Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If you run salt dont even think strawberrys . When i do strawberrys [I love strawberrys ] i will use a stand alone hydro system

Looks great. I'm assuming you have seen jaymie's posting of the strawberry towers in isreal?

I have spent about five minutes looking but I can't find the link, sorry.

I thought you might be interested in an image of my site office at the new commercial AP site.

the air-conditioner looks quiet

Just think Jamie if you had a mobile office like that you could leave it at the monster you wouldent have to do any cooking and house work

good thinking

This week saw us continue with the central drain in the vegetable tunnel at the new commercial site. All water is going to end up in this drain and it will be filled with gravel to provide even more bio-filtration and who knows? Maybe we can even grow something in this damp environment. Watercress? Rice?

Just to recap, the water flowing from the Tilapia ponds will go through a solids filter, then into the drain and then into the sump. Water to the growbeds will flow into this drain and the strawberry towers will also drip directly into the drain. So here is how we are going about building it.

First we dug the channel and then lay plastic down.

Then we concrete it. We mixed an admix called Sikalite into the cement to provide even more water-proofing. Levels are important. It has to be completely square across but have a gentle slope down to the sump.

Then we built a small brick wall all the way down the length of the drain right down to the sump. It is one brick high at the top of the tunnel becoming three bricks high at the sump side. I am going to make a fibreglass rim flow over the end and into the sump.

I have also mocked up my solids filter and it will consist of three compartments, namely filtration cloth and charcoal, secondly coral and oyster shell, and thirdly a settling section in which I'll probably stock some Tilapia fingerlings to eat any remaining solids.

Meanwhile at our completed site the plant growth is quite phenomenal. We are being visited next week by some members of the local Town Council and I am sure that they will be highly impressed at what Aquaponics can do towards food security. Just look at the difference after only a few days.

Believe it or not, those giant leaves in the foreground are beans !!

Enjoy your weekend

The days just don't seem long enough. The gale force winds seem to make every little thing a chore and puts everyone in a bad mood. The winds have been blowing daily now for over a month (Gustav or Ike maybe?) We are still working at the Gouna site with the gable ends off, so the wind has just been whipping up the sand and blowing it straight through the tunnel into our eyes.

We eventually finished our drain and I have decided to paint it with a coat of waterproof paint just to be sure of no water leakage. We have also finished the solids filter and the big pipe that comes into it. As you will see from the attached image, I have designed three compartments to trap as many solids as possible before they get into the sump. The water will flow sideways and then over a little partition into the next compartment. I am filling the first compartment with filter material and charcoal "sausages" The next compartment will have coral and oyster shells and the final will be a settlement tank in which we will have a few Tilapia fingerlings which eat the final solids which have come through.

We have started welding on the ends of the growbeds. The first step is to measure out and cut a half-moon out of PVC sheet.

Then you glue (with PVC glue) and clamp into place with a re-inforcing ring.

Note the gravel that we are using on the ground. It is the same gravel that we use in our growbeds and the central drain and is certainly helping in cutting down on the dust.

Some images attached.

Impressive!

Thank you. I have also been following your system plans with interest, Where are you based?

nice filter snappy!
Is there any reason that you're not forcing water under, rather than over, one of the baffles? That way you would probably increase your filtration.

I am inserting partitions "within" these partitions to force water over-and-under, over-and-under.

In the Broederstroom area (Kalkheuwel) about 12 minutes from the Hartbeespoort Dam.

Some images. A wider view with gravel down on the ground to cut down the dust and the finishing touches to the rim-flow drain back into the sump.

Got all bases covered Synapto... as always... nice to see the finishing touchs get the same effort as the rest of the job...

Excellent....