Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi fellow APers,

First time poster, but I have been researching on the forum for quite some time. I became a member a couple of weeks ago but needed to get a Uni exam out of the way before joining in the forum proper.

A bit of a background about my AP journey.

I have been an avid gardener all my life - I blame my parents because they made us move to a nursery/strawberry farm when I was 7.

I was originally inspired with AP a couple of years ago when seeing a repeat of Joel's original segment on Gardening Australia. My father-in-law and I sat there for ages with our mouths open and then it was a case of "Why hadn't we thought of something like that?"

The following couple of years has been trying to convince my 'best' half of the benefits, lots of research (and lots and lots more) and starting to get my system ready. The convincing was really not a big issue as she purchased the Easy Aquaponics book and made me sit down and read it whilst we were away on A/L last year.

As for the setup, I wanted to make as few mistakes as possible but was also on a bit of a tight budget. I found what I believed to be suitable GB's fairly early on, but struggled to find something suitable for a FT. I finally settled on an insulated storage container - basically a huge esky!

At the moment the setup consists of:

FT 900+ L
GB 350 - 375L (1 at the moment - soon to be 2) - using a stand-pipe
Pump AquaPro 6000LPH @ 1.0M head running 1/4 hour on 45mins off
Medium Hydroton (If the first expense is the last expense it is the least expense - right, Faye? )
Fish 12 SP's (collected on Sunday from Stuart aka MONYA) - they love their new home

I will post some photos shortly - they are still on the camera and I need to download them. (I know you all LOVE photos!)

I look forward to sharing more of my journey with you guys.

Cheers

Dave

So any pics Dave? apparently it hasn't happened until pics are posted

That's true...

of anything connected with fish in any way.

we do love them pictures

Welcome to the forum, Dave! Sounds like a great start!

Hey guys

Having some problems loading pictures at the moment - can't work out how to reduce the size of my photos on the Mac using i-photo. They reduce nicely to send in an e-mail but can't reduce them correctly to go to a website. Will have a better go over the weekend.

System has been operating for only a couple of weeks. Ran the pump for a little over a week without any fish - making sure that drain times were OK. Fish went in on Sunday.

Test results last night were:

PH: 7.4
NH3/NH4: 0.5
NO2: 0.0
NO3: 0.0
Water temp: 11 C

The SP's seem to be fairly happy - they love swimming in the current that I have set up when the water returns from the GB to the FT. The couple of lettuces and strawberrys that I have in th GB seem to be surviving - looking forward to them taking off in few weeks time when the system cycles.

Cheers

Dave

Try using Preview to resize your photos.
Tools > Adjust size > Fit into ...
They have some preset sizes, or you can customize it.

Thanks Karen - will have a go tonight.

I'm glad someone else knows how to use one of those other computers..

G'day Dave... Sounds good, can't wait to see some pics, and sounds like you've been doing your homework well before hand..

Well, I think I may have sorted out the sizing problems.

The first picture shows the site of the system. The framework which I will use to stand the GB on came as a freebie from a family friend. Need to do some digging to lower the FT to ensure that the GB doesn't end up too high.



The GB's were purchased at the same time as some new rainwater tanks. They are normally used as stock feed/water troughs.



Finally, the big esky's that will be my FT's (only 1 set up at present)



More to follow shortly.

Dave

The pump is a 6000 Lph running on a timer 15 mins on / 45 mins off. Head height 1.0 M(ish)

The setup of the GB's is an interesting prospect. Because they are a stocktank, they have a built-in overflow as per the following photo.

This will mean that a minimum of 10cm of water will always sit in the bottom of the GB. The overflow to the FT is almost immediate when the pump starts - just concerned that the roots of the plants may get waterlogged. What do you guys think?
As mentioned, I have a standpipe setup to allow the water to flow back to the FT. This has been achieved by placing a 20mm pipe inside a 40mm plughole.

The standpipe is set so that the water stays about 1.5cm below the height of the hydroton. (This may still be a bit too high - most likely will add another 1/2 bag of 'balls' when the second bed gets up and running. )

Hydroton was purchased for $30 a 50L bag - needed 7 bags. Gotta love being able to stab a bag with a screwdriver, fill it full of water, let it drain and "hey presto" - clean balls

Working on the 'KISS' principle, the plumbing is pretty basic. Pipe comes up from the pump to a "T", where it branches out to the GB's. Each line has a flow regulator tap.

The FT's came with a lid that I wasn't sure how to incorporate into the whole system. In the end I have simply leant it up against the GB. This has 2 effects.
Firstly, it protects the Fish from the direct sunlight (not that there is much at the moment, but it will be great in summer)
Secondly, it also protects the standpipe access point.

FT needed to be filled - handy filling station right next door!

FT filled in a little over 3 hours using gravity feed from the Rainwater tank.

I have those same troughs, though Hills at the time sold them as garden beds. I could never work out what that thing on the end was for, so I just ignored it. I put my stand pipes in the garden bed proper.

Looking good there Dave. Where did you get your esky fish tank (and how much?).

Nearly there!

Turned on the pump and . . .

Worked out that the outlet holes in the distribution pipe were too small - only 3mm. Had an unwanted cold shower.
Redrilled the holes the following day to 5mm and the flow is much better. Holes are 100mm apart are angled on a 45o and run on alternate sides of the distribution pipe.

Waited a few minutes while the GB filled - once it overflowed into the standpipe box it started to trickle nicely.