Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Stuart Chignell,

just don't have the cash to get a decent pump now, so it's the cheapy one for the present.

My idea is to run two pumps which alternate so I will make sure I get a decent one after the systems up and running.

God bless froggo

Glad its not treated pine frogge - I would still upgrade the plumbing from the pump though.

A 1" hose has a lot more restriction than a 1 1/2 hose.

Hi everyone,

I've got a question about shift pist [clift pist].

I've set up the system with 90mm pipe.

The 90mm outlet of the fish tank is equal to the water level the tank will maintain.

The 90mm pipe goes down the inside wall of the tank across the bottom rises in the middle to the same height as the outlet.

There is 100mm pipe over the 90mm standpipe with slots cut out on the bottom to draw water from the bottom of the tank. The 100mm pipe is 40mm taller than the internal 90mm.

When I add 500litres of water from the sump to the fish tank the water should flow to the growbeds. It will not.

Is the 100mm pipe not big enough to supply the 90mm pipe?

Slots in the 100mm pipe not big enough?

Should the 90mm pipe in the middle of the tank be higher than the outlet of the tank?

I thought there may be a air bubble in the system somewhere so I used the hose to send water through the grow bed outlet. Did not to blow any air bubbles into the fish tank just water

God bless froggo

Froggo the plumbing i use is straight through the side then over to the center and down you will a tee somewere to stop a syphern if you look at my system and mizzie system you will see it explained better

Photo froggo, makes it much easier to see whats wrong.

I reckon theres an air trap somewhere.

+1 on upgrading the dia of the pump outlet pipe. Bigger diameter pipe means less restriction and increased flow and the pump does not have to work as hard. Plus tees can be taken off the line to feed future expansion.

Frogo did you get your pipe work sorted out

Hi everyone,

sorry, been away for a few days with the missus and the kids as it's school holidays.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm back on the job tomorrow to sort it out.

God bless froggo.

Hi everyone,

sorted out the shift pist, it's working well now, thanks for the help everyone.

The work on my system has progressed slowly. The centre growbed has one tom plant in it and some wombok seeds have sprouted. It will be fully planted out when the system is ready to be switched on fulltime.

This picture shows the new 5x180litre grow beds on the right. The last two need gravel then it's ready for plants.



This half of my system is taking about 500litres of water to fill the six growbeds, half of my sump volume.

The other half of my system is still in the planning stage but will not be built until the shadehouse is finished.

God bless froggo.

is fun to look back at a photo like that once you cant even see the beds anymore due to the plant growth

Looking very neat and tidy there Froggo....

Your version of progressing slowly is actually rather rapid

Looks great.

Hi everyone,

been cycling my system for about a week now. The seedlings have doubled in size and seem to be healthy.


The toms looked a bit sad for the first few days but have settled in now. The systems water has started to clear up and there is a bit of algae growing on the sump pipes.

I should get my water test kit later this week to see whats going on in the system.

The goldfish in the fish tank and sumps are eating up the mossies and other bugs as well as some of the algae.

Still no luck catching any reddies. They seem to be scarce around here still.

God bless froggo.

Caught a couple of reddies on the 18/10 in the goulburn between King parrot and dairy cks. ( first time ever in 20 years I have been fishing that stretch of river i have seen/caught redfin there. I was not happy) reddies I estimate were about 100 grams I released them along with all the trout I did catch that day ( all fish caught on the day were fairly small)
There were a few big carp in the back water near where i caught the redfin.

I have caught redfin down stream from Seymour, but I rarely fish down stream.

Should have taken the reddies home to Steve... he would have paid you for them...