Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

loads of experience on the crayfishmates forum
and all help from Crusty within 24 hours even for the most complicated matters

breeding Yabbies is not difficult at all it seems
and they seem to breed all year round
They are very difficult to come by in Belgium in summer, but in a month or two the imports will start again through seafood delicatessen importers
The main problem for me is water temperature during wintertime

while I have sent you a drawing starting from your info, that is not my preferred AP setup
I would not have any tanks/pipes under ground (I hate digging too)

If you want fish and Yabbies, I would have a first IBC tank on it's pallet for the fish (water level at ca 1 meter measured from the ground, overflowing into a second IBC tank on it's pallet holding the Yabbies (the Yabbies will eat some of the uneaten fish food, level at ca. 85 cm, overflowing into the growbeds (water level at ca 70 cm, working height at ca 80 cm - I hate bending too), drained into a sump standing on the floor (water level ca. 35-40 cm), pump in sump (always filtered water) pumping the water only straight up to a long NFT gutter resting on the IBC container top, back to fish tank (level ca 110 cm).
Of course you can can forget the first tank if you only want fish or Yabbies or you can have Yabbies in both tanks and even in the sump where you can hold your broodstock (this is what I do).

greetings

Frank

Whoops, I forgot about that forum! I'll check it out now... too much going on at the moment LOL Besides, some dude on a forum keeps putting the 'hard word' on me and distracting me :p

Are you that easily distracted Imy...

my sole intention is to keep us dreaming
I do have a reputation of perseverance

frank

Did you say something? I lost my train of thought.

Frank, please shrink your pics before posting them so we can still read the threads without haveing to scroll back and forth for each line. 600 x 800 or is is 800 x 600 is a size that fist in the screen reasonably.

Imy, I'm so envious of your yabbies over there. Most the crayfish I know of around here that are legal are so tiny. I'm still trying to figure a good way to do them in my system anyway. Good luck.

I'm jealous too. The big yabbies are not permitted in my state (they grow up to 23cm) I'm only allowed to have the little ones here (up to 13cm, about 5"max) Oh well... I have to figure out how to stop them eating each other before I can eat them!

is there a (free) program or a way to do this quickly?

Frank

This post will direct you to the "free" download site.. and contains a quick run down on how to use...

viewtopic.php?p=145296#p145296

My favorite free program is Irfanview. Quick and easy.

I use Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Only thing I use it for is re-sizing.

me too

We have gravel! My partner just took me out to surprise me... yay! Still needs a bit more so I can bury the inlet pipes a little.

He also put the t-piece and tap on the inlet just after the pump to divert some water and reduce the flow to the beds. Even with the tap fully open, the pump powers the water onto the beds. Its better than before though. I'll have to add a small length of pipe to this diverter so it isn't re-entering the tank and breaking the surface so much because its totally filling the tank with bubbles and the running water noise will bug the neighbours for sure. Its like a garden hose on full-blast. We're running 19mm pipe so that would be causing a build up of pressure maybe?

I'm now wondering if I would be able to get a timer switch and switch the pump off at night? I've heard some people do this but I can't find much as my search for 'off night switch' is coming up with too many obscure results. any help would once again be much appreciated.

Quite a few of us use these Imy... Sansai PAD32....

Sansai Timer

$8 bunnings timers for me, I run my pumps off overnight in winter, on at day. On overnight in summer, off during the day. Temperature management.