Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've managed to score an internship at the murdoch community garden to do an aquaponics setup.
I've got $775 to build this system and lots of materials that can be reused, including wood and tin for the construction of grow beds, at least 1 IBC, a few solar panels (only about 40W each, but can possibly scrounge some from abandoned projects), a pump (that I'm not sure works) and there's also the possibility that I may have 2x3m diameter fiberglass tanks at my disposal as well.

The site that I have is a north facing slope, with trees and a fence around where the fish will need to be at the top of the slope. The slope probably drops about 15-20cm every metre.

I have a few ideas, but thought I would put it to you guys to see what you would build in this situation.
Any opinions would be very much appreciated :-)

sounds good - why do the fish need to be at the top of the slope? If they could be lower your could do the system without a sump.

I was thinking of that, but that's the spot they've given me.
They were mainly concerned about the visiting herons and that spot is enclosed. I may suggest maybe moving the fence, but that area wouldn't be very conducive to growing any veges as its shaded all day.
And I'm also trying to make it as self sustainable as possible, so would use the sump for duckweed and azola as will be using silver perch.

Should be a fun project, Jono.

Got any pics of the area it will go or any design ideas?

No pics yet, will get some next Wednesday.

sounds like fun

Sounds like a relatively steep slope

One tip - run the growbeds in batches along the slope horizontally (on contour) all at the same level, avoiding pumping water uphill where possible. This will reduce head heights on the pumps, which will allow you to run smaller pumps and less electricity usage.

What's the voltage output on the label on the back of those 40 watt solar panels? I wouldn't sneeze at 40 watts - you can still do a fair bit with that and if you have multiple identical panels (all same wattage) you could always connect them up in a parallel wiring configuration to accumulate up the total wattage. eg 3 x 40 watt panels in parallel = 120 watts total

1 x 40 watt solar panel can power up to 3 x 250 litre IBC growbeds with a decent solar pump

Sounds like a great project. Are you going to focus more on Fish, Veggies, AP in general? Do you have to run the project off just solar? If you want, give us some rough dimensions and I can put together a quick Google Sketchup on here so we can round table some ideas.

It will mainly be for vege production. They aren't all that keen on having to spend money every year to restock the fish. I am planning on silver perch so I can supplement their diet with duckweed, azola, worms, maybe some BSF and anything else that I can get for free or grow myself.
There will still be some commercial food given to them as well.
At the moment the site doesn't have power, but we're hoping that my project will help to convince the University to run a power cable there, as there is also a retic controller over there that has to be switched manually.
So until that gets done, it will be an extension cord. I am hoping to eventually go to solar and maybe even use the slope to go hydroelectric, just to add that little bit more juice. But that's a long way off yet as will still need to get hold of some batteries.
Thanks for the offer of the sketch up C-J, I've got the dimensions in a book at home (I'm away at the moment), but will put them up here early next week :-)

It's been a while since I've been on here, been busy with uni and the project.
So a little update on the system.
My funding has been cut to just $500, but I have lots of resources at my disposal.
Resources are;
1x 2500 l fibreglass tank, a few holes have been patched on the bottom, but overall in good condition.
1x 2200 l fibreglass tank, a little worse for wear, no holes, but the fibreglass is showing towards the top and the glass shards constantly coming off when disturbed.
1x 3000 l/hr submersible pump.
Up to 9x Old nursery stands, a little rusty, but still in good nick.
Some tin from old sheds (which I was going to use to line the nursery stands)
3x bathtubs
~500 l of cracked pea gravel
and up to 2x IBC's with the tops cut off already.

My plans have changed slightly, now that I have those tanks, the small pump, the nursery beds and can get power from nearby.
I was going to put both tanks inside the fence and sink them to ground level. That way I can utilise the smaller pump that I have available and gravity feed back to the tanks. One tank would have Silver Perch in it, the other would be a duckweed/azolla and yabbie tank.

However upon doing some research last night, it looks like the smaller of the tanks is going to be too expensive to repair with my budget. The top coat has worn away from being out in the sun unprotected for at least a year. By my calcs, it would cost approx. $250 to give it 2 coats of topcoat.
I really want to make this as self sustaining as possible, supplementing the fish food with worms and duckweed/azolla. Would there be sufficient area in an IBC or 2 to cultivate this and maybe have some yabbies in there?

Some pics of the area that I've got to utilise and the state of the worn fibreglass tank.
I also have some area outside of the enclosure on the plan for use with more growbeds at a later date if more funds become available.

Possibly give it a coat of bondcrete or a high acrylic paint and then use some 200um builders sheeting as a liner.

Had thought about that, will have to price it all up. I know I can get pond sealer, but it works out to be about $250 to give it the 2 coats it recommends (which is half my budget).
Think I may just have to come up with another way to grow the duckweed and give the yabbies a miss, or make a gb on the ground out of tin, underneath the actual gb's, much like BYAP do.

I haves large piece of EDPM liner for sale cheap. I am in rossmoyne which is 5 mins ftom murdoch

Well an update on the system is well and truly overdue.
I have sealed both tanks with a pond sealant, connected them together at the bottom.
After filling both tanks it rained heaps and they were almost overflowing. Ended up emptying one tank so I could put an overflow pipe from the bottom.


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Here's the original site that I was given. A few rocks to remove and a pond liner. Also discovered an older liner beneath the black one and a mat of bamboo roots. Literally could have been one of those woven door mats. Really hard to get through.


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