Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

the leaves aren't poisonous are they? ....have you died yet

Sorry, I can't help you on the type of plant

Heh .
I think they might be bloody sunflowers .
I do recall one morning with a rotten hangover planting a bunch of sunflower seeds in all my beds

silly me , didnt recognise them .
still , it might be some sort of wierd lettuce going to seed or something , but Im pretty sure its sunflower now that I compare the leaves to some blurry pics off google images

the new pond has been painted with 2 THICK coats of "Sikatite BE" - a bitumous sealer used for potable water / inside steel tanks & such

bought a 1250L IBC from Rydlyme ( excellent condition , I'll be getting 2 or 4 more for this system once theres more cash to throw down the hole ) . The plates on the IBC cage are the perfect size to use as tow lids for the two ends of the pond

now I need to go to B and get a clear , water based render sealant to do the wall , then start cutting 6 legs for the front of the ( eventual ) 3 GB's ...

anyone in Perth got some leftover square steel patio tubing ? Im short by 3 lengths ...
need to be 70cm long

The metal base for the IBC is JUST deep enough that I can fit a 90 degree outflow pipe , and if sat sideways on the back brick supports / front 2 legs , the outflow sits just over the outer wall

rabbitt yum

Ok , here we go ..

been working all day on the system :

4 coats of crommellins water based non-toxic clear pond sealer on the rendered wall

cut legs for the GB and bolted them on

put the barrel in place ( 200L water )

standpipe & plumbing done on growbed & that put in place

cut 2 little wood frames and stapled the tin sign-sheets from off the IBC cages as lids for the two ends of the pond

tomorrow its time to wrap the IBC skin in black plastic and slot it into the cage , then get ready to build the next one

been busy

Ive wrapped the IBC skin in black builders plastic sheeting & put it in the cage , the plumbings done ( except for the outer standpipe bit )

Filled the "pond" with water a few days ago and it DIDN'T collapse in on itself or anything disasterous , but ...

one small leak around one of the taps I put through the wall , really not a problem in terms of water loss as its just seeping through and wetting around the tap , but Ive bought some potable water grade black silicon to seal it when I empty the pond for the second wash down - dont want to leave water seeping into the brickwork / mortar and weakening it over the years

and , the barrel leaks like a sieve , gonna have to fibreglass the inside then paint again with bitumous sealer .
The barrel isnt critical for this whole thing to work , so that can wait till Ive got the system up and running

This week Ive been busy building an outdoor kitchen / marble tiled benchtop / stainless sink ect , PLUS converting 2 more people to AP !

pics to come when it stops bloody raining

You have been busy......

Is the outdoor kitchen because of all the fish and veggies you'll have?

hell yeah !
theres even a beer fridge

I'll plan a bbq for APers when the new systems up & running in summer

I'll be there, it is a very imaginative system

pic of the fish on the bbq with lemon , olive oil , rosemary & thyme ...
Very nice

new additions today :

6 tiny Black Bream in the sump for the decking-clad system
4 tiny Black Bream in the blue barrel

the pump for the 3 ( eventual ) 500L growbeds and all the plumbing is in place , end caps on two of the three outlets for now

the pump and plumbing for the wine barrel ( needs to be re-sealed , it leaks . End cap on pipe atm ) and blue barrel system are in place

the pipes for the two barrels runs from the pump in the middle of the black pond at the bottom , up the wall 1.6m ( pump still pushes enough , might take a whole to fill though ...new pump needed ...)
to a Tee & left and right along the top of the wall then down into the wine barrel / old black growbed above blue barrel

gonna do a dodgy drawing to try show how it works , camera nens not wide enough

2 diagrams of the plumbing for the two pump lines

the pump that does the 3 GBs is 3600 LPH but its lifting about 80cm , still , it should be able to flood the 3 GBs with the 600L needed in a short amount of time

pump 2 that goes up the wall is adequate to fill the top black GB and overflow the blue barrel from that , plus overflow the wine barrel . later I'll upgrade the pump along with the eventul 4th & 5th GB

for now I have to :

empty & silicon the small leak near the main tanks tap

re-seal the wine barrel as it leaks a hell of alot

buy and cut the outer pipe for the standpipe on the 1st 500L GB and then fill with gravel ( once the 2nd and 3rd Gbs are online I'll take gravel from the 1st , then top up with a mountain of clay balls

re-fill the tank once the silicons dry ( food grade , fast drying , black silicon ) and LET 'ER RIP !


all 3 of these GBs will be clad in decking like the other system , but thats gonna take a bank loan or something

I reckon your best bet would be to run a couple of pumps, instead of one bigger one.

what , for the three GB's ?
Theyre all 500L , so I figure 200L of water each when filled with gravel given 60% gravel volume

600L at 80cm shouldnt be too hard for a 3600LPH pump ( zero flow at 2.5m head )

but yeah - I'll be running 3 pumps :

big one for 3 GBs on a timer , 15 min per hour ( maybe less more often )

medium one to pump up on top of the wall to the two barrels ( 10L to overflow wine barrel then flow through until shut off , 40L to flood Black GB on top of Blue Barrel & 10L to overflow Blue barrel & flow through till shut off

1500LPH one ( or something around that ) with a venturi fitting pushing at zero head in a straight line along the length of the pond through tubing with holes in for aeration

At the moment theres a small pump circulating the blue barrel as theres 4 small bream in it , I'll either replace that with an air bubbler or move the fish

In the long term there will be 2 MORE growbeds at 90 degrees to this system on a raised bench / deck , falling into 2 700L tanks ( plumbed together ) which overflow back into the main tank . Once theyre there I'll swap out the pump that goes to the two barrels , use that for aeration in the 2 700L tanks and replace it with a bigger pump to lift that high - to the top of the wall with still enough guts to flood 1 x 100L GB and 2 x 400L GB's in under 15 minutes ...

all in all not THAT many pumps ....

still cheaper than leaving a light on all day

Yep, and if one pump fails, it should be noticed before the system gets too out of whack.