Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well.... I hope it's a productive pond.

I'm not sure how to move a thread to a different forum, but this will be a continuation of the thread I started in General System Discussions.

My plan is to do a simple system in the middle of my dirt garden with a 1000L inground pond pumped to 7 100L blue half-barrels and a duckweed tub (haven't worked out what I'm using for this) with loop syphons for the beds and a venturi drain for the duckweed tub.

Any comments are appreciated. I've finished digging the the 1000L pond (1.1m deep in clay ) and made a kiddie cover. Currently I'm trying to neaten up the liner and edges and finding that 500L of water might have been too much to put in to stabilise the liner..... and that siphoning out water from an inground pond doesn't work

Oh well.... the garden does need a bit of water. One watering can at a time.....

Here is a more advanced image in sketchup with the return pipes. I was hoping to use garden hose for the loop siphons, 40mm for most of the return pipes and 90mm for the final return. Will this work or do I need larger pipes? All except the last return pipe bit will be handling 2 growbeds max.

I was trying to also work out the amount of 'tide' on the pond. Each barrel, when filled with gravel will hold about 40L of water (I think), with 7 barrels thats 280L if all are full at once.

280L / Area of top of pond = about 23cm

So the pond will drop about 23cm max - less than a quarter of the entire depth. I hope to keep the auto-siphons not synchronised to minimise the disturbance to the fish.

Just tested my 1/2 blue barrels. Full of 14mm scoria, they hold 32 litres of water

Here are some pictures I took today.

Does aquaponics bring insanity? After assuring my GP I would be careful not to catch a chill and telling my husband I was too sick to go and watch the kids hockey with him, I donned my wetsuit, went out into the rain and jumped in the pond to straighten the liner (a real pain, had to empty most of the water out a- water is heavy).

Hi

Nice woodwork on the octagon. So did the chill get through the wetsuit? Mine is only a 1mm suit and i can stay warm in Winter in the southern ocean with that.

Must make it safer, that cover on top looks quite dodgy.

Very neat though, good work on that liner, both with the cover story and the task

Thanks Erich - looks like I wont have a too big tide.

The water was chill, my suit's only a springer, I've been swimming in Tassie in it and only lasted a few minutes. Fortunately was not that cold in the pond

Yup abdul, cover is somewhat dodgy. I will be fastening it to two stakes well and truly hammered into the ground and fastening the front bit with a child safety catch (not the ones that my kids can undo). Very much doubt it can take an adults weight for very long, but should take a kid's weight. I can't break the wood that I've used at that length by jumping on it.

My hubby was not surprised to find me in the garden when he got home, or that I'd been out in a wet suit..... well, that I'd been in the pond. He actually congratulated me for actually wearing a wetsuit. He knows normally I'd be stupid enough to just jump in.

Good work FW looks cool

There is not a proven 100% connection, but it does seem common. Symptoms may include insomnia as visions of system plans drift through your head, involuntary stalking of trucks loaded with blue barrels, and visualizing everything as part of a potential system. Physically immersive behaviors are less common, but have been known to go as far as using mask and snorkel and flashlight (in a couple ziplock bags) to check fish hiding 5 meters back in a thermally stable but particularly inaccessible tank design. If your behavior ever causes concern, the best thing to do is sit quietly by you system with a beer, take a deep breath, and say "I'm FINE! I can quit any time I want."

Fun fact: did you know that "being in an AP state of mind" is a legitimate legal defense in forty-three US states and twenty-four countries?

More seriously: keeping your loop siphons out of sync is not possible. You will get random drift, but judging by your calculations it will be fine even when they occasionally sync-up.

Have fun!

Well things have been very busy for me recently, but I finally got my blue barrels! I had a bit of trouble sourcing ones in my price range (low) that were not the screw lid type (I don't think these would seal as well as the others). Finally I found some on Appin Rd - only $10!! (Lovely old lady, she has more and I saw a few IBCs as well)

Two of them contained Benzalkonium chloride (sp?) which is corrosive etc. but is also used as a preservative in various saline nose sprays and such like, so I figure the minute amount left after thorough washing will not harm my family, even if it could possibly make establishing the bacterial colonies a bit hard at first.

Now comes my problems. I bought a pond pump with a 10m lead..... only to find out that 10m is only just enough and causes tripping problems etc. How have others got electricity to their outdoor setups? I have a sparky coming tomorrow to discuss how to do it, but that could end up costing a huge amount - more than anything else. Apparently the shrink wrap stuff that you can use to extend a cord is not waterproof enough.

My other problems are frames - my neighbour is chucking some good quality long pine beams of various widths - is there a way to make them a bit more weather proof? Will rubbing them with old cooking oil do? I have some old hardwood posts to go into the ground (the decent sections left from the fence we tore down), so the pine would be off the ground.

Also, what is the best way to cut the barrels? Through the bung? Seal the bung with a sealant? I'm inclined to cut away from the bung and seal the bungs with sealant.

Anyway, I'd be grateful for answers to my questions if you have time. I'm off to order some pvc fittings now.

Oh, and a new sketchup with the inflow pipes arranged

Gee that stuff is expensive...... even online it adds up.

How did you make those pipes in sketchup?

You need some conduit, 2.5mm TPS, a trench, a post and an outdoor power point. Then wire that into your house mains.
It can mostly be done by you, just get the sparky to hook it up at the house.

Or you can put a shed next to your tanks and run an extension cord. Like I did, cos I'm lazy.

Abdul - pipes are easy - do circle of required pipe diameter, pull up. Curvy ones are harder - I actually have them as prisms of a curved shape. Draw a curve, use the offset tool (I think) to draw a similar curve next to it, close the ends and pull out to a squared off pipe.

TPS is conduit???? Had a sparky in this morning for a quote and opinion. Got a hard choice to make $230 for a powerpoint next to the pond (I do trenching and pole), or do it myself (he told me how) with conduit: Take off plug end, thread through conduit. Rewire plug end in junction box. Do same with extension cord in junction box to powerpoint (we have one on the verandah). Fill junction box with silastic to make it waterproof.

Choices..... temptation.....