Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

LOL, i hadn't though i'd posted those ideas!

my bro's just digging a 2000lt inground pond at dads. am thinking of stocking it with trout. Evedently he wants an AP setup now after seeing that hydro dudes nft on todaytonight. i've been at him for ages.

his words were "i want one like reets sister"

oh yeh, Emma, you'll have to deal with topics going seriously "off topic" here

LOl dont worry I'm used to it, I'ce got my own forum (not fish realted) no one ever manages to stay on topic LOL.

I've got 4 coldwater tanks the rest are tropical, at various temps, some go up to 28 degrees where as others are at 24.

So I could just float styrofoam trays with plants in em in the tanks? hmmm must find styrofoam trays LOL. Most tanks ahve wet/dry trickle filters, easy peasy to add an extra step with plants in them, the inbuilt systems might be a bit harder LOL.

Lol I wonder if I could convince Mum with this, it'd be a perfect solution to the filtration system we're having trouble with on 75 000l pond. It was a pool until we realised no one had used it for over 3 years, then hey why not lets stick Koi in it lOL.

Emma, emma, emma.... perhaps you should read the thread on Pool Ponics .... particularly the Recent Posts.....

there's other posts/people doing just what you envisage with pools

Edited : To make last link work properly

Bad Rupert! Bad. Bad. Bad. Putting ideas like that in the poor girl's head!



(Oh wait, she's half way down that road anyway. Oh well.)

LOl thanks for the link.

Well mum dug up the indoor plant she had. Must admit it was quite funny, it was a single stem of lucky bamboo a metre tall. Anyway I broke it into 3 shorter peices, I ahve no idea if it'll reroot itself but I hope so, and stuck it in one of those long planters used for gardening, they have such nice hole sin the bottom, I use em for trickle filters. Anyway stuck the bamboo in gravel in the planter and its replace dthe mechanical filtration stage of the wet/dry. So basically gets all the poop, bits of old food etc. Need to work out how to add the old prefilter back into the wet.dry though, as it such fine stuff it polishes the water and makes it sooo clear. Not to sure how well the bamboo'll like 2000l of water pumped past it every hour but we'll see.

Lol forgot to say this better work as I just bought a new goldie I just couldnt resist, my tank is waay over normal stocking limits now. Two full grow goldies, and 4 3 inch goldies in a 200l tank

I've also got a 100-125g tank going up soon. May as well have a bit of fun with this. I'm not usre on the proper size of the pond, as its 115cm across the bottom, the 100g stock trough ponds a 100 across the bottom and the 125 are 120 across the bottom LOL. But anyway, I've been planning it for ages since I seem to have become addicted to goldfish LOL.

Anyway how big a growbed type thing would I need? and could I just make it continous flow? I understand continous flow LOL. So it'd be sitting next to the stock trough and above it, waters pumped out of the stock trough into the grow bed, and then through a siphon or something similar back into the stock trough. The siphon bit I can do easily, as its something I've done many times before.

Could I just use two large type storage tubs? interconnected with pipes. So waters pumpe dinto the one on the left, it flows through the pipes joining them into the right one and then back into the stock trough?

I can easily get hold of a 50g storage tub, measuring 35cm high and about 65 wide and 80 long (cm) maybe just sue one of those? It just costs a bit more then the same capacity spread over a couple of tubs.

The other thing is, before attempting a large pond like that, is it hrad to build a smaller version? ie two storage tubs, ones a growbed the other a fish pond with a single goldfish in it?

Lol last question gravel, where does it come from? I'm fairly certain no one uses the ten dollar a kilo aquarium gravel.

Lol couldnt help myslef, heres another
I've been looking at sites, and some of the aquaponics systems are realy simple. One I saw was 6 goldfish, a 100l tub with styrofoam floating on top and seedlings "planted" in the styrofoam.

Does that actually work well? Can it entirely replace the need for a pump or do you still need some type of surface agitation? and would you need a filter? or would rocks, and terracotta pots on the bottom provide enough surface area for bacteria?

I've got the stock trough already, and theres heaps of styrofoam floating around, then if all I needed was a fountain pump to add aeration, well thats easy to set up, plus using the styrofoam means the fish are protected from birds etc and I could leave a small area open so I could still see the fish.

Would that work? or is it someone just trying to make money?

oh yeh, we got to her bad

The tub you mentioned has a perfect depth for a grow bed.

