Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A simple pump on continuous flow will run through the living wall and drain back into the tank at the bottom as a small water fall. I may have to split the water to take some over to the far end to prevent any stagnant water.

I will try to regulate the temps in the atrium to provide passive cooling to the house. A whirlybird on the roof will suck air out during summer causing a vacuum. Air sucked in either under the bridge across the water or through holes in the wall (near the water fall) will act as a natural air conditioner cooling the area. In summer the whirlybird will be stopped and sky lights on the roof will be uncovered to allow the warm rays in. By controlling the temp in the atrium I hope to draw heat out the house in summer and bring heat in during winter. Again much research and testing will be required for best results.

Any extra filtration will come from a NFT system, but will look at that down the track if needed. It will all take a lot of time and research and I would love to hear any ideas. Once this is done a second system for Silvers and veggies will be built in another area.

better start from two posts ago.

Wow that looks exciting Gilly.
A couple of observations/ thoughts;
excess pressure from the pump could create a fountain in the pond, lit at night
bromeliads probably don't take up much water through their roots but love to have their vases filled from time to time
I also don't think they would take much nutrient from the water and they really like bright light to bring out their best colours. Plant selection is really important, not saying it can't work some broms require less light. But I have looked at these walls before and believe there could be a lot of work maintaining them if the correct plants aren't chosen. Spider plants, ferns, mondo, liriope can be hardy. Any dead fronds foliage would have to be removed or they can look really crap and quick.
The other thing that I noticed in the one in the Melbourne train station was that it had a stale water/media smell because they are damp and have limited air flow.
Good luck and look forward to seeing the progress/

Probably depends whos in the shower I guess

Gilly, I'm in Adelaide too and looking for tubs for my fish. Where is Bunnings are these tubs?

In the Water tank section there are some 500lt round tubs for about $129, they are the only ones I saw. If you have a product stock number of something I can then get staff at the new Woodville Bunnings to locate one or two, or six me. hahaha But lets get the system stable first.

Quack

We'll it's been a while and with so much to do around the place the inground pond has stayed unfinished. Have finally got some holidays over christmas and will be jumping in to it. I still have reservation about the pond sides. It will be about 2.4x1.8mtr and 1mtr deep. Was thinking of pond liner, but concerned about leaching. I did hear an adverstisment for a steel fabrication business, near by. Does anyone know about using steel for tanks. What type would you use. Will it rust. What other concerns is there. Have not checked out the price yet or even if they can do it. I am thinking it will last ages, so may be a good investment.

The ditch....

Plastics.

You mentioned in your opening post that you're not sure about the quality of the black plastic. Do you know what kind it is?

Our lab has to clean different materials for trace metal ocean sampling. Bottom line, we acid wash all our plastic with nitric and/or hydrochloric acids. The following plastics are commonly used and we get them clean enough to measure picograms of iron and other metals from ocean water (without problematic leaching):

PE - polyethylene is the most commonly used plastic in our group, cheap and chemical resistant, little to no leaching
PTFE - (Teflon) outrageously expensive, but lasts forever
PP - polypropylene is a great "sunshine" plastic, good for rough jobs

Other plastics, such as PETE, are OK, but less common. There are a few things that can leach out of this plastic, but it's in such low concentrations--which is why it's used for bottled water--that's it's not a problem.

Composite plastics are the real problem when growing food/fish. That stuff is made of waste plastics, so it could be anything....

I'm not real sure why you want to use sleepers etc. You've got real hard ground and it's under cover. why not get good quality pond liner and step the sides of your pit?

read your thread through from beginning to now. Confirmed: you are obsessed. Welcome to the club.
How is the other half reacting to your obsession? Been bitten by the bug, er fish, yet?