Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Quick update,

I have got the crushed quartz and i am now starting to know what OBO feels like after shoveling this stuff in 4o degree heat!



I dont think i have enough for the bed but it got dark and i couldnt get a pic.....

Looking the goods Fodder .

I would be really worried about that stand racking forward /backwards and collapsing without any bracing across the corners. Worth welding some on, especially if you ever have kids around that are going to lean on it and climb the side to look in. A full grow bed is easilly heavy enough to cause a fatality.

Hi Burnsy,

Yea, I have to say that is does not look strong, but its not that bad in real life.
Last night while i was washing out the gravel i pushed it around a bit and there was not that much movement, but I agree and i am trying to source some more angle for the bracing to stop that.

But i need to get this damm thing running at some stage and i have been stuffed around a bit for most everything on the little endevor, living up here is really hard in some ways. But in most other ways its great.

So tonight i will fill up the FT and start the cycling process, but i am having trouble with getting fish atm.

OK, i am about ready to give up on this bloddy thing!

I was all excited when i came home, i was going to finish the plumbing fill the FT and start cycling!!! whoo hooo

But then it all came crashing down, no despite what you may think it was not the stand!!
it seems that the stand is not tall enough once you add the adapter to the drain fitting! I can not get the drain line the over the edge of the FT

I thought it was tall enough, but i guess i was wrong.

Sometimes i think this is just too damm hard up here.....

Hang in there mate...did you get all the plumbing pieces you needed from BYAP ??? How about posting a few photo's of the problems your nutting out, so some input from others might be able to ease some of your frustration. how about build up the stand with a few bricks to give you the extra height ??

It is hard living remote.....my garden is 80 % wiped out due to these monster killer caterpillars...fun fun fun.

Do you know any one with a forklift? Raise growbed and put something under to raise stand. Bugger!! You kept saying you should have got BYAP stand

I think I get the picture. I am not sure where you want to put the tank in relation to the growbed but if you have a 40ml 90 degree elbow and some 40ml pipe run it over the edge of the fish tank and another 40ml elbow down into the tank. As long as the top of the fishtank is lower than the bottom of the growbed it will still work.

Hi everyone.

Thanks everyone for the comments,
Seamonkey, unfortunately there is no way to get a forklift into position because of the pool you can just see in the shots. But thanks for the idea.

Jess, last year the grasshoppers and now the giant caterpillars!!!!
I will try and get some pics today if i get a chance. right now every time i look at the dam thing i want to take to it with something long blunt and heavy!!

Faye, I think you understand right. the stand is high enough that the FT could slip under it and it would be as it is in your shop, no problems. But as i am trying to keep the FT out of the really hot sun i have moved it about 1m away from the GB. But once you add the drain fitting to the grow bed and then the Adapter to the drain its too low to get over the lip of the FT.

So what you are saying is that i need to make up an "elbow" for lack of a better term. Come out of the GB and over to the FT, 90 deg bend, up until you are over the lip of the FT another 90 deg bend, over the lip, and another 90 bend and down into the tank?
Would it matter that there is some "Dead" water sitting in that pipe between cycles?

Yes, But it would get flushed through every cycle so it would not sit there all that long.

Just so we are clear, the temp up here over summer is going to be 45+ everyday.

Only other way unfortunately, would be to unload all that gravel (I can see you cringing) and do a nice thick tiling job underneath GB. Bricks or something. You could have nice neat storage area under it and not have to worry about cutting grass around it. In your heat, you just got to make sure the beer fridge is stocked to get you through it.

Funny enough i have these sleepers.........

If you can borrow a couple of hydraulic jacks (safer with 4) you could pack up with timber or bricks and slowly jack the grow bed up then put some bricks under the legs.

+1, bit of extra stuffing around now but you will be thankful in the end that you took the time to do it right.

If 2 people press horizontally on either side of the FT causing it to bend, won't the inside lip bend down enough for you to slip it under the drain?