metre of gravel to wash to finish MY GBs )

BF, you are most ambitious! I would have just rented a mini excavator and done the hole in one afternoon. (But, I am older, and not as inclined to doing strenous manual labor when I can either use equipment or hire it done.)
Kevin

yeah i'm young, fit and ambitious, however i'm also broke. spent all my money on tanks. lol. alo i need to keep fit somehow. i look at every piece of work on the farm as free gym hire.

anyhow i ran my ideas over with my second half and didn't get the response i wanted. she thinks i'm crazy! says i already have enough ponds. i ask who is the crazy one? me or her. actually don't answer that i already know the answer. so it looks like the project will be on the back burner until i manage to come up with some convincing arguments.

oh and i should also probably ask the landlord. they may not like the idea either.