Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I would like some feedback please.

Here is the story so far.
My son was given a gold fish bowl by a neighbor who was moving.
This caused him to have a desire to keep fish, you probably know where this is heading.
He researched how many fish he could keep in the goldfish bowl. Not many, none as far as he was concerned. Of course he reasoned if I want to have fish then maybe a trade off is in order. We live in a unit (2 Bedrooms ) and since moving here there has been no garden to grow veges, which is something his mother misses.

Enter AQUAPONICS.

So after quite a bit of research and discussion with the Ascetics Control Department we have come up with a design which will we hope will be a viable system although quite small.

The Tank is about 100 litres approx while the grow beds will probably take about 10-12 l each. we have a 750 litre per hour pump on a timer to flood and drain every hour. the drain back into the tank will be bamboo when we can acquire a suitable piece (because it has to be pretty).
We have sealed the tank and the grow beds with Crommelin Pond Sealer.

So will it work, Tell me what you think. Please.

can you describe your growbed standpipes?
are they removable and do you have a hole drilled in the bottom of them to allow drainage?

The grow bed stand pipes are stiff PVC water pipe cut to length and inserted through the base of the earthenware tubs.
We used a rat tail file to enlarge the holes and make the pipe fit snug. We then used a plumbers epoxy to set them in place with the end extending 10mm below.
The top of the stand pipe has a series of holes drilled around about 20mm down to ensure to top of the medium stays dry.

The other hole in the tub is the drain hole.
It has a shorter piece of water pipe with a reducer to limit the flow back to the tank. Hopefully this will
allow the grow beds to fill and then drain slowly over about 20 minutes to half an hour.

Its nice to think outside the square
BUT your pumps to big your fish tank is to small 100 liters maybee 10 goldfish and i dought if they would make enough feed for the plants
Feeding goldfish food is only designed to keep fish alive
Go over to established systems and you will see some nice looking systems that will please the design department and you will get fish and a few vegies to eat

Just had a discussion with the Ascetics Control Department and have encountered a certain undercurrent of skepticism. Something along the lines of don't see any veges are you sure this isn't just blokes playing with pumps. Wasn't sure how to reply?

step 1 : put on a pair of PANTS
step 2: show her all the pics of established systems with crazy plant growth

your growbed drainhole will be prone to clogging by debris/plant roots over time. That is another reason why most systems have removable standpipes which allow for easy cleaning

Fayes system....

6 crops of Barramundi and 6 crops of trout in 6 years, with piles of veggies, check out thread viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1622

And she aint no bloke.. ..

I would love to answer that last line but even i am not game

You have me a little concerned Food&fish, only because I can not even begin to imagine what you may be thinking?

Anyways back to the original question at hand regarding aquaponics and the wifes skepticism. If only I had a dollar for everytime I heard that.
Skepticism is fine, I heard it a lot many years ago and I love a challenge. Years on I just go I told ya so. Some people have to see it to believe it I guess.
As long as she supports you and you do what you want. I've seen too many people stopped from even starting because they got told they weren't allowed, or the spot they have to do it (behind the shed) just isn't suitable.
Explain that anything to do with nature takes time and patience and you have much to learn along the way, so enjoy it.

Alls cool faye we all know you are the boss and joel does exactley as you say he he