Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Excellent EB, will have to call in when in Perth, I always wondered what you were doing with that space

Basically very simple. Solids and water are decanted off into a separate chamber with LOTS of oxygen. For every litre of water and solids in, 1 litre of filtered water goes off into the grow channels. It's open to the air and it hasn't got too pongy yet.. We may experiment with adding loose bit of plastic like bioballs or plastic pipe into the chamber so that they macerate as they are tossed around by the air bubbles, just have to wait n see how it performs as the load increases...

So you're not aerating the channels themselves at this stage?

What are the dimensions of the channels Joel?

No...

Aeration should no be required in the channels, definately not over winter, and probably not over summer either. I'll be keeping a close eye on the DO levels as water temps build up next summer.

Dimensions of raft beds.... and total system area??

I guess this is where we have to start differentiating between the two systems, I'll try and refer to all figures from now on as "per system" because they are actually two separate systems.

Raft area per system ~50sqm total area per system ~80sqm with lots of room and paths, could be a bit more compact if required.

How cool is this? I look forward to seeing this system produce!

It just so happens that I am working along similar lines and separating fish poo for composting. Now, I was thinking worms, but oxygenated water is a good idea. Its seems like a good way to get a system that is much lighter weight, and more portable.

50 sq mtrs... is portable.....

Show me your truck....

Maybe not a whole system on a single truck....but one could relocate on a property more easily or have a system on a deck without needing to reinforce it. Also, there was some discussion some time back of dunking a growbed into the fishtank rather than flood/drain and, while that might be infeasible with the huge mass of a standard growbed, it might work with the lighter systems that Joel and UVI are using. I wonder how the lift/dunk power use would compare to all the air-pumping power? Then again, that pumped air is treble-use: allows for decay of solids, oxygenation for fish, and keeps roots from rotting.

What a great system. Also looking forward to the results. I am always looking at expanding. I only have 50 people to feed now, but when we expand, we are planning a place for 150.
Keep up the good work and congrats on the efforts.

Wow looks even better than the sketchups Joel well done to the crew.

That happened pretty quick Joel, looks great. What did you do with the trunks from all those bluegums? They make great GB stand timbers. Will definitely have to drop by for a sticky beak.

Free firewood anyone? 1ft blocks, it was a case of just get it down and out of the way.