Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Your system sounds similar to the one I'm building- Angie's 1st Prototype- located in member's systems. I have my sump- a 125 gallon IBC- directly linked to the raft ponds so in essence the entire area becomes the sump and the water draws down in all of the raft ponds at the same time (a double sump system). I also have constant level in the fish tanks but my level is maintained by having an internal and external stand pipe. It is also operated by a single large pump. Will be interested in your progress.

Hey, CB!

Nice going there!

Let's see....if you have a cycled barrelponics setup you can rob out about half the gravel and get your main system cycled in a week or two, probably, especially if your fish load is small to begin with. As far as fish, you want to figure on about one lb per 4 gallons of growbed, max, at least for the first year. You will, of course, be starting out much lower than that unless you like fishsticks with fins (as a way of thinning as they grow ). As far as separating species, you might put bluegills and cats together and see what happens, separating them as needed: I understand that tilapia and cats are grown together down further south without reported problems and crowding reduces tilapia aggression problems, so maybe the territoriality of the bluegills will be likewise reduced by crowding and will work as companion species with cats in cooler waters.

More pics...

About KILLED myself yesterday trying to make serious headway! Very sore today with multiple callouses and still feeling the latent sickness from last night.

Here are some pics from along the way, but finished after dark... more in a minute.



Next is the weed guard...



And my "helpers" for some perspective...



Hole is 1.3 m wide x 1 m deep x 2.6 m long... Not as deep as I hoped, but this ground is WAY too hard. next time I'll have the brains to find a backhoe! When finished, the tank should hold 960 gallons... about 3800 liters.

Got the tank into the hole last night as light was fading. the hole was a shade UNDER sized and we really had a time getting it in place. Besides the fact that is was me and four little boys manhandling a box made of four sheets of 3/4" CDX plywood that weighed a TON (not literally, but it was heavy!!), I did have the sense to assemble it over the hole, but when we moved the supports to drop it in place the boys mis-timed the drop, my end went in first and it got jambed in cattywompus! Took two hours of fiddling, to nudge it in place only to find the hole to be slightly narrow at one point... High pressure water hose and a piece of rebar became the 'solution du jour' and we got it in place and level as the sun set. Pics of that later.

YIPEE!! The liner and pumps arrived today. I'll pickup the fishtank next week! got to hurry. Cool weather is here

CB!

Thinking ahead here as I am trying to put together a supplies list for the next stage...

I need some thought/input on GB support. I have a welder and can build of steel or of wood and want some engineering guidance so I can be sure I get this right the first time....

The GBs, as I have them pictured (and pond liner allotted) will be six 4' x 8' beds that are 12" deep... Each will have a 3/4" ply bottom and 2" x 12" treated side boards. I am going to use a mix of granite rock (blue metal?) and lava rock, but expect the weight of each bed to be roughly 2000 lbs...

My desire is for the underpinning to be solid, but also roomy enough to put other stuff... quail, mushrooms, etc... So, steel is stronger with less space taken up, but I'll opt for treated wood if not too bulky... would be a faster build...

Thoughts? Who out there has large GBs and how have you supported them? What would you do differently the second/third time around??

All input and recommendations welcome!

Thanks,

CB

Hey, CB!

If you are using 2x12 (11" of pea gravel?) and making a bed 4x8 ft I figure you would have about a yard of gravel for about 3000lbs total weight, including water.

The gravel is danged heavy and I used 1.125" ply to span the 4'. With thinner stuff you will almost certainly need cross supports.

I've had difficulties getting my growbed to seal well around the drain, but TCLynx seems to have perfected it. I think she has an inlayed section of thinner material to better fit the uniseals.

better look at tc/s system she is replacing her beds with rubbermade tanks

Thanks, F&F. Still trying to figure the best short term and long term plan...

Pics to update where we are...

A couple days ago I had a half day to work feverishly...

Progress included the gravel for the floor being delivered, one end wall frame going up and the rest of the hoops... last pic taken as the sun was setting. Beautiful evening. Nights hitting the low 50s (F) here... Soon gonna be glad this thing is closed up!

FYI, the stray post in the middle of everything will be to mount the electrical box on for power in the GH.

Picked up the 1500 gallon FT today. Actually will have about 1200 gallons (4800L) of useable space for fish... Cost? 200USD!!

Getting excited... (Second pic has a midget for scale... LOL!!)








BTW, why will the pics load in the thread sometimes and other times they will not? happens to me in all threads, not just this one...

CB

There was one day here not too long ago where some pics were lost in the web site change over. All the pics I posted one day of my new grow beds and the one that was damaged by termites were during that time period.

As to my changing out that grow bed (and probably one other eventually) I supported them using some old old posts that turned into a perfect highway for termites to move up into the wood of the grow bed, and they eventually ate into the liner. So, Whatever you build the stand for your wood grow beds out of, make sure it is definitely distasteful to termites. I would probably recommend the metal to support wood beds.

