Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys
Thought I'll just move my New member intro to here and start my thread.

Hi Guys,
Been reading on the forum for a couple of months now, and I'm 'hooked'

Began a veggi garden last winter 08 which proved to be quite a hit with the wife and others that came over and benefited from the veggi production.
Unfortunatly when the weather turned to winter my veggi production took a hit.
I built a green house over the area of my small veggi patch in july 09 to increase my temperatures, which has payed off big time with tomatoes germinating and growing in the middle of winter along with all the veggi's as well.
As of now My AP system is just an area in the GH that has been set aside for an IBC tank which has had the top 300mm cut off and turned upside down for a small grow bed.
I will be burried the IBC into the ground and use it for a possible future sump for the upgrde system that I'm planning after I can prove that I can look after some goldies.
I don't really have interesting photos yet but I know how much you guys love photos so here is some photos of the IBC tank, My GH and the location in the GH
Will keep you updated as I go along, and I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions for the AP Boffins here.

Regards
mattyry.

Nice greenhouse

yeah the green house has managed to survive the winds we have had in melbourne the past few weeks. All second had windows from ebay, the one at the front with door was $5.

Mattyry.

Ok update time,
cut the top 300mm or so off the IBC tank and boxed it in, flipped it on its head for a grow bed.
Found the thread on how to build a bell syphon here @ BYAP. Gave that a go with mixed
results. needed more that 1000Lph to get it to work. (25mm stand pipe & 50mm bell)
I have a 300 litre GB that seems that will cycle about every 20 min.
Is this to often or not enough??
Anyway here is some progress pictures.

System is still a little way from operating yet. still need gravel and have to paint the IBC tank. Plus I need to some how get it in to the green house???

mattyry

Put an end cap on the end of the siphon drain, drill holes in it to suit the water flow.

Will run perfectly every time then.

I run 13mm siphon pipes, with a 19mm inflow to the growbeds.

OB,


not quite sure what ur on about??? When you say "end cap" do you mean block up the 25mm drain and drill holes to restrict the amount of water leaving the syphon's drain??
Will that mean that I'll be able to reduce the amount of water I put in to the bed??

Regards
Matt

For a siphon to start it needs to fill up the drain pipe and remove all air. Putting a cap on the point that the water enters the fish tank, then putting a couple of holes in it, will allow the pipe to fill up, and initiate the siphon.

You can also put a trap in it, correct? So the drain comes down, over and then up a bit before going to the fish tank. Wiki has some info on traps if it helps at all http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_%28plumbing%29

OB,
Will that method restrict the flow through the syphon, thus causing the draining of the growbed? I guess the theory is there just need to prove it.
Keep an eye here!!

I'll try both methods.


Is there a minimum that the grow beds should be flooded? Say per hour??

Regards

Matt

I think the rule of thumb is you want a certain number of water changes per hour. Usually one half to one is fine. So, if you had a 700 litre tank, you'd want to make sure that over an hour's time you moved ~350-700 litres. You don't want the grow beds to have water in them at all times - the air is important. I've damaged my plants by having too much water around.

Kristopher

At night, with a lightly stocked system in cool weather (barely keeping the fish warm enough) I've gone as long as 12hrs with no pumping or air. Most folks with timed systems seem to go for once per hour, I have a system that has been running about 4 to 5 cycles per hour and the plants are happy with that, too. Lots of options...

Quick up date,
gravel came on monday and I was so excited that I did a VERY BAD THING.
I forgot to wash that gravel.
IT WAS VERY BAD. Grow bed had an 20mm of mud in it.
Then the fish tank was just as bad.
OH WHY DIDN"T I LISTEN TO ALL THE ADVICE HERE.

Anyway this is how I washed the gravel
20 litre bucket with purpose drilled holes dipping in and out of 2 - 40 litre pots.
It took me about 6 hours to remove the gravel wash it and then replace it.

Carn't believe how much dirt and silt that the gravel was holding. I though that cycling the system would get rid of it, but I was dreaming.

Anyhow some pictures,

regards.

Matt

Thats whats you call learning the hard way

Thats a lot of dirt. I got sick of washing gravel very quickly, wonder where my dirt ended up.

guys,

began cycling my system last week, waiting on the delivery of the water test kit to see if everything is cycling ok,
I do have one question for all the AP'ers melbourne,
what is the most suitible fish to grow in melbourne?
What I've read so far is that silvers are a good all round fish, trout are good over the winter months!
can anyone give me the average grow out time for these?
(I've tried looking for threads in regards to this but were unable to find them, but if you know where they are i would be much greatful.)

Regards
Matt