Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Big thankyou to Sleepe who has kindly dontated his micro system to our school, his build of the system is here

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The tank is currently housing 5 gilgies and is awaiting some washed gravel for the bottom and a couple of koi to brighten it up. The top pots have been planted out with mint and parsley and we will be putting oregano in the third pot. I removed the garden lights on Sleepe's advice and replaced then with an aquarium light he also supplied. The top flouro and reflector were also removed as the system gets plenty of natural light and the less electric cords the better. The plan is to train the mint and oregano up the wine rack at each end as they grow.

The kids love it and it has them even more excited about our big system now they can see this one in operation.

Nice thought Sleepe... onya mate....

System is now cycling well and the water has cleared up from what it was last week. The plants are growing and the gilgies are very happy and demolishing several tomatoes and other vegies a week. For anyone who has doubts about the benefits of aquaponics in schools have a look at the photo of the sweet basil spouting in the AP system, it was seeded into the media 4 days ago. The dirt pot that is shown was planted out by a class using direct seeding and sprouted seeds three weeks ago

Here are the other three photos

Got to school this morning to find the cleaner looking for me to tell me my tank was leaking. The sump from the big system has not been installed yet so it was part filled for a quick fix transfer. Once pulled apart I found the tank had a big crack through the base. The only thing that I can think of that could have caused it is the extremely uneven floors in our classes. I think that the timber within the unit moved slowly over the past two weeks to match the floor until there was finally to much twinsting for the glass to stand.

I kind of like the tub for the gilgies now it is there (an so do the kids) so I will try and get one of those semicircular plastic moulded water feature liners to use long term and adapt the system to fit that.

Nice save Burnsey, now you can expand aswell

Sorry to hear abut that Burnsy. I had tested the strength of the base by getting one of my sons to stand in it (about 85kgs) and had the aquarium full of water; never thought about a slow twist
Glad to see there was not more damage done, and it could be rescued.

Yeah I reckon it was a slow twist as I am not sure what happened when the granno workers layed out classroom slabs back in the 70's, maybe they didn't know about water levels

I have picked up an old sand filter that when lopped in half should make a suitable tank that the frame and growbeds can sit over. Just glad it happened during the school week and not over the weekend or holidays.

It is system rebuild time. This sytem has been neglected and the gilgies have been happily living in a half sand filter tub and the mint and parsley has been going great, but as the intention for this system was to make it portable, the time has come for change.

Pulled it all down yesterday and purchases a 220l tub to use as the tank, the idea was to cut a hole in an old art trolly and sit it all in and on that but as usual, it was not that simple and because of this gone a little crazy. The trolly and tub is now safly tucked away in my shed being coverted while the rest of the remnants stay spread around my classroom.

Once complete the system will move from class to class for increased exposure.

Lets face it ,, the kids are feigning interest ....., they are after that wine rack being stocked:)

End of the weekend and I got no further than I had Thursday night, weather was to nice to be doing inside the shed projects so spent all my time on outside projects

The rear frame that the grow pots mount over will be cut right down so it sits directly over the tank, just have to add a cross member to mount it on. Timber frame is recycled karri.

Finally got time to get some more done on this system and moved it back to school. Plans changed again and I am now filling the fiberglass trough that Sleepe had as a collection trough under the continuous flow pots with hydroton and converting the system to flood and drain via a timer. Part filled the FT and transferred the gilgies to it today (used water from the large school system) and got the GB mounted and plumbed up. Should be able to fill the GB with hydroton and get it operational tomorrow hopefully. I am thinking of transferring a couple of the Koi from the large system sump into the FT as well, the gilgies seem pretty quite and hopefully won't harass them.

Will post more photos as soon as I get the GB filled and cycling.

Long time between updates but the system is going great, cherry tomatoes are going crazy like a vine - chasing light but that does not matter. The fiberglass sand filter tank that has been plumbed in was done this week as a nursery tank for the mummy marron and her little ones. Hopefully they will have all left her by the time the Christmas break starts and she will go back outside with her mates and the little ones will stay here. If we get a high enough survival rate there may be a marron tank added to the outside system next year.