Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah their sure are some outside the box thinkers here.

Its a native gum tree form what I can tell.

It does not HAVE to stay, but its the last semi mature tree I have left in my backyard as the others had to be cut down as they were way to big and dangerous.

Leave the tree there, just shield your tank from its leaves. Also make sure it's unlikely to drop limbs, or cut it down when it gets big enough to, a busted tank is all you need.

I use cut off flared ends for the same thing .

KP, can't remember ever buying tek screws for myself - I always seem to have hundreds laying around from my landscape construction and house building days. Being a tightass like you I also pick them up and stick them in my pocket whenever I see them lying around on the ground where tradies have been to lazy to bend down and pickup the ones they dropped. I remember doing a delivery to a new mine site when I was driving trucks in Kalgoorlie in the early nineties, there was a new shed that had just been built that I was delivering equipment to. While it was being unloaded I wandered around the outside of the shed and picked up about 100 teks that had been dropped by the construction guys when they put it up

Absolutely - I've got screws etc for the rest of my life now thanks to our renovation.

For the tradies on this job it's apparently more professional to jump in the car and go down to Bunnings and buy a new box (guess who pays for that) than it is to pick up the 5 that you need from amongst the 30 on the floor

Yeah was going to put a cover on 70% of the pond to block leaves, etc and will also have a shade sail over the top so I should be able to keep most stuff out. Planned on keeping it fairly short anyways after the experiences with the last big gum trees.

I'd advise for at least the early days of your system, cover the tank as completely as possible. Might help you avoid the pea soup stage of algae. Also a good cover that will keep fish from jumping out is a good idea as well as keeping the leaves from falling in.

Agree with TCLynx on the complete cover (black-out) of the fish tank in the early days. I had algae or the green pea soup stage for a few weeks. Tried semi-shade and make shift cover for two weeks... Algae was still in water... Put tarp over the tank and complete black out for 1 week... Tank water became crystal clear in 1 week...

Presumably you can't do 100% blackout when you have the fish in?

(sorry for the hi-jack )

You could black it out with fish in but then when ever you open the cover the fish usually freak out a bit more.

Once a system is cycled up, I like to have a dark cover over most of the tank but I don't worry too much about light leaking in near the pipes or feeder or whatever. As long as the fish can tell night from day, they are usually pretty happy with a dark environment.

I have a cover made from heavy wire fencing to make it sturdy enough not to cave in and I cover that with netting that will keep fish from jumping out and leaves from falling in. For darkness, I usually just use some black drape fabric that I often pick up big chunks of free. It will fade and deteriorate in the sun but as I said, I'm getting free scraps regularly.

Oh, I noticed in the sketchup that you didn't really put much space between the levels of grow beds. I think you will want to adjust that part of the design so that you can walk between the tiers of grow beds and be able to harvest from all sides.
Once a grow bed is all planted out it will be hard to reach the far side of a bed, especially from the uphill side. Really hard to reach out three feet and down below your feet without falling down into the bed and mushing all the other plants in the way.

Also the easier you make access all around your system, the easier life will be for planting, harvesting, and fixing/altering later.

Good point TCLynx.

I will review the design several times before going ahead with it, but thats something I will definitely include.

Thanks.

Popped over to Food&Fish's last night for a visit, and a few cheeky beers

A wonderful setup, and an abundance of advice regards all things aquaponics amongst other topics!

Just wanted to thank you for your fantastic hospitality, and welcoming us into your yard for a thorough explanation on tried and tested methods of producing a successful aquaponics system.

We plan on cooking that fish up tonight that you kindly gave us, and are quite excited!

Thanks again, and next weekend looks like a goer for a Saturday afternoon lamb spit at my place.

Cheers, Adzza.

After discussions last night, I have decided its imperative I get a sump so I have sourced an IBC that just had morning fresh in it. This will bring my water capacity up to 4000L in total which is not to shabby at all.

I will be ordering my 4 X 600L grow beds next week.

My fish used to freak, (not complete blackout, but reasonably dark. Now they've learnt that light means food, and start jumping before I've thrown any in. I try to keep the light at a minimum , and they don't like me doing it at midday.

Now you are talking its all go from here