Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The rock does not float at all It is very porous but heavy enough.

cool, looks good. Are you using the washing trays for grow beds? Maybe try to get something a bit deeper. About 300mm deep is best for bacteria growth.

No I am building a grow bed over the tank.

That's really neat DT, it's going to be fun watching it develop.

hey what do you think of using painted metal for the growbed over the fish tank?

I was thinking of a 10 foot long cattle feeder so it would be powder coated

I use lava rock (that I had to pay for!!!) in my pond filtration, but do not have plants growing directly in it yet. It gives lots of holes for the bacteria to grow in and works great! The lava rock I have seems a bit sharp to grow plants in, but I also cannot break mine by hand. I have floated water hyacinths over it. See it here. http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=734

Cool, that's what I want to use too neighbour has one sitting in a paddock and no animals any more so I'm trying to do a deal with him... free vegies and a few $$'s for the trough, fortunately I'm in no hurry, things go slow in the country

will it be a pretty colour?

Well I am inHonduras the next few days celebrating Thanksgiving with family and drooling over pumps that lay discarded at the place we used to live and work. Even came across a venturi pipe that was off of a purification system. I plan togo through all the piles and take what I can (with permission of course) and see what I can make work. So....I might not be around for a while but I am working on the system.

Keep us informed whenyou get a chance, Looks good

Another scrounge king, go dt

hey, I want to know what the big deal is with the auto siphons. It worked on my first try! I fear there is too much anxiety in the AP world.

By the way, I am in Honduras now and have set up a trial system to see if it works. I am going to the local pond here to get water and local fish and even get my gravel from the pond so it will cycle quickly. Imay even pu;; up some local weeds to transplant into the gravel if the numbers add up on water quality. I am only here for two weeks so I am not sure if that will happen.

I was able to scrounge up a Little Giant spa circulating pump that really works well at 180 gals per hour. I will add pics of my experimental set up when I get a chance, hopefully today.

I hope all the Yanks had a Happy Thanksgiving! The rest of you, I guess happy weekend......and be thankful for what you have!

Bragger! You no doubt learned from my struggles with the autosiphon. well, i'm glad my struggles did some good.

I have just collected two buckets of broken shells from the beach to add to my system. our tap water is 6.4 ph with almost no buffering. the shells should help.