Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They say that "Nature hates a vacuum." The same is true for me and space. I can't bear to look at an unused piece of my garden that I just know could be used for an Aquaponic system.

So I dug a hole.

I sloped it from 500mm in the shallow side to 1.2m in the deep side. I made it 4m long and 3m wide. Then I sat back, had a beer, and decided what to do with it.

I visualised a tank of about 10 000L that I could stock with Tilapia in Summer and Koi in Winter. I've converted my home system into a Tilapia Hatchery so I need plenty of pond space. Obviously it'll be too expensive to heat in Winter, hence the Koi. For growbeds I'll use some of my trusty 500mm PVC half pipes suspended somehow over the pond.

Then I threw a concrete base built some shuttering and cast 150mm re-inforced concrete walls.

Attached are some action shots up to where I find myself now.

Next week we'll plaster the inside of the pond with some waterproof admixture added and then paint with fish-friendly waterproof paint. I have to think of a way of supporting these 4 x 2m 500mm PVC half-pipe growbeds over the pond. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Attached some more images.

There's just no stopping you Synaptoman...

You never do anything by halves do you?

Most people would be happy to have that as a swimming pool.

Only 500mm pipes...

could you support the half-pipes by sitting them on top of thinner upright pipes , with the uprights just standing in the tank ?

some could be used as return pipes if holes were drilled / cut near the bottom - returning GB water directly to the bottm of the tank

could be made stable if all the GB pipes were somehow fastened together

You can just run a few lengths of steel. If there is a lot of weight you have to bridge them to increase there load or railway line is good.
But the first question is why do you want them over the tank. Is the tank going to have a roof so you can walk on it to use the GB's. If not then using the GB's might be interesting to see. If they are just for the bacteria and the plants are going in somewhere else then it would be okay. If not you might have to space them with a walkway in between.

seriously impressive

Bree

Float them on a raft? Pipes running the other way with end caps. Allows them to move with the water level.

We've now painted the pond with a fish-friendly waterproof paint. We did 2 coats in white and then when it looked rather bright put on a final coat in grey.

Nice tank! Must be nice to have those concrete mold panels.

Lots of places hire them out Dand...
or melamine with a strongback is how the rammed earth was done
that forms part of our home.
cheap for a one off.

Always impressive S!

It's a credit to you again
the work your crew do is wonderful to see

Hi S:

I have been intrigued of late by commercial roof construction, to make suspended grow beds. For example, the use of open web steel joists and corrugated decking with liner and gravel on top. Or just the joists holding pipes with catwalks in between. I think with the load ratings for commercial steel floor construction you could definitely support gravel (They pour a layer of concrete on the decking to make floors in skyscrapers so it would definitely hold a layer of gravel and water). Open web steel joists would work well to suspend your pipes over the water I think.