Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,

I thoughts that members would be interested in an Aquaponics system my students and I at Challenger Tafe help set up with the Glyde In Community members in East Fremantle, Perth.
Dr John Darby of the community asked whether we would help set up a system that could then be used by the community to demonstrate the principals of aquaponics. Challenger tafe donated a fish tank, Black Bream fish bred by the students and then we made the grow beds out of PVC plastic. The students do plastic welding as part of their aquaculture course so this fitted in very nicely.


So far the system with the Black Bream has done well. If anyone would like to visit the site they can do so at 42 Glyde St, east Fremantle. Pop in any time. The front gate is always open. The fish tank however is behind a locked gate.

As part of the course that we are running at Challenger tafe in June I will be showing students how to use a plastic wlder so that students can make their own grout systems.

here are a few more photos of the system at Glyde St



the Glyde St community has been going for about thirty years. here local residents can come together to do cooking classes, french, chess or bike rides. John darby and Johno have put a great deal of time and effort in setting up the aquaponics system for the community

Nice to see... they might have saved some time, effort and money if they'd just bought a kit from BYAP on one of their several visits....

Seriously... it looks like there's a hydroton filled growbed... and two side by side floating raft beds within a single bed....

How much did the materials cost to make up the beds??

What sort of filtration are they employing in the raft system... and is the media bed flood & drain???

What stocking density are they running in how big a tank?.... I take it that the pic with the blue tanks is actually at the Tafe....

P.S .... what sort of plastic did you use for the growbeds??

rupe it looks like ABS

Hi Rupert,

The grow beds are made out of 3mm thick sheets of PVC. I can't remember what each sheet cost. I think a standard sheet of PVC which is 2.4 Meters x 1.2 Metres is about $120.00. So we were able to make two growout tanks for about $400.00. I really can't remeber as the community paid foe the material.
yes it is a flood and drain system (media filled system) and John Darby got me to weld up a siphon box which John then set up and installed. For the Raft tank John made up a simple sand filter to pre filter the water before it enters the tank.
The tank is only 100 litres and it is installed between a house and the side fence. For security John and Johno made a fence and gate. You can see the tank and gate below



The stocking density is not high and has only a few black Bream at the moment. I hope to give the community a number of large Barramundi in the spring when it is warmer.

Finally yes the photo of the empty growout bed was taken at Tafe just after my students and I had finished welding.

Oops a fews typing errors in the previous blog. The tank is a 1000 Litres not 100. I apologize for the previous photo as it is not the most inspiring. However take note of how little room we had in putting the tank between the wall of the house and the side fence. Like mms to spare. The other issue was that the tank had to be partly dug into the ground to get the levels right for the siphoning and flow. As soon a we started digging we hit good old Fremantle limestone which was only resolved with a kangahammer.
You can see the fence and gate that John and Johno erected to prevent the fish from being pinched. The whole exercise has been great as the community and the students have worked together to create something that the community as a whole benefits from and i can take my students to show a working system in the community. A special thankyou to Dr John Darby for being the instigator of the project.

Humm... interesting... does the filter block quickly and require constant cleaning...

And if so... just how is that done??

is it pvc or abs?????????

Its all pvc bundy

I think Bundy was asking if it was specifically ABS plastic...

Plastic is such a generic term... and PVC is merely one class of plastics...

Myself I was wondering if it was polycarbonate, polyethylene, polyurethane or polypropylene....

Figured it wasn't perspex, teflon, nylon or polyester....

Think Bundy may be hinting toward possible lechate issues....

Serious question... is it UV stabilised....

ok....ive used alot of abs thats all, the tank looks like its made of abs "plastic".....we used to use it on chlorinators/ poly dosing injectors and odour scrubbing plants for melbourne water. Is nice stuff to work with esp when welding sheets.

Ah... you mean the tanks.... I figured they'd be PE Bundy... just as easy to weld...

And as you know (PDHE)... food grade/standard...

uhuh

Rupert and Bundy

it is PVC which is just one class of thermoplastics. PVC is different to ABS and HDPE etc in terms of different physical properties including specific gravity and welding temperature. From memory PVC has a welding temp of about 380 C while ABS is around 450 C.
Where i work we use heaps of the stuff to make all sorts of things including tanks, swirl separators etc.
Yes it can leach chemicals when new but I havn't seen any problems. I've read that tributyltin was a problem in the early PVCs and this caused issues with molluscs such as oysters.
The sheets are not UV stabilized but it is possible to buy UV stabilized PVC. The sides of the growout beds are not exposed to significant levels of direct sunlight

Well that clears that up then...