I notice you are planning on doing 4' wide and 1' deep beds. What type of liner are you planning to get? The really good EPDM liner that stands up well to gravel, comes in 5' wide rolls for the narrow width (used to be 5 1/2') I don't think that will cover a 4' wide bed and it would be a huge waste to go with 10' wide. (Well unless you order it and plan to lay it in the beds sideways but then you would probably want to go several inches shorter than 8' long or you won't have enough to pull the liner up over the edge of the boards.)

However, the 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks are a pretty good deal right now and I like extra deep grow beds. All I need to support them are blocks.

Finally!! Back in the saddle!

Mid-October last year my wife got sick and wound up in the hospital. Long story short, 8 days in ICU and a total of five weeks in the hospital followed by another month of home quarantine and IV meds before the doctors would release her and they STILL do not know what happened or how/why she got sick!!

Needless to say, the AP and GH kinda hit the back burner.

Anyway, these past two weeks with my life back in order and Spring approaching, I managed to get some help from a brother and we've made serious headway.

<Figures! I go to upload the pics onto my computer at work and it won't recognize the SD card... Gonna have to wait til I get home this evening to post pics.!>

So, pics and descriptions later!! Hoping to have the system begin cycling w/in a week or so.

CB

So, here are the promised pics with a couple bonus shots and info in the next post!!



Has 6 mil 4-year guaranteed UV stabilized clear sheeting. Spent a little extra to get special channels and wiggle wire so the platic can easily be tightened or replaced.. Also, the sides are designed to roll up and guttering will be put down both sides to collect rain water. (Explains the arch in the side support that the gutter will be attached to....) Still need to trim up some stray pieces of plastic, but overall a good job for the first time! Designed and sourced the whole thing myself and have about $2000 in the whole project not counting the AP supplies.



One view of the inside. I have 20 tonnes of gravel in the floor. Expecting this to make a really nice heat sink in the Winter.



Far left corner is a compost bin for additional heat in Winter. Lots of work to do!!


CB

In researching and planning the GH, I found that recommended hoop spacing is about 6' (2m) for this part of the country. I chose to 'over-engineer', as I am wont to do, and went with 4' (1.3m) spacing. We may see one or two snows a year and the occassional high wind, but nothing major...

Wouldn't you know it, less than 24 hours after the cover went on it started to snow!!



We wound up with about 4"... Pretty significant, though I have seen a 7"er in the last decade.



And of course, "How did the GH fair," you ask? Nicely!! Check this out!



Middle of the night I did go inside the GH with a broom and gently pushed up with a little vibration on the top and the snow would break and slide off in big sheets. Never any question about the strength/stability of the structure! It was rock solid.

This morning I took a thermometer outside to take some temp readings while working in the GH and was pleasantly surprised. The temp outside was 36º F and the temp inside steadily rose to a high of 83º F before I came in the house at noon!! I expect the average to get even better as the rocks begin to absorb and hold heat each day.... Have other solar based plans if need be to keep temps up, but VERY happy right now with the early readings. Will be interesting to see what it does tonight... and especially in future evenings as the rock heats up.

CB

Nice!

Have you made any further decisions about what type of fish you want to keep? I've only done Channel Catfish and Blue Tilapia. We are not really bothering much with the Tilapia anymore (without heating, they grow slower than the catfish and we have decided we like the taste of catfish better and the catfish are far easier to fillet.)

I've heard that blue gill are really good eating but I've only had the wild caught ones up in Michigan. I don't have any personal experience of them in Aquaponics though several other people have been growing them.

And, if you have not already purchased the liner and lumber. I definitely have changed my tune to liking the stock tanks as grow beds better. The liner is fine for ponds or holes in the ground but if you have to support it with wood, the wood has a limited life span.

I'm thinking tilapia as I am pretty sure I can keep the tank temps up in the Winter. Cats are easy to catch in local lakes/ponds, so even grain fed, they may be tough to sell if I have an abundance. OTOH, I already have a few locals very interested in picking up tilapia fresh and paying for the privilege... Worst case, I think I can grow a batch out by October and then decide on whether they are worth the trouble for a second 'go.'

I have already bought the lumber and have several GBs near completion with the liner in a box on the shelf... Will use that as long as it lasts then change to tubs later.... Hopefully by then AP will be farther along in the US and more suitably shaped (read: square) GBs will be available to use space more economically.

Planning a decking cover for the sump with an NFT system above with two big GBs on either side. Already have a few dwarf citrus trees struggling through our unseasonably cold Winter. They'll get moved into the GH tomorrow. Have some moringa seeds to start, too!

And, since I have space to spare, a friend is gonna start his garden plants in the GH and exchange 10 blue barrels for the luxury!! He came by today to verify that we can do that and see the interior.

Getting excited again!

CB

Sounds like things are coming along nicely CB, congrats! I'm always excited to hear about others in the SE expanding the world of AP.

What are you going to do with the barrels? Rain storage, barrelponics, thermal mass in greenhouse?