Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello all from a newbie to the forum and aquaponics in general

My name is Luke and I'm a Brit that moved to Sweden 3 years ago with my wife with a dream of having our own aquaponic system, with hopes of being self sufficient or maybe even making a business out of it one day.

After taking some time getting on our feet in a new country, and getting knocked off them again with a new baby, we are finally feeling like we are ready to give it a bash!


We have an old place out in the countryside in southern Sweden, that has an old food shop on the plot which is intended for our project. As the winters are harsh and the summers are hot in short in Sweden we figured that the gigantic celler under the building would be perfect as the temperature down there remains fairly constant throughout the year.

Here is the section of the cellar that we are going to start in (there is even more further in!)



We are currently tarting up the whitewash on the walls before we start cutting and slicing IBC tanks, but we wondering what is best to do regarding the untreated wooden ceiling? It feels like we should treat/paint it to protect the wood, but dont want to put anything on there that may degrade and start to flake off/fall into the system later down the line, does anyone have any ideas what would be best?

Many thanks in advance

Luke

Hi Luke. Welcome to the forum .

I'm not sure about the answer to your question hopefully someone else here has dealt with your situation though.

I'd probably go for a clear polyurethane and let it soak well into the wood.

Thanks Nihbbo, I was thinking something clear but the misses wants some kinda colour in it to cover up the marks in the old wood, would polyurethane with white/colour be an issue? Would be so much simpler if things didnt need to look nice

Yes, FlossieBoss I understand,

There are many colours available in polyurethane paints, mostly intended for marine use, so should cope well with humidity/condensation if that is a problem. You would have to ask your paint supplier on what primer or base coat preparation you would need.

Thanks again for your help, we opted for a clear varnish in the end as the coloured paint was rather pricey and we needed a good few tins of it. Just need to air it out and we can finally start putting the system together

Hi FlossisBoss,

The space you have in your cellar looks huge, i am glad you have clear coated the timber ceiling to cope with the humidity your system will bring into the cellar.

I am looking forward to seeing your system develop over time.

time for some more photos

Mal