Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

looking at the kisss stuff , 40bucks per square metre is pretty good , but I cant find where they quote that . THeir postage to WA aint cheap ..

I cant quite work out what theyre using on the flood/drain sheet style bit to stop the water draining out the bottom slightly , the sites a little bit of a mess . some places says each sheet overlays the next , with little pics to indicate that they do so ,but some say theres an impermiable layer of polypropelene and polyethelene .

I would want an impermiable layer , obviously , but I think theres some issue with polypropelene and /or polyethelene not being completely food safe ?

and this :
"A water supply. (12 psi is the
required pressure, and a flow rate of 30L/min per 100LM (7USg/Min).
Anything below this can result in poor performance."

I'd be using gravity to irrigate this , at a drop of about a foot and a half . is that 12 psi ? I have no idea of pressure ratings

if I was a more industrious young lad , I'd be jumping out of the front door tomorrow trying to hook these guys up , through me , with a landscaper to get people installing systems with big ponds and lawns that get watered from said ponds , I think thats Duckponds area of expertise though - Im a professional layabout and Ive got my work well cut out for me

Its amazing to me that THAT product / invention comes on the TV when Im thinking about that same type of application , albeit in need of a little tweaking to convert to an AP use ....

Looking at it now I see that the lawn would indeed use up alot of water *In comparison to* any other growbed . but in comparison to any other way of watering my lawn ? I'd rather top up my tank with a little water every week , than let a lot MORE water drain down through the lawn while irrigating and get lost . Its almost some sort of water Reclamation attempt , more than anything else

maybe this Kisss stuff , plus a food grade layer of plastic sheet / pond liner undeneath , then exactly as Id said with the "Atlantis" stuff - 5cms or so of media on top to provide a buffer for the lawnmower / feel / any hard knocks jumps stabs down into it

40 bucks per square metre aint too bad for 4x4 metres ...

"Meant to be" or some such , I suppose

No, it's 8m.
*Tip: convert to atmospheres atm and multiply by 10, this will give you the head in metres. so type into google "12 psi in atm" and it will return 0.8165

or work out your head, 1'6" is approx 450mm. so "0.045 atm in psi" returns 0.66 psi

From my experience, 1m of head is bugger all. (0.1 atm, 1.4psi) Water flowed from my headers at 1m, out 19mm pipe at about 4 L/min

Geez I thought forever that a foot of head = 1 psi.
Shows what I know!
Though I have never considered the friction loss exiting an outlet.

What about a second pump from the fish pond to the lawn grow bed, this would give you whatever pressure you need. If you filter the water you could use standard pop-up lawn sprinklers. As long as you were careful about overspray there would not be much wastage.

Concrete bottom layer, 200mm coarse sand, pop-up sprinklers, pump, drain sump.
or
Concrete bottom layer, 200mm coarse sand, runs of 20mm pvc with holes like as standpipe, pump, drain sump.

It could be a flood and drain system using a finere media than our ususal grow beds. Lawn likes water, but likes to dry out between watering, and will not tolerate waterlogging.

Scapeline has problems under turf with as the invasive roots grow into the emmitters. This KISSS stuff may get similar probs.

Hey it might be if you've got a foot of concrete :-)

PSI is pounds per square inch. so 1 pound per square inch is 12 cubic inches, which (for my sanity) is 0.254*0.254*3.048 Litres or kg = 0.197 kg which (back to imperial) is 0.434 pounds. so 2'6" is roughly 1 PSI

Friction loss was pure murder for me when trying for gravity systems. Now only my drains are gravity. If you're going to try anything with gravity and only 1m of head 25mm is the BARE minimum you'd want, and I personally wont use less than 50mm from now on. Not for a gravity drain.

don't forget, with all this converting, we have this handy Convert program available here

I just use google converter, it's quicker, and as long as you have the net, you don't need a special application. Just type in eg.

1 kg in pounds

into the search window and it tells you.

Also has a calculator built in.

5 times seven + 6 / pi

returns 36.9098593

it's so simple. Just another way google is taking over the world.

exactly

Hey KP in my head i get about 13.

5 x 7 = 35
35+6= 41
41/ 3.14=13.05

dunno im a landscaper

Duckpond, remember that nmonic from highschool, BODMAS

Brackets
Order
Division
Multiplication
Addition
Subtraction

(order means square or cube, same with square root)
This is the order you must perform the math,
so:
5x7 = 35
6/pi = 1.9 (or something)
35 + 1.9 = 36.9

If you'd seen me shovel dirt you'd think more highly of yourself, whilst almost spilling your beer you'd be laughing so hard :-) I wish I could landscape, but it always ends up regimented and straight, with orderly rows... dunno, I'm an Engineer

My cousin is an engineer he cant drive three pegs in the ground in a straight line

I was just checking,

BTW i have a degree in financial economics

You could just use one of these while you enjoy a beer or two every evening.

RC Lawnmower

:lol:

Just HOW straight do you need them?

I just showed DH the mower, now he wants one!

He wants to know how hard it would be to put together, any ideas?