The gravel: people are using such a range! from scoria to blue metal (road side stuff) to pea gravel to expanded clay balls.

Thing is AP is like art you can apply it in so many ways! First thing you need to do is decide exactly where you want your plants (or a acombination) then look at the systems that are the same and shamelessly copy them

what are your day/night temps?

The styrofoam "floating raft" works extremely well! At the very least EB, AM and myself can attest to that.

You will be AMAZED what you can do with it! If you want to strike roots onto ANYTHING (pretty much) just pop it into a piece of styrofoam and float it. The secret is that the water is O2 saturated. Your fish tanks will already have the flow and O2, so in a word "YES" just float the plants.

What state are you in?

Oh hang on, you're excited and i'm getting confused between fish tanks and ponds!

take a deep breath, list your systems that you want to convert and your ideas

we have a rule here (not really ) pictures

might i suggest a look at steve and anges system if you're game to pipe one of your tanks outside.

LOL, I'm in NSW, Hunter Valley bout 45 mins from Newcatsle, 2 hours from Sydney. I wouldnt actually know the temps LOL

If this actually works the aimed be to convert all my tanks, can you tell how much I hate blasted water changes?

I have a 50g goldfish tank that is currently very overstocked, I've added some lucky bamboo to the system to see how that goes.

This is what it was


The container at the corner of the top tray holds filter fibre, it removed the gunk and polishes the water. I've replaced that with a long planter which has lucky bamboo in it to see how it goes.

I'm also in the process of setting up a 100-125g pond, which I've been working on for yonks. Rather then pay money on pumps, it'd be easier and cheaper to just add in a couple of air pumps and airlift tubes to provide surface agitation and introduce O2 into the system, then float styrofoam trays with plants on top of the tank. It'd give the fish cover and hopefully act as a better filter then the expensive powerfilter I was planning on getting.

The other tanks are all easy to convert in the same way as I did the first tank, as all are based on wet dry systems, since they allow maximum area for bacteria which gives cleaner water and more o2 in the system

cool, you'd probably still need solids filtration for your pond, but a nice big gravel growbed would take care of that! Keep lookin' and feel free to ask any Q's!

BTW whats the go with gallons? you're an aussie chick get wit the metric! Its probably from all the reading you've done on aquariums being in gallons, huh? So we should tkae your 125g pond as US gallons?

Lol been livin on american forums, plus grew up in america, I can do both LOL.

The goldfish tanks 200l, the big pond is somewhere between 400 and 500l

Any solids should still be caught in the garvel that has plants in it, or if not in the lower catchment area which contains smashes tearracotta pots. The pipes that soverflow to the main tank ahve filter floss stuffed in them to keep anything returning

Hi Emma,
there is no known cure for this addiction
We'll have you setting up a 10,000L tank in no time
Jaymie

Hi Emma,

I think you win the prize for the most questions in one post....

It depends
yes
yes
sounds right
no
that would do
the ground
not really
no
generally
yes
probably


Couldn't resist trying to answer them all... BUt I could have answered most of them with, "it depends".
As Steve says, it's really such an art form that you just have to look around at what others are doing to get the feel for it. Aquariums are fine on their own, people have been doing it for years and there are pretty set guidlines to follow. With aquaponics, once you start incorporating plants into the equation, and the miriad of design possibilities, and set guidlines become rather blured...

You're lucky because you really have a lot of the basic concepts well worked out... But definately check through the "members systems" section for ideas on the variations..

Lol somehow 10 000 litres is probably a long way away, although I got the 75 000 litre pool off of my parents, they'd kill me if I filled it with plants, I believe their aim is a beautiful pool with a waterfall and pretty Koi swimming around LOL, no equipment etc.

It makes so much sense though and so much easier then water changes. I just need to get some more aquarium silicon to fix the tub. My Dads version of it dosnt leak seems to mean it takes 24 hours to empty. So need some silicon to add around the bottom drain to stop it leaking, once the silicon is in the screw and inbetween any gaps, plus the water pressure the trough should stay leak free. My mum has tonnes of styrofoams bits everywhere, and I've got a couple of air pumps, so then I just have to find plants.

One last question LOl, I'm really iffy on not using water pumps, I'd like to go without them, but it goes against everything I know, I can really run a fish safe pond using just plants and a couple of air pumps?