Hi everyone!
I've been lurking for a while and it's time to get my (husband's) hands dirty.
We are from Israel, living in the middle of the desert and facing some pretty unique challenges.
My aim is to produce, eventually, all the food my family consumes at home, some with aquaponics, some in the ground.
We are taking it slow and building from there, this system, although a good size, is more of an experiment to get the hang of it and when it is stabilised we will most likely expand.
I have no previous experience with aquaponics but I come from the world of fish so I feel pretty confident about that aspect, we also have a struggling veggie garden so plants are not a problem either.
My challenges as I see them are:
1. Weather extremes; I live on a mountain 700m over sea level in the middle of the desert.
Temps get as high as 43c during the day and 30 at night.
In the winter we get down to 9 during the day and 4 at night.
We had snow for last two years but that is an anomaly, happens once and only lasts a night, it covers maybe 2cm.
2. Critters: we have rock hyraxes and porcupines regularly invading the garden (which is why it is struggling). The rock hyraxes are notorious climbers and can rarely be kept out. They destroy pretty much everything.
What they don't eat the porcupines do. Two nights ago my husband left for work in the middle of the night and found one munching on our fruit trees and discovered it literally ate oir pallet gate up.
The good news is, my husband just started working in a recycling centre for ibcs and barrels so materials are free!
So, we are in the planning phase of a chift pist system and I would love to hear your input.
What I drafted is a two ibc system. Both will be cut 700/300l.
The two smaller parts will be the GBs, one 700l will act as a FT and one as a sump.
We are renting and thus have no intention of burying, but we do have the perfect spot: it has a ledge about 70cm off the ground so the sump will be on the bottom part (where is also our veggie garden so if I need to drain it goes straight to the plants), the FT directly above it on the ledge and next to it the GBs.
The ledge is 2m across so there will be enough space to go around for harvest and maintenance.
I really only have one conundrum... Continuous flow or flood and drain?
From what I've seen, most people go with f&d. As far as I can see, it requires a larger pump, playing around with siphons and I have read of people whose timers failed and the fish died... (another weak link in the system).
On the other hand, cont flow should be cheaper on the pump, simpler to drain and almost fool proof, plus it aerates the water better, a desired aspect.
I intend to connect both GBs through the drainage (although I haven't figured out yet how to go about that.
So, I would love to hear your opinions, preferences, criticism and ideas!
Backyard Aquaponics
