Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

That 50 sq meters is boards and a pond liner. Simple to pack up and move. Unlike yards and yards of gravel.

It seem like it would be easier to setup as well.

EB how many KG of veggies do you expect each system will grow?

Do the people in Hawaii use a bio filter like UVI's netting or do they just depend on suspended solids?

Lettuce, basil or other fast growing green herb production will be 4 rafts per week per system and rafts are currently planted with 72 plants. Friendlies have been experimenting with a variety of methods, and some rather substantial modifications to the UVI system. Their latest system works without any solids removal or filtration, it's still experimental and only been running for 6 months or so, but it's doing well so far.

How did you plant/how will you harvest the plants in the center of the raft?

Rafts are removed from the system for harvesting and planting, we are working on a multi pronged raft lifter..

Boards on the side of a flat bench would get things off the ground. But looks like an easy way of getting a large growing area.
If you are planting from one end you could set up a small trench to assist in lifting the rafts out at the other end.

What density is the polystyrene? In addition, what did you paint it with to stop it from flaking and becoming water logged ?

Standard polystyrene, painted with potable latex paint with high UV protection.

Cool. Did you spray it on or paint it on with a brush?

I suppose if you were to run the growing trough like a conveyor belt, as in start the plants on one end and harvest the raft on the far end then lifting it out might just mean 2-4 people carefully lifting the raft and walking to the space at the end of the trough. Once the raft is harvested/cleaned up. Take to the other end, push all rafts down, replant and put the raft into the start end the same way as it was lifted out.

Neither of the above, we used a paint roller -much quicker.

How bid you paint in side the holes? and do you get any storms that produce hail in WA?

Easy, the inside of the holes aren't painted.. And no, we don't get much in the way of hail here..

Cool

At first glance I thought perhaps the use of black plastic might give rise to heat issues...

And thought maybe the white panda hydro plastic might be a better option... although probably a lot more costly....

But them queried if the white plastic might result in algael generation due to reflective light...

The I thought.... idiot.... doesn't matter either way.... cos the channels are covered by the styro rafts.....

And the white panda... wouldn't have stayed white for vert long with the buildup of bio-film...

Looking at the pics... (realised that the channels were probably just "scrapped" for layout)... I was wondering what the final depth was... or had to be...

From memory the UVI model is a "minimum" 300mm... but I'm wondering if this as "set in stone" as the sometimes questioned growbed depth requirement...

Or whether, just in the case of the growbed depth recommendation... this is more a matter of having some advatages... rather than being mandatory...

The Friendly Aquaponics group is trialling channels around 150mm... from memory... and reportably they've been working fine for about six months...

Realise you might have left details... "a bit thin on the ground".... for reasons of competative advantage... but can you comment?