Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

For us, once we club the catfish hard on the head, we then clip off the barbs using diagonal cutters before pealing the skin off the fish.

thats what i will do if i ever harvest any catfish and try to clean them.

80 degrees today on christmas. it felt like 100 running the chain saws. my stihl pole saw will work ya and the 290 is no lightweight either. 10 hours and im now done

but i got the leaning tree down and most all of the low hanging limbs trimmed up that i wanted gone. this should cut way down on leaves in koi pool

i need some GB lube or a GH stretcher. i built the shallow GB's a month before i even thought about a GH. got the GH up and framed and ready for poly
yesterday so i decide to try to set the 2 big GB's



inside of GH 15' 10" darn GB's equal 15' 10 and 3/8" i cannot win and everything i try will fight me until the bitter end. thats a fact

this time me and mr. sledge hammer and the gorilla brand pry bar prevailed after the grinder finished chewing on the wood a wee bit hahahaha
i may not have any help but i got tools and thanks to them i made the GB fit without disasembly and trimming it. got lucky


now to add some GH poly and butcher some pvc


i bet when i unroll the poly , right then the wind will begin to blow like never before.

i wonder if that is how para-sailing began?

Very glad you seem to have a good sense of humor about life.

Sounds like you have made some progress in any case.

Yes its coming along pretty well (i think). the big shallow GB's worked out nicely in the low end of the GH. Even with the tall knee wall on that side its still best suited for them as there will still be overhead issues to walk that side but with the beds there its fine now

TCL i do want to ask you something. with these GB's being so shallow, what crops do you think they will be suited for?

in other words whats crops have shallow roots?

as always thanks in advance. johnny

Heaps JohnnyH
I didn't find the depth of the GBs
...and since they will be in the GH, wind, unless distructive
will not be an issue.
2 of my GBs have less than 10" of depth (250mm) they both have corn growing in them
It was a great test all I did was provide a wire stabilizer about 3/4s of the way up
the corn. Did the job fine...
and both sides are open

thanks much creative1

these are the beds i built out of some old scrap wooden frames i got from my gravedigger friend

and they are super shallow at only 125mm


hearing about corn in 250mm depth, sure makes me happy

tomarrow i start attaching the GH poly

Well I trust huey the wind god, to be as calm as poss for you.
Those 125mm beds would be good for quick crops but I figure they will heat up
quickly.
Beets, lettuce, onions, rasdish (if you like them),
most of the herbs are fairly shallow rooting.
The other thing I noticed ...
with a root mass(finish plants) in the beds and plants happy to grow roots thru the root mass
this tends to stabilize the above ground growth.
( i only noticed because I was trying to reduce the overburden).
C1

i think ill put it off another day and try to beg , borrow or comandeer some help somewhere

i used to do sign installs for my trade and once had one of them huge flags just about yank me out of the cranes bucket at 150 feet up.

it is almost guaranteed yon wind will whistle up when anything like poly gets unrolled from its neatly sealed package. and this is a roll 40'x100 and i only need 20' x16' and even that has to be trimmed

measure 3 times cut once hahaha

the sign biz taught me that flashing, caulking, and paint will surely hide some crappy work and or joinery hahahaha

plus i need to smooth some rough lumber edges in hopes of prolonging polys lifespan
i had thought about trying to double it up and run a air blanket in between as i do have small industrial blower but have not quite figured it all out. plus the double poly will make it very difficult to roll up the side when spring come shortly. it already gets hot in there and there is no covering yet.

all that glass ( 190 sq. ft) works really good, especially since i cleaned all i could of it. very happy to finally use it on project. its sovery satisfying to use up scrap stuff we have squirreled away years back when some project pops into our melons when we see junk laying there calling to us hahahaha

I have never been luck at getting good junk. I thinks its very cool when someone can build useful things from free materials!

it helps if one works at county landfill and is friendly with the manager as its illegal to remove things from the dump.

im so confused as to what to with my plumbing. looks like im gonna have to add sump in some configuration as now that all the beds are held in GH getting my drain to exit in proper place is gonna be nightmare.

i guess it would help if i actually knew what i was doing hahaha.

but with 3 runs of beds , all will have to plumbed to a central drain im sure and i cant get an exit to FT now

ill take pics when the antique cam charges up again
so maybe you all can advise me what i should do. before i reach point of no return if im not already there

dad was a master plumber and he would not be happy with me right now as i cant figure it out...

Johnny,
I think an issue with growbeds is working depth: typically you have 1" on top that stays dry, 1" or so on bottom that stays flooded, and whatever remains is your growing area. Deeper is more likely to have a region that gets lots of fresh air (and nutrients and water) that will suit the plants well, while a shallower bed may not. That said, you can probably get by with much less than 12" for most veges.

im a dangerous man with a caulking gun. i was lousy with one when i could see well , but now hahahaha

i planned to put poly on the GH today, so about daylight we got lake wind advisory
so no poly today. but i did find screens for the windows today i did not know i even had


also tried to hang the air mover but it will need a bracket made from some flat iron and im out of thin flat bar.


its all framed in and ready when huey is hahaha

That's looking great Johnny. Are you sure you are visually impaired cos im starting to have my doubts. I really can't believe how fast you are getting it all together you must have the AP bug worse than me. Keep up the good work im sure its all going to pay off for you.

the veteran brothers and sisters are so correct there is no escape from the AP infection

i have got the infection badly that's for sure. i wake up thinking what i am going to be able to do today and go to sleep thinking about what i failed to get done or screwed up.

yes i am very sight challenged.all the cuts and screw holes in me hands will demo that misery. GH is up but sure was not quick (to me) , having some straight new lumber and posts sure helped a
lot. having to salvage, remove old nails and gather materials makes things go much much slower so i was able to sidestep some of that that for now but im out of funds and materials now too and dont have pump or medium either one yet. or even fishes except my 2 old koi or the much need master FW kit

i do haveenough poly to cover this little GH 4-5 times(im hoping) and the materials are long lived. so one step at a time. once its set up ill be much better but yes im so driven and learning to adapt every day i work on it. its really a must for me to measure 3 or 4 times before even attempting to make a lumber cut. keeping hands off of chop saw trigger while setting up cuts
thats another thing to keep well in mind.
all sorts of stuff have changed. and it all adds time.

like C1 once said about time is a stone fact
not enough time can be had for AP


but high vis markers and my scribe to make marks i can feel, the chop type saw as opposed to skillsaw. according to my well sighted friend lesia im within 1/2" of being square on the GH. thats fine considering i paced off the post placements
and measured with big feet instead of a tape measure hahaha

its supposed to rain today but we are going to try to add the poly anyway
lesia said she wants to try to help me and last night she also said she wants to learn to can(preserve in mason jars) so she can store up any tomatoes and beets we do happen to grow (and other veggies too). a soil garden here is a waste of time and energy and especially seed. the soil is so sandy and poor quality.


AP is a bright path for us even if i do get so frustrated and overwhelmed when i drive a screw thru my thumb or the GB's dont fit inside what i have built. it will work out in time if i keep at it. this forum motivates me a huge amount too and everytime i get stuck on something i just search or question the veterans. this forum is a blessing and im so very grateful for it and all its wise and helpful member family.