Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oi! Thought you were meant to be working, deadline or somethin'
Looks like you've been having too much fun Boris.

yeah ...

the perils of working from home heh

entry form with cd of finished piece is due in Albany on friday ...
suppose I better make this the last ( first , damn ) beer and get to work tonight

trust me OBO , it only LOOKS neat , cause of the angle of the camera , behind , to the left and to the right is dirt , rocks , bricks , wire , wood , more wood , split pavers , more wire , gaffer tape , pipe cutoffs , blood ,my missing toe-nail piece ...

I just put a HEAP of seeds in the first bed - two handfulls of everything I could find that was small-seed
rocket
parsley
carrot
capsicum
paprika
harukei turnip
normal turnip
parsnip
coriander

all of them I put WAAAY too many seeds of each , if they all sprout I reckon the whole thing will collapse due to the weight of all that home-grown goodness ...

well done

Two beds now filled with clay balls & 30 - 40 litres of gravel from the old IBC system ( replaced that with fresh clay balls - that original 330L cut IBC GB is really way too heavy for the frame its on with all that gravel in it )

The decking is done , the clay is in , the plants are in
( more in the 2nd GB as of half an hour ago - black capsicum , purple capsicum , black hungarian wax chilli , more onions , more spring onions , garlic chives & some seeds . The Apple cucumber seedlings & Squash seeds go in tomorrow ) , now I just need to get two more tanks buried , deck around that , plumb it into the old system , then fill the 3rd GB and I can finally call a BYAPBBQ !

might need to clean the yard and plug in the beer fridge first though

Looks good. Will have to consider cleaning up around my system.

I have just read this thread from beginning to current, in my effort to increase my knowledge on this whole AP lark
I am now in serious doubt if I want to even build a system or start messing around with this.
If any one wonders why, I suggest you do the following:
Go to the beginning of this thread and look at the first system pictures.
Now go to the last pictures above here.
Now look at Boris' join date.
...is this what it is going do to me in a year???
Jeez I need a beer...and it is only 9am here!
Seriously, well done Boris I like what you have achieved!

Hey Tourando,
If you can, I suggest you leave right now cause there is no turning back.
Once you are hooked it doesn't let you go.
I should know!

It didnt just do it to Boris - it does it to all of us

More healthier than going to the pub.

Back at the start was system 1 stage 1. We all go through them. Some of us faster some slower. I think by system 3 stage 2 it is really kicking.

Thanks for the compliments Turando

I just looked back at the start & skimmed through the pics - it LOOKS like this thing grew and grew ad-hoc , but to tell the truth , after that first red bucket system got working it took me about 3 days to plan almost EVERYTHING that Ive built in the last year , it was all just done in stages to be more affordable / sneak it in so no-one noticed and to learn along the way

the first blue barrel system was always going to be only a small part of the adjoining black pond / wall system , I just hadnt worked out how to build it all yet

the first big IBC system in the corner was really a proof of concept / prove that I can actually do it without the whole thing falling to pieces .
The lates addition to that system - digging out the veggie garden - DID get added on as an afterthought , but I was really eyeing off the veggie garden the whole time anyway - this just raises it up so it gets more sun , more use of the space available and most of all - My veggies wont die due to lack of watering !

If youre planning on building a system my advice would be to leave the ability to ADD to it at a later date , rather than eventually having to tear the whole thing down when you want to expand ( you will ... its inevitable )

I put two more of the smaller silvers in the buried tanks today , thats six

changed the pump cycle time - on for 15 minutes ( overflow for about 5 ) off for 1 hour , the gravel gets warm in that hour but I want seeds to germinate .
Added a 1400LPH pump with a dodgy venturi fitting to aerate until I figure out a battery backup / air pump bubbler thing

I leave the beds with new seedlings flooded for a week or so to get them started.

wooo hoooo

picking up Yabbies from a woman who wants to take them out of her spa so she can use it for its original purpose ...

dont know how many yet , she said there was originally 24 in there , now theres only 4 visibly at any given time .
Plus I'd never thought to ask , but turns out a member of my gf's family has a HUGE supply of yabbies at their farm , all I need is a scoop net ( and an appetite for yabbies , which I dont , nor ever will , have . Im sure someone will eat them after they eat my fish heads though

Tested the temp in the black pond system today - 23 degrees at 4 in the afternoon & the silvers love it . Forgot to test the temps in the other system as I was busy converting another cousin to AP . turns out he might be able to get a couple ex-aquaculture tanks , 9000L each , and wants to know how many growbeds he'll need ....

Tell him that they're too big for AP Boris... but I'll do him a favour and buy them off him for $100 each.... I'll arrange transport....

heheheh , I'd have told him that already if I had the space to dig the holes

New arrivals

two silkie chicks , plus the coop is all finished ( apart from the front gate / door )

the whole thing sits under one of the growbeds ( unfortunately its the one that gets full sun pretty much all day , it was either that or have it at the opposite end , with no sun and have to run longer underground pipes for the tanks if they were in this position )

next - find two more IBCs so I can finish this damn system and get on with everything else that I should have been doing for the last year ( yeah right , once its finished I'll have figured out a way to expand it more and then keep going ... )