Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hurrah... after many promises, Xmas, New Year and three months...

The first sod is turned

Site cleared .... well OK, I've got to get rid of the rubbish

Initially I'll put up the tables and run them as straight hydro.... I need some extra money over the next couple of months...

Ultimately I'll convert the hydro trays over to AP....

With the 8000ltr tank going into the garage I'll need to setup way more filtration than 5 hydro tables could provide, even with the trough and two lined crates...

When I've got some spare pocket money I'll get four of the big Tilkey Budget Troughs.... two for each end of the floored area, side by side...

And the 1500ltr tank will go down beside the fence line.... to act as a sump...

I'll supply the intial hydro trays from 60ltr "willow" bins sunk into the ground at the end of each table, or set of tables....

When every things in place, the plan is to either run two pumps in the fish tank (double redundancy) and to use a "high level" piggyback float switch in the sump to cut them out to prevent the sump overflowing...

Had intended to use a CHIFT PIST system... bit not sure how I'd get it all to work...

The pumps/overflow from the fish tank will supply the 4 Tilkey troughs, the feed trough and the two lined crates....

All draining to the sump which will house the big volume pump I picked up. the pump has a magnetic "low water" cut off switch to prevent it pumping the sump dry and burning out.....

The sump will also be setup with a pump to supply the nft trays, possibly directly..... then returning back to the sump....

I'll have to see if this provides enough nutrients for the nft... if not, then I'll pump to each of the 60ltr willow bin tanks at the end of the nft tables and supplement feed to the trays each with the small pumps from the initial hydro setup....

They'll then return to the sump and back to the fish tank....

Benefit of doing it this way is that even if the sump pump cuts off, I can still pump around the hydro trays from the willow bins and back to them if needed to keep the hydro stuff alive....

The fish tank will be supplied with air by the big air pump I picked up earlier, and I might supplement the nft bins as well....

So there's still more to do... and things to flesh out.... but at least it's underway.

All comments and suggestions gladly welcomed

It is just great to see systems starting to get constructed!

Sir , you are now on your way to becoming an AP god - more uninterrupted pic posts than any other system

How wide and deep ar those NFT channels? I've got a system using vinyl rain gutter on my back patio. The roots of winter snap peas and spinach became so massive within a few weeks that they blocked the water flow through the channels so I had to pull them out. Hoping the strawberries don't produce as many roots.

Am also wondering how you are planning to remove the fish wastes from your rectangular tanks? There was some pretty extensive talks about this on a different forum awhile back. Some thought to make a grid of sorts with piping all full of holes for suction, others thought to have pressured piping along the edges to keep things stirred up and out of settling in the corners. Others got round tanks.

Anxious to see how you come out as square type tanks are plentiful around here.

Good stuff Rope! I thought you were renting? What happened to the landlady - is she on board?

Looks great Rope, those tanks are nice..especially the monster.
Its going to be a BIG setup.. theres plenty of space to fit it in you`ve bulldozed that huge bush.

Your neighbours trampoline is at a very odd angle, did the bobcat run into it on the way over to your place

Charlie, the hydro channels are an older style "Viscay" channel... actually quite shallow... 100mm wide by 50mm deep.

Only intend doing lettuce and asian greens in them... with a quick turn a round.... 3-4 weeks in summer, 5-6 weeks in winter.....

The channels have removable clip on lids which means I can just lift/harvest the whole tray full when ready...

Will the roots block/channel water??... based on previous hydro experience I'd say no, but AP could prove otherwise.

One of the unknowns at this time.




Two trains of thought on this one Charlie..... planning on using two pumps, one toward each end and will split the return from the sump to return toward each end... hopefully creating a circular (like) current that will sweep the solids towards the pump(s).

Or I may use a single return to the centre of the tank and "tee" it with 45/90 degree opposing sweeps on each end of the tee to create the same affect.

Then again I may end up going CHIFT PIST for this and other reasons, still undecided.

Good to see thing have started Rupe. Promises to be a massive system. DD beat me to the comment about the landlady .

Yes and no DD/VB....

The delay in getting the bobcat meant that the landladies first (and only) inspection in five years occurred several weeks ago.....

I'm working on the theory that she wont sell for a few years due to the market and isn't likely to revisit for a few years either based on past history..... everything can be dismantled and transported if necessary, except maybe the fish

She was quite happy and interested with my little AP system that I managed to cobble together and make look pretty good with some freshly planted new seedlings

The local real estate agent that was initially stirring the pot has left town... partly because he had become universally disliked, he'd certainly been told to "go far away" by quite a few people....

And partly because, although married, he got caught in bed with a prominent local identities wife

You can pick 'em I reckon.... some ugly grubs surprise you and turn into beautiful butterflies... most just become uglier, slimier, fatter grubs

The bush is gone Hex.... and the landlady knew it was going along with a couple of trees... the neighbour had complained about the overhanging growth and the possibility of it scratching his newly painted house... Owe you one there Quinnie

..and trampoline was like that so that he could mow the lawn underneath it....

The only thing he managed to get with the bobcat was the fence.... but hey it's partly his fence... not mine