Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all I couldn't wait until I was up and running to start a system thread

Thought I would add some shots of the dirt garden pre-AP..........

Currently cleaning out IBCs, collecting media, babysitting yabbies, waiting for pumps to arrive, playing with plumbing.....oh, and entertaining 4 children on school holidays so the AP system might be an extra week away from being photo ready

So here it is...my current garden (yep we are mid-landscaping as well as mid-AP building, so excuse the concrete mixer, piles of dirt etc)

Once I can figure out how to add a SketchUp file, I will post a pic of my system plan but it might take me longer to do that than actually finish the build!

Oh, and this is a test of how well I can resize my images I think I did it right....

Welcome TSalt and so the addiction begins...

Thanks dasboot Yep, a little bit unable to talk to other human beings at the moment....every thing I see is 'oooh, could I use that in the AP sytem'.


These crazy dudes are spending time in a 100L aquarium until I am ready. We have three, and will grab more once the system is finished. The kids love them already. They are extremely awesome to watch

The plan is to have about a dozen of them in the sump tank, with plenty of hides and 'burrow' pipes.

Bit more dirt garden..... and you can just make out the IBC in the carport

And you thought this was a boring, non AP post

Even my driveway can't escape my green thumb (oh, and the Husbands rockin' espalier skills)

I have three varieties of apple espaliered along the driveway, and a 2m wide vertical pallet bed of strawberries, with tomatoes, lettuce and parsley planted underneath I have a total of 9 apple varieties (including two crabapples).

Ok, this three-photos-at-a-time thing is making me look overzealous

Not at all,it just the addiction begining to really take hold..
I can see you have green fingers,do you have experience with fish keeping?

I wish i could grow apples here,oh the joy a pint of chilled traditional scrumpy..

dasboot....I have limited fish keeping skills so far, but I have no problems learning new skills. I am starting small, stocking low, and easing into my system- I would rather that, than bite of more than I can chew. I have kept happy healthy fish in ponds, have dam experience from my family farm, and a willingness to learn from those who know more

I reckon a star in the making,such a good attitude towards towards your forth coming project,looking forward to watching your progress...

looking good so far TSalt, and yes just as basboot implies it is extremely addictive.

Looks like a great yard and def needs an AP system to contribute to its awesomeness.

If you cant screen dump your sketch up image and attach the other option is to zip it (if it is a file) and attach the same way as you do images.

TH, I had a look at your system thread, it is great! (Hopefully) my system will look just as neat when i am finished.

And thank you dasboot, is so exciting......


Thanks Charlie, I'll play with the Sketch Up plans and get them on here Good luck with the move!

Very promising start TSalt, I like the pallet bed and the apple tree!

Ok, here is a copy of my Sketch Up plan (Thanks Charlie!)........really basic, a base of 4 full 1000L IBCs, 2 are fish tanks, two are sump tanks, the grow beds use the ibc frames as a stand. Water is pumped from the sump tank to the growbeds, then bell syphoned back to the fish tank. Pumps run continuously, and turn over the fish tank volume once per hour. There is a SLO in the centre of each fish tank, that drains to the sump tank, to keep the fish tanks a constant 900L volume. Each tank/sump pair has it's own 2000lph 50w pump.

The pdf has no plumbing....a little too complicated in Sketch Up for me! I kinda just used already uploaded components to give a general idea of my plan.....the bell syphons in the pic are at one end of the GB, mine will be in the middle of the bed. The plan is to use 50mm pressure pipe.

The whole thing will be insulated around the perimeter to help with water temps. Probably vertically installed decking....an access window will be installed in each sump tank, and the fish tank cover will blend into the cladding material.

Benches run around the outside of the unit, to facilitate easy harvest of growbeds and by default create heaps of outdoor seating.

The plan is to double this unit once I am happy and confident. So in the expanded unit will involve 8 IBCs (4 FTs, 4 STs) covered with 4 large growbeds.

Let me know if I forgot anything, or if you see a massive hole in the logic... Happy to take advice