Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK... so i know this has been going on for ages, but quality takes.....ages and we have heaps of other stuff going on around the place, so pond takes a back seat sometimes.. anyway, this is my FT before and after texture coating. The inside has just been lined (blue) and I am in deep discussions with glaziers over how a piece of glass can differ so much in price, pending where i get it from...
15mm thick glass at my sizes quotes between 440 and 895... and if i go 19mm thick then look at 600 - 1598!!!! 1000 difference... HOW?????

anway i have around 1500L of water in pond at the moment and my new 10000lph pump circulating the water into itself. I have taken temps and so far in the past 3 weeks it has not gone over 19 degrees.... thinking trout all year round.... any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

definately going to have to get more GB's although with my big pond and my 1000L BYAP tank I think I will only run around 50-60 fish all up.

any ideas welcome as always.

Add GB's and an air pump and the temps will go up.

righto.. duely noted. i will keep eyes on what it does when i link it all up. i am kind of hoping that the FT being 4 feet below ground will help me out a bit like a heat sink... over 3 cubes of conc below ground too. Also the pics dont really show, but the whole thing is under my patio away from direct sunlight out of the weather etc.

The concrete and below ground may help, however if going flood and drain grow beds out in the sun and plumbing running around in the heat, very different situation. Flood and drain grow beds are incredibly efficient chillers of water during cold weather and highly efficient heaters of water during hot weather.

It will be interesting to see how you go. Tank very impressive by the way.

tank should be very impressive when complete.... window being the hold up...
just thinking of how i can do something kind of decorative with some smaller GB's but more of them... might see if the neighbours want to get in on it and put two beds on their side of the fence.... i look after fish, they score vege... and some fish and in return i get more filtration....

KISS Keep It Simple Stevesmartt.

It must have been you that said you are more keen on the fish side. I'm a bit the same here, but without the vegetables, there aint much to do!! You can always grow perenial stuff that just keeps on growing. Rubarb is one for example. I hate the sh#t but friends love you when give it to them.

I would do this, give stuff to your neighbour, rather than have them hooked onto your system. This way you have control and won't have to question your neighbours when something goes wrong.

Hey Stevesmartt,

What did you use to waterproof your tank? And what did you texture it with? I'm been trying to figure these things out as mine will be concrete block construction similar to yours....no window though.

More pictures would be nice....!!!!....

Thanks
Mark

I know nothing about glass, so this is probably a silly comment, but when I was thinking at one stage about building a concrete tank with a glass bit at the front, I was considering using a piece of that glass they use for pool fences etc. It is thick and I think it has some sort of plastic core for strength. Cutting it to size would have been an issue, so I would have made the tank to suit. You can pick these pieces of glass up at a reasonably price on ebay etc. As I said, I don't know whether these are strong ehough and would have done more research if I'd been going to continue in that direction.

Thats laminated glass that you are talking about there VB, where two separate sheets are glued together. They are easy enough to cut if you know what you are doing. The advantage of this stuff is that if it cracks it will only be cracked on one sheet and would therefore remain waterproof. Safety Glass on the other hand has to be cut to size before being heat treated and will shatter on impact. Safety Glass is also much more expensive and may be why your quotes vary so much as some may be quoting you in laminated.
15mm is a mighty thick piece of glass, I dont think you would need anywhere near that thick. I have a few tanks with windows in them and they are just 3mm perspex.
Rather than putting just one sheet of thick glass have you thought of maybe putting two thinner sheets?? You could put 6mm laminated on the inside edge and fit either 6mm safety or even perspex on the outside edge that way leaving an air space inbetween as in double glazing. If the outside sheet were to get broken the tank would remain water tight as the inside sheet is intact. It should also work out cheaper using two thinner sheets than the one thick one.

I had the whole thing rendered inside and out (cement render) and then Had what seems to me like a paint base (tinted for colour) with sand and cement added screeded all over the out side. It lasts for 15 years in the sun, which mine is not and can be pressure cleaned. i will put some photos up of the brand of texture coat later today. The inside i lined with Pond Shield. Available from Pond Armor In Cali. Get a hold of butch and let him know steve in Australia pointed you to him. The liner comes in 6 different colours including a clear. Its epoxy based and paints on. Pics soon of that bit.

I looked at pool fences and here they are Toughened glass at 12mm thick. Cheap yes i would love to install one... BUT... once toughened, it cant be cut.. trust me I looked everywhere for someone to tell me different. Laminate glass is good if it had a curve to it and can be cut easily, but as a sheet of glass with a water column behind it its strength is only that of half its thickness...and if it breaks, yes it will hold itself together but both pieces will break but stay in place which is good in theory but will put a pulling force on the sealant around the edge of the window and pull out anyway.

I spoke with the same aquarium manufacturer and gave them all the dimensions of the pond and the water column behind the glass. Based on the same safety ratios they work with when building their products, Yes 15mm would be sufficient in plain float. toughened will be better, but when they build 9ft 4ft 4ft tanks they use 19mm float and have never had a problem. and i dont want problems.... ever.
Looked at thick perspex but it scratches way too easily.

Also.. troutman.. how are things looking for this year with your stocks?

thick perspex with thin glass either side ?

perspex is still dear when it gets up in the thickness and to be honest two bits of thin glass, laid up on perspex.. if the inner glass cracks, it will mark the perspex anyway... I have majorly over engineered the whole thing so far, so with the final bit being the glass... i will continue and run the 19mm float i think.

just put 2 goldies in the big pond to see what they think... i cant hear complaining and the water tests well so i figure they love it.

Plenty of fish in stock Steve, just have to get them thru February which is traditionally the warmest month. Will start taking orders mid March.