Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The water is pumped from the fish pond in front up to the bottom of the basin that forms the waterfall. The basin has a grate at the bottom to keep a layer of lava rock suspended a bit. This lets the water swirl around the bottom before it rises through the lava rock. As it reaches the top, it floats water hyacinth and then falls over the spillway into the pond. Since it is Fall here, the water hyacinth has been mostly removed for the winter, but you can see a few plants of it in the upper basin. Total volume is about 100 gal/400 liter.

Normal occupancy is a half-dozen Sarasa goldfish and several leopard frogs. I'm thinking about planting some wasabi in the upper basin in the spring, although I might have too much sun for that.

--Janet

Beautiful Japanese Maple over the pond! How long has the pond been there?

Well, this version of the pond has only been in for a year and a half. The previous incarnation was larger and in the same location and lasted about 6 years. (So the maple has been in place about 7-8 years.) The old pond worked on the same principles and was about 500 gal/2000 liters. Regrettably, the waterfall froze up one winter, most of the pond pumped itself behind the flexible liner, and the pond caved in. I was not amused. Hopefully this pond has the design flaws worked out since I need to keep the waterfall going for aeration. Without aeration, the hibernating frogs don't make it, although the goldfish are a little tougher. (I left the waterfall off last winter. Cleaning out the pond in the Spring was nasty. Frog-shaped goo kept coming up off the bottom.)

--Janet

yuk- remembering the frog deaths by roundup!!
C1

It has begun................you are now viewing every water body as a possible AP setup, regardless of original function or size..............Welcome to the madness.

Steve

in the best possible way!

Is there any place local I could source some wasabi from ie. Perth. I have been reading up on it, it sounds pretty good to grow. It has been mentioned here a good few times.

I was going to get plants from Washington (state, not D.C.) in the USA: http://www.wasabifarm.com/

Interesting article on wasabi cultivation and industry in Australia:
http://www.affa.gov.au/corporate_docs/p ... wasabi.pdf

I noted that it had a Contact section at the bottom. Maybe some of the information in there would help you get some plants or seeds.

--Janet.

Oh, and I should mention that the article that I linked outlines an aquaponic wasabi set-up. Just in case any of you need any more inspiration!!

--Janet.

Yes I noticed, they use the creek as their return water pipe. Just imagine having an all-in-one Sushi farm. Where everything is grown in the same area, rice, seaweed, fish, wasabi.... it would be fantastic..

Sounds like a plan!

schematic...

Here's how the pond looks in summer! Notice the 6 fish. They are the same 6 that help cycle up the indoor system over the winter. They have returned to their regular haunts, proving that not one, but 4 systems (proto-type, main system, and 2 breeder tanks) can be cycled up on the same fish without killing any of them.

There was a tiny little frog that hopped into the pond as I was taking pics. Too small to be a bullfrog, so my thought is that it is a leopard frog; one of our native species around here. Bullfrogs often displace them, but my bullfrogs met an untimely demise during the pond-reconstruction phase.

Oh wait, let's try the pic where you can actually see all the fish...

very kool i wanted to build somthing like this but being that i am renting and i prolly won't be here to much longer i decided agianst it, but i want to build a pond/ apgarden soon as i get a more perminent residence.