Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

I'm new to AP and this forum and been searching like mad to find as many ideas as possible to use in my first system before I begin building it...to try and save me a bit of time from searching, I thought i would just ask the questions!

Before I do, some background to my situation may help!
I have been dropping hints to the wife for ages that I want to build a system, so for christmas I was gifted with a lovely set of 10 aquaponic wall pots. My wife is not even close to being a fan of aquaponics, but after seeing a wall system at the Perth show this year, she has slowly come around to the idea. However, her only 2 criteria are that it is "visually appealing" (hence the wall pots) and that it doesn't cost a fortune!

Now to my questions...
Firstly, I want to go bigger than the 10 wall pots. Not too big at first but with flexibility to expand and as such, I was hoping to build a simple IBC system. If I use an IBC for the FT, It won't fit below where I would like to place the wall pots (which are in full view), but would be a few metres to the side out of view of the rest of the yard - is there any cosmetically appealing way to get the water from the bottom of the wall pots back to the FT?
My current alternative option is to put a sump tank under the wall pots, but space is difficult and I would probably have to build this myself as I can't find any commercially avilable tanks the right shape and size - If i do this, are there any tricks or things I need to know regarding lining/waterproofing this? More importantly, anything I should not do?

We also have a sloping block which slightly complicates things, but I'll tackle it step by step....it's going to be a slow process to get started, but I want to get it right so any suggestions/thoughts are appreciated.

Welcome to the forum

You will find many like minded individuals here that can help you along your journey. We actually live for it!

Im not entirely sure what aquaponic pots are.... there are many buisnesses out there these days that put aquaponic labels on random products. But anyways, a sump or even just a common drain line back to the fish tank are your options. The latter would require the fish tank to be lower than the drain.

If you want to build a sump, and many have built similar things here, its actually quite easy to knock up a timber frame lined with ply board and then a pond liner. Easy peezy

Have a look at JT's thread, he's made some stunning fish tanks and wicking beds.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5259&start=0

First we need a few pics etc may end up as an interesting CHIST-PIFT

Had a look at JT's thread....very impressive, and i definitely think I will head down that road in regards to building the tank!

Here are some photos of the proposed site, as well as the first design drawing I am thinking...

This would allow me to build the first stage, and later expand to the IBC grow bed as I get used to things!

Not quite a bad as I thought. Some of the blocks in Rolystone need 4 wheel driving skills just to get down the drive.
Still a bit hung over but can't visualise the hanging GB's

Our black is not too bad...access is limited though so there will be a fair bit of carrying all the goods through the yard! Best thing about that spot is the room for future expansion...the area behind the fence is probably 8m x 4m and not used for anything....but that's for well down the track!!

Here's a link to the hanging baskets...they are called Wallgarden and can be used with both soil or in aquaponics.
The website for this guy talks about both. We have just purchased the pots to do the rest ourselves in a more customised system.

http://lifeaquatic.com.au/

I like your design and location is good.

Ive seen those wall set ups. A couple of things to keep in mind.. access to the plants for planting and harvest may prove to be awkward and you will probably need a ladder. Also, you will require a pump that has high head pumping abilities and sometimes these can be expensive to run due to higher wattage required. Measure out how high you need to pump and then do some shopping first before you start setting up.

+1
and bear in mind that the filtering capacity will be less than traditional growbeds and will be the limiting factor on the number of fish you can keep.

I had a look at the link, I like it
A very wet, very green, second wall on the side of the house.
I wonder how much help that would be in summer if you put it on a north wall.
Any risk that it could cause damp in the house?

Funny you should say that...after much debating with my wife, we have decided to move the location. We have another wall that is North facing (the original wall was West facing) and more out of the way which we will put it on. I'll post photo's when I can get them...most likely on the weekend. the main reason for this is potential renovation to our pool area down the track and the original site is likely to be a throughfare to the pool area!

I don't see to much chance of damp being a problem...the pots direct the water slightly away from the wall...the main concerns for damp will be in times of wind, or splash back from the tank edge bouncing back onto the wall

There will still be at least 1.2 square metres of planting space (I may add a couple more pots for symmetry, taking it to 1.6m), and the depth of the pots are about 25cm at the widest part, reducing to about 15cm at the narrowest, so i wouldn't have thought it would be that reduced (but I am a beginner!).
i hadn't really got to the number/type of fish yet, but as it's been mentioned...how many am I going to be looking at?...or more importantly, how do I actually work that out?

The height is my concern, especially since I am quite short....my thinking was to sink the tank as much as possible so that I can drop the starting height of the pots, and then spread them as wide as possible before going up, to keep the total height lower. this is causing other issues in having the right tank set up to 'catch' all the water being fed back to the tank - need long and narrow, which is hard to find!

I started my build today, so thought it was time I moved this thread from the intro thread to the members systems threads... You can find it here

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=14908