Hi all, I've been researching AP for a few years now, and have been lurking on this forum until a few days ago, when I signed up and started posting. I've recently started putting together my AP system with the purchase of various bits over recent months.
The plan is to cut most of the top out of a 4500l poly tank currently storing rainwater and use for the FT. I also have a ~2500l stock water trough that was purchased at a nearby auction, to be used as a tidal tank, to keep the FT level reasonably stable throughout the flood and drain cycle I plan to use, and have purchased 4 X 2 by 1m grow beds initially, with the plan to add more beds as the fish grow, and also have pumpkin and melon vines to run outside. The plan is to have river gravel in the bottom of the grow beds with expanded clay balls on top- I have a pile of 45kg bags of that ready to use. I plan to use the grow beds as filtration, sol will probably need 8 or 10 of them eventually, which will mean additions as time goes on.
I'm in country NSW, up in the hills south of Tamworth, so generally a few degrees cooler than town, and am thinking of starting with some trout- theres a trout farm not too far away that I should be able to get some fingerlings from. Average annual air temperature here is 16C, which will be close to the soil temperature a couple of meters down- deeper than the tank will be, but I should be able to keep water temps under 20C for pretty well the entire year without too much effort I think. Water in my above ground tanks rarely gets over about 22C. I just went out and measured a full 22000l tank that is in partial shade, it is spot on 20C.
The FT will be mostly buried in the ground, with the tidal tank partially buried, with an Earthbag wall around it to provide insulation and a bit of extra thermal mass. It will always have 500-1000l water in it at least, so I may be able to put new fingerlings in there if I overlap with the fish growing cycles. The tanks will be located in an extension on the SE side of the 5 X 8m "hothouse" I built a few years ago. It has waterproof shade cloth on the curved roof, and will have polycarbonate and shade cloth walls. I'm planning on putting a couple of bananas in a grow bed, they have been surviving on the house veranda for a few years, although they have not yet produced any fruit. There will also be a 1 mango and 1 avacado tree planted in some spare floor space between the grow beds, irrigated by roof water via gravel filled trenches, or take off from the AP system when required.
I'll be using an 8000lph pump, 15 mins on, 45 off, timed with 3 timers in parallel to provide some redundancy if one fails- I'll still get 2 pumping cycles every 3 hours. I've got an air pump, supposedly good for 2 X 280lpm, for the FT. I may use some of the main pump outpet water to add more aeration into the FT or tidal tank as a backup for air pump failure too.
I run my house from off-grid 4kW PV solar and small wind turbine generator, with an 800AH @26V LiFePO4 battery, and this will also be supplying power to the AP system. It is more reliable than mains power out here, and should have no difficulty supplying the small extra amount of energy to the AP system- it easily copes with frequent use of 2.4kW power tools, MIG welder, nightly use of an induction cooktop, electric oven, dishwasher etc. I've been living off-grid since 1991.
I have a 24V refrigeration unit that could supply about 750W of cooling in case of any high temperature excursions in the AP system water, although I'm not sure that I'll really need it if I harvest trout late in the year.
At some future stage I'd like to try growing barra, and will no doubt have to add heat- by using an evacuated tube HWS to heat the water- they are very efficient and I heat my house with an evac tube hydronics system now, and house hot water is also supplied by one, with no gas or electric boosting- I just grab extra heat from the hydronics system with a heat exchanger if required during extended cloudy periods. All that is a bit far from the AP system, so I'll set up a separate HW system there.
I grow organic cherries in a small orchard on the block here, along with various other fruits and veg and also chooks for eggs, we sell produce at a weekly organic market in Tamworth. The veg growing consumes too much water in hot summer weather- we had to abandon the vegie garden this summer with so many high 30s-low 40sC days and not much rain, so AP will help with that, and give us fish as well
I've spent most of the past 2 decades discovering and observing comets and Near-Earth Asteroids at Siding Spring Observatory, but our project fuding has run out, and also from here with my own equipment on a NASA observing contract for a few years. These days I work as an online forum moderator for a solar and wind power company. Working from home is a big advantage for doing stuff around here, at least when finances allow...
I think the first time I heard much about aquaponics was from Costa on his Garden Oddyssey on SBS TV a few years ago, and I've been researching it on and off since then.
I'll start a thread with pics soon... I have also worked as a photographer for many years, so they should all be in focus
Backyard Aquaponics
