Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

BYAP stubbie holders are official reference items for sizing...better if being used as a liquid refresher holder at the same time....no BYAP stubbie holder in pics, hence the above claim is false

damn , I forgot the stubbie holder again . got a good excuse though , I dont think I could LOOKat a stubbie holder after last night , let alone that horrible monstrosity that is held in a stubbie holder , my liver is protesting much at the very thought

Got some welding done yeterday , heres the pics of where the new setup is going to go

the top half still needs a standpipe plumbed into the black screwcap lid

the bottom half needs chocks at the back to make it level
and the fishtank needs the overflow outlet drilled and chocked aswell , as the paving aint exactly straight in that corner

the whole visible front & side of the sump / growbed part will be clad in decking , as will the visible parts of the tank . thats tomorrows job

then - find and wash 330 litres of bluemetal or gravel or something

Not much acheived today , just plumbed the overflow in the tank , and the standpipe in the growbed .

standpipe still needs an outer pipe

hte overflow in the tank reaches all the way to the bottom , endcap on the end at the bottom and holes drilled all the way along underneath

I can't believe you cut up that tank, you could have had 2!!! fishpoo production units...

hehehe , to the left of that system , hidden from the camera , is one perfectly good ibc , so I DO have 2 ...

Im gonna cut that one up too though , later , its going to turn into 2 500L growbeds

the tank at the back already had the lid missing , the one I cut up was a whole one , but the whole system , when complete , is going to fit nicely in that little space , which was the intention all along .

Im not at a loss of space for fish , as Im building 2 8 metre long ponds , Im more at a loss for growbed space , and at a loss for cash to buy nice growbeds , so this was my only cheap option

couple photos

the growth on the first system is going slow - Theres only 2 ( blind , fat ) goldfish in the blue barrel now , the BIIG while one totally dissappeared , Im thinking it was a cat . The white goldfish was fine , came to the top to feed ,but the 2 other goldfish that are still there are blind because of an old fungal infection ( cleared up ages before I got them , theyre just scarred over the eyes ) so they'd follow the white one to the top at feeding time . Now that theres no white goldfish , they dont come to the top and feed , they just swim around hoping to run into food .
So theres not as much poo - not as much growth .

the middle ( white tube ) growbed is going ok - more mint than I can use , and the watermelons are starting to run . A black pearl chillie plant that was dead as can be got transplanted in there and now its got heaps of new leaves

the top growbed ( black tub , not really visible in picture ) isnt going so well : I planted an almost dead lemon-basil and thats taken off , and I planted a heat damaged yellow californian capsicum , the leaves have stopped wilting and perked up . The problem with the top bed is that I need a layer of bluemetal or something heavy over top of the light perlite - it floats too much when the bed floods , thus the plants arent getting anystability . I'll fix that when I buy the bluemetal for the next system

Second pic is the decking being screwed to the sides of the 2ibc system . Need to rip some lengths down to be thinner , screw them on then its pump time . Should get that done tomorrow , then the water can flow !

Im tempted toget some silvers or something to put in the blue barrel system to replace the inept goldfish and use that system to seed the new one , so when the silvers grow out a bit they can be moved . My problem there though is that I want the big system for trout in May or so , probably pointless getting silvers now as they wont get big enough in 3 or 4 months unless I get some that are already half way there

unless anyones got 10 - 20 excess silver perch theyre wanting to get rid of ...

The wood is a nice touch.

Batu decking . apparently its so weatherproof / mouldproof etc that its not treated in any way .

I dont beleive that for a second though , it having come from Indo . So Ive made it so that no rain runoff will go into the water

otherwise its a sturdy wood thats gonna last a while

how much did you pay for the wood?

looks great.

$3.90 per metre , Pete's HArdware on North Lake road , thanks to Duckpond for the tip

Bunnings HAD some near me a month ago for a little less but my uncle took it all for his house , so I had to get it elsewhere

better to pay more to a small retailer than go to bloody bunnings again anyway

how many metre's will you end up using to complete?

just the wood thats in the pic , need to trim some in half to fit - the rest is shielded from the sun by the fence / wall / side wall . The small ibc ( sump & GB ) pushes up against the front of the big one

Initially I'd calculated 52 metres , but I got cheap & bought 47m , which still worked out a little too much for the way Ive done it

damn. thats a lot.

good thing it looks so good.

Its GOTTA look good , otherwise I aint allowed to make it , heh

landlords or the missus?