Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well, I'll bring the discussion over here

This is all pending council approval, and construction will not start until late January '10 anyway, due to going on a driving holiday to Tassie over Xmas / New Year.


Aerial View-Lot 3563, and Shed 4 are leased by me. Over 2000m3 in total. Shed is around 250m3 or so. Black area is where the first system is going.




2 x 10,000 Litre tanks, with 20 IBC's for each tank.


More later

You sinking any of the FT's or GB's into the ground. Just a thought the lines of IBC's could sit in a trench. Bobcat could dig it pretty quickly. Wouldn't have to back fill them just make the temp easier to control and the plants at a better level. Rain may be an issue then, but a pump at the end of the run with a float to get rid of the water when it rains. Might also be easier to wheel barrow the gravel into the gb's.

Mmmm...
Single/ double long run grow beds partitioned, with their own plumbing???

One row of IBC on the ground and a second set in a trench. Spider to the top GB and have it siphon into the bottom GB before it drains back to the FT. Get twice the filter for the single pumping. Second Gb's could be smaller if you didn't want them too far into the soil. Be able to increase fish load then.

FT's are being buried to a height that enables the IBC's to drain to 1/2 height. There will be aspider for each tank, with one pump in each tank.

I am wavering towards using two pumps in each tank, with their own spider, doing one run each. Possibly running one pump from the mains, with the other running from battery, along with the aerator.

So 4 pumps, 4 spiders, 1 air pump.

Looking at running the Jebao 8000 for all pumps, http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/product.asp?pID=482&cID=63, all 4 will run 24/7 on 4 x novaris timers.

I think I just convinced myself to run 4 pumps

So each spider will do 2 IBC beds at a time, which is probably a 2 or 3 minute fill time per section. I am going to direct excess flow from the pumps back to the fish tanks for aeration and circulation. I know it is not the most efficient way to go, but the fish are more important than an extra $200 of power a year. I'd prefer to use oversized pumps, and be confident in their ability, than run with pumps that are a bit small.

Good idea to run all pumps the same so that you only need to keep one backup on the shelf for break downs.

So what is the planned fish? Are you going to try to go trout year round, if so, how will you keep it cool enough for them through summer?

Absolutely no way to keep the Trout year round. Today and tomorrow are going to be 40 deg c, so I think it's the end of this seasons Trout.

Trout and Silvers in winter (hence the 2 tanks) and Silvers in summer. The Trout only need to be 500 gram max, so I do not need to try to keep them over summer.

Do you guys have any year round fish that grow any faster than Silvers?

I suspect our blue gill are similar in growth rate to silvers and have the same issue of not surviving cold when they are too small.

But we got Channel Catfish that can get quite big in a year. Definitely to eating size from a 3 inch fingerling in my climate in 12 months.

So OBO what are you plans with the system? Are you going to sell the veggies to you local IGA store or are you going to sell kits for people?

*Hopefully* to be able to sell fish to a local caterer, as well as vegetables. Any extra stuff will be available to the public.

The key thing to remember with this system, is I am not doing it to make a heap of money, it is still just a hobby. It just happens that my hobby works quite well with my businesses need for some more land If it manages to pay for the cost of seedlings, fingerlings, and feed I will be happy.

That being said, I will be pushing this system quite hard, in an effort to see just how much you can produce from a small area.

Might pay to keep a couple of drums of zeolite around if your going to be pushing the system.

Not with a good GB : FT ratio D.

In my experience you lose water clarity ie murkiness before you get into dangerous water quality.

Any water quality problems are usually fixed by witholding food for a few days anyway.

Thinking more for when your away working.
Are you going to be moving any of your first system over to the new location.
Forklift would move those IBC quickly and give a good startup of bacteria.

Nah, no media filled beds are being moved, but I will transfer several thousand litres of water, probably a couple of times too. Because it will be a very warm time of year, I will cycle the new system quickly with urea.