Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here and will be starting my aquaponics system shortly. Looking forward to getting to know you all and learn some new and intresting stuff,

froggo.

aww comon, you cant just put a post like that and not give some details

Hi Outbackozzie,

sorry my first post was short as I'm learning the system.

In the last 3 years I have built a 12metre x 6metre pond that I have used to learn a bit about water ecosystems.

I have been breeding up goldfish, shrimp, mussels[trying too], watersnails, bloodworm and aquatic plants as fishfood for my future aquaponics system.

I have a area of about 6metres x 4metres that I'm going to set up in. The soil veg garden that was here is being removed, except for one bed to grow root veg in. The area will be covered with some tin and shadecloth.

I will post some pics in the next few days ,

froggo.

Welcome Froggo.... where are you located....

Built a 12x6mtr pond..... hell of a pond... care to post some pics and explain how you did, how/if you're filtering it etc...

And a 6x4mtr grow area..... serious system in the planning I suspect...

Welcome Froggo, yep nice and big, my kind of system. Post images IMMEDIATELY !!

Hi everyone,

I'm from near Shepparton in Victoria Australia. The pond is three years old this winter.

I dug the hole myself with a shovel and lined it with old carpet. I then used four layers of UV stablised plastic then a thin layer of packing sand over the top.

I had earlier picked up 3000, 200mm x 230mm pavers for free from a bloke who was replacing them with concrete around his pool.

I layed these over the plastic and sand in the pond to make a hard wearing pond floor. I then used some crushed white quartz/rock over the bottom to provide a home for the bugs, algae and bacteria.

The plants are all in pots and are a mix of oxygenators and nitrogen users. The fountain and the other outlet are for oxygenating the water. The pump only runs for one hour a day at present.

The filter is a 50litre cherry barrel thats in the ground next to the pond. This has two purposes. All my storm water goes here first and tops the pond up if required. If not required it then goes to a sump where its pumped into a tank for storage. The filter itself is nothing more than two 30cm or 12inch long sections of PVC 90mm pipe with slots in the side, wrapped with 90% shadecloth. The pump's footvalve is inside a pipe that these attatch too. They can be removed and cleaned in a couple of seconds.

The water snails have also taken up residence in the barrel. I keep the lid on it so it's dark and the snails help keep the filters clean.

The pond reached a balance during it's first summer. The bug population exploded and the fish started breeding. The water has stayed clear ever since and produces enough food to support the fish and other inhabitants.

God bless froggo.

Nice pond Froggo, I have a mate on a farm that has done similar but he dug his hole with a bobcat (it is nice to have toys) he still can't be converted to AP, bullsh** he reckons, he has about 30 big gold fish and 60 pygmy perch, he say's that Pygmy Perch lived in a natural pool without veggies so he too is going for the Eco system thing, only thing different to his eco system and the natural one we got the perch from is the natural one did have 30 big goldies crapping in it, so don't know how it will go, yours seems to do fine, do you run a filter? as my mate said no filter in the natural pond so no filter for him, I didn't notice an electric pump in the natural pond either, but he has one of these

Love the pond and surrounds Froggo - pretty as a picture

Great looking pond Froggo.
Wasn't sure from the post's if the pond is to be part of your AP setup?
If so, that is, one hell of a starting point.

Hi everyone,

the pond is about thirty metres from where my old veg garden, new aquaponics system is going. I was planning to link up the pond to the aquaponics system but it's more for the production of fish food.

The pond is big enough to produce large numbers of goldfish, shrimp and bugs that I hope will supplement the pellet feed.

The old soil veg garden is going, and this will give me 6x4metres of space for fish grow tanks and grow beds.

I'm in the process of removing the soil garden so this is pretty much where my aquaponics system starts.

I will post some pics of the area shortly,

God bless froggo.

Hi everyone,

been doing a bit of cleaning up of the site for my aquaponics system. This is where I have my old soil veg garden, fruit trees and chooks.

The first two soil veg beds are going, the last one I'm keeping for some root crops and other veg during the changeover period.




Hope to have the soil beds removed next week and start on the roof/shade area that will house the fish tank and grow beds,

God bless froggo.

What sort of growbeds?

This is going to be an epic system

if you feel like posting the railway sleepers over to west OZ id be glad to take them off your hands

serrriously that is one amazing looking pond i reccon you will get the hang of this AP thing in a heartbeat

good luck
Pete

Welcome, interested to hear about your system plans. What kind of system, kind of grow beds, etc.

Hi TCLynx,

I'm looking at making my own growbeds at the moment. When I built my pond I brought a roll of silage wrap and still have about half the roll.

I have been looking at some old baths but they are about $20-$30 each here. Stock troughs are about $130 each and I will need about 4 or 5 of them. I don't have the cash at the moment.

It's prob best if I make my own and use the plastic that I already have. The fish tank is going to be made similar to my goldfish pond as it seems to be working well. It's just I'm not looking forward to digging another big hole by hand.

Hi Delgrade,

those sleepers have been there for about 20years and they are still in good nick. I put them there myself but when I went to move one the other day I quickly called my son to help. The iron bark sleeper are still as heavy as ever, me I had to sit down and have a beer and think about it. I will post them to you C.O.D.

Hi Outbackozzie,

The reason I built the pond was to learn about fish, plants and how much evaporation was going to effect a system in my area.

I'm now happy to continue to build a system after three years of watching and experimenting. I'm a bit of a recycler and like to be as self sustainable as possible. I will be digging my own fish pond again and will prob make my own growbeds.

I want to produce lots of fish so will be building a big tank/pond to grow them. The growbeds will need to be able to cope with the nutrients from the fish tank. I do hope to provide enough food for my family from this system as well as provide extra greens for the chooks.

I will be setting out the area this weekend ready for a start on the shade roof/screen and where the fish pond/tank will be dug/build. I will post some pics as soon as work is underway,

God bless froggo.