Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

perhaps I better explain more - originally had grey water going to a gravel ditch which then naturally soaked into the ground - didn't support 5 people including 3 teenagers so put in a below ground tank (600l) with submersible pump on a float attached to a long hose to move around - just not good for veggies unless filtered first.

Ell

put in by a qualified plumber

All of the bathrooms, laundry and kitchen water goes out into the yard. We have a septic system for the other stuff.

The greywater pipes are not filtered in any way, just straight down and out into the yard.

There are 3 separate pipes for each area.
We use low phos detergents etc to help out.
The mulberry tree and the bananas are fed from the shower and are doing great.

As requested here is a photo of the greywater system we use.
I recently removed a lot of the growth another couple of weeks and it will be good as new..

Poop loaded in the wrong order. I will try again...

umm, its reeaally blurry, or is that the cider for morning tea?

yes think it is the cider make sure you have a pot on for when i get there-- no phone photos.. I thought it was my eyes not yourz..bugger.

Sorry to ressurect an old, old thread but i am curious has anyone attempted a feasable method of using grey water to top up their AP system? filtered, ran through some plants then pumped into a grow bed?

I would be interested in doing so but only from some sources, such as the washing machine, i am too concered with pathogens growing in my medium.....

Nik, I've quite happily used grey water from shower, kitchen and laundry on my soil veges for years... excellent results doing so....

Trick is for AP you'd have to use a non-phospohrus laundry powder and or a plant/reed bed as you suggest.

Wonder just how much Phosphorus fish can handle... will have to look it up

Cool! I wish to try a combination of both. My first idea was actually to dig up my yard, which is sloped, and lay down black plastic tarp. Then cover it with sand/rocks then a layer of dirt. Then plant grass on top. I figure that 15m of filtering in a medium infested with bacteria and plants will clean it up well. Then at the lowest end point a concrete hole/ditch with a pump to pump the water back into the grow beds. Could capture significant amounts of rain water too.

The returns are probably going to be tiny. But it may be worth it. Nothing i have found deals with dumpnig the water into something with fish. I am sure fish could be considered a filter of polutants. But then i cant eat the fish!

I am resigning myself to the fact that i wont know until i do it myself... i guess i am just going to have to play with some more pipes..... woe is me....*evil grin*

I think greywater --> solids filter --> reed bed --> UV Steriliser, would satisfy my qualms about using greywater.

Would tap water have enough Cl in it to help kill of nasties in filter greywater, maybe a 50/50 mix?

I dont know if this is feasable but its straight off the top of my head. What about digging a shallow pit in a sunny place, line with plastic and fill with sand which you pump the grey water into. Cover the pit with clear plastic. Place a small stone in the centre of the plastic, and a bucket or other recepticle under the plastic and stone. As the sand and grey water heats up the water will evaporate and then condense on the under side of the plastic, then drip into the bucket as nice clean water which you could drink. If you were ever stuck in the desert you can recycle your own urine this way (sorry to keep bringing it bact to urine!) If your land was sloping and the pit was uphill from your fishtank you could replace the bucket with a funnel attached to a PVC pipe to send the water directly to your tank.
I dont know if this would work well enouch to make it feasable, but it would work.