Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all I have been quietly contemplating for the past month or so since posting a pic of the gilgies that I have in the creek which runs through my front yard. I did have plans for a full blown system with 5000l tank but I think I will save that effort for school (I have purchased growbeds and tanks from Joel for school, these will be set up next year so stay tuned for that). Instead, I have decided to use the natural creek system as my water source and run grow beds straight off that and see how I go. I already have a decent vegetable garden so the aim is at this stage to put together a system large enough to grow lettuce and a few other things in the AP system. I am aiming to use recycled materials or stuff I have lying around for the majority of the flood and drain system.

Today I started with a growbed made from half a sand filter that was picked up from roadside pickup. A tank flange was used to put an outlet through the base and this was raised up to a suitable height to be used as a bell syphon. Hooked it up to a pond pump and it works perfectly, tomorrow I will get some grow medium and plant it out.

The plan is to have two of these grow beds at each end of the bridge with 120mm pipe based grow beds for the lettuce between them flowing into them. I do have one query regarding this method of grow bed construction and that is can you get some kind of small pot for growth medium that you can sit into holes in poly pipe for growing lettuce in? I think this would be preferable to filling the 120mm pipe entirely with growth medium?

Any comments or suggestions are welcome, particularly from anyone who has set up grow beds off a natural system before.

Cheers,
Mike

Is the GB metal.?

Nice bridge to put the GBs on.

I'd be interested in a nitrate test of the creek, if you could post the results.
I expect it would work, but because it's not a closed system, I have no idea how well.
Lettuce, mint and other NFT stuff would probably do ok, they seem to not need high nutes, but love the water.

GB is fiberglass. I have a plastic one as well. The sand filters that everyone put on their pools in the 90's seem to be out of fashion and they come up quite frequently on roadside chuckout.

Bridge is great for this project, isn't really used and was considered a bit of an eyesore but if this works out a row of GB's down each side will make it look functional.

I have no way of testing nitrates at the moment but they will fluctuate greatly with flow. Should be plenty of nutrients in it as most houses upstream have leach drain septics and we are on clay and rock

very interesting... get yourself a test kit when you have time...
septics... nasty things.
How healthy is the creek, you say it has fish, which is good. Plenty of frogs?
it may be your system is environmentally helpful, not just friendly :-)

good luck.

Based on the amount of frogs fish (gambusia) tadpoles and gilgies it is pretty healthy which is pretty good considering it flows through peoples backyards. Got the first GB filled and plumbed up today. Pump flow is a little to much for the auto siphon and it is not breaking the flow when it is empty. Should be fine once I split the flow between two beds but for now I might have to return some flow straight to the creek so the siphon cuts out and allows it to fill again.

Bed is filled with pea gravel, and planted out a few capsicums and broccoli seedlings I had on hand. I want to try seeding lettuce straight into it but am worried the seed will just get washed down between the gravel. Should I place seeds in cotton wool balls to stop this happening or is it not necessary?

Hey Mike

hows the system going?

see you in the new school year.

clayton.

This is as far as I have got so what you see is the extent of it. Been a bit busy with other things. Plants I transplaned yesterday are looking very happy to day so that is a plus

You can plant your seed directly over the gravel. I'm new at this game and planted seeds into seedling trays and sprinkled the rest over the GB including pak choy which are less than 1mm in diameter and up they come. I have been advised by the wiser ones to use a watering can over the seeds. I did this for only two days and the bloody things are up already. Mind you the seedling trays did the same!

Thanks Rick, Jessy advised me the same and I spead some seed today. Going away for five days so hopefully it will be a mass of new sprouts when I return.

Update time.

It seems that I am really lucky, my natural creek system is really clean and not full of nutrients as growth has been very slow to non existent since I set it up. I am still having fun playing around with it but the system will basically be shelved until I get the school system sorted, then I might have some time for the home system.

As a side note my wife spotted a long neck turtle in the creek a week ago and I have since seen it and managed to snap a photo of it. I think it might be an escaped pet as I don't know if they are naturally found in creeks in the hills.

They're naturally found in the creeks near my place, but it's not very hilly. Very little water though, so they do populate creeks.
Where's the photo you brag of?

Here is the little fella, I was a bit slow and he had already turned and headed for cover by the time I got the camera out.

awww aint he cute? pity he wouldn't pose for you.