Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,
In the spirit of jumping in head first I will post some pics and details here... Hopefully to get some good advice and to document my own process starting at the beginning.

I am an absolute newbie, a beginner, probably foolish in starting without at least a cursory knowledge of AP, but there you go! As a man it's my right (some may say responsibility) to go off half cocked and without even a glance at the instruction manual.

So armed with little more than a loving and helpful scientist wife, a trip or three to Bunnings (where I'm sure my pay is directly debited) and my tool shed I have cobbled together some kind of watery, tanky, pipey contraption which will one day yield 6m Bull Sharks and a sizable mango and banana plantation!

Or not... Some goldfish and a basil plant will do for starters...

Yesterday was my start day.
Below is what I made...
Today is day 2 and I have added Seasol, worm wee (water from my worm farm), salt and some of my best intentions (read best laid plans?).

Wish me luck! Please give me your advice and stop me if you see anything terminal happening!!!
I love reading other people's posts, especially those of you who seem to be well established and knowledgeable; I am neither!

Cheers
Steve (Aussieartist)

(These pics were posted in the New Members Introductions section - sorry about that - they should have been here!)

Hello there and welcome...

I noticed that there is water above the surface of the growing media in your growbed...

You probably want to only flood the growbed up to about 30mm below the surface of the growing media. The surface should be dry... This stops algae from growing on the surface of the growbed and hence taking some of the nutrients for its growth...

yep definitely flooding too high, and your water looks red, did you wash the media before you hooked the system up?, have a look at putting in a standpipe drain, what rate is your pump, maybe cut down the pumping time

Flooding too high, those squirters will block up in no time, drill them out to around 6 mm, and face them down into the gravel, and dont worry about washing gravel

Thanks Ivan, Nocky and Outback for your advice about lowering the water level, Faye already mentioned that one too...

That pic was taken before the last bag of media was added... the water is about 30mm below the rim and the media is now almost level with the top... I noticed it has settled a bit as I've been playing with it.

I was worried about my pissy holes in the inlet pipe... They were drilled at 4mm but you know how that clear hose loves to burr and close itself... I will increase the size to 6mm as per. Fortunately they are not deeply buried and can be removed easily to replace/clean.

What's the final consensus on the brick coloured water? It's just terra cotta - crushed roof tiles I'd guess... I think I might flush it tonight just to be safe... I'm guessing even if it settled out the (eventual) fish will stir it back up.

My pump is 450 L/H and I currently only run it for about 2 beers a day... I could potentially pump the whole system in about 30 mins. I didn't put in a standpipe drain but I do have 2 x 19mm overflow pipes at about 30mm from the top which seem to be adequate... and of course a 25mm drain tap at the bottom.

I'll take a look at all your systems today and see what other brilliant ideas I can steal... I mean borrow...

I have also made a drawing! (Attached)

Cheers
Steve (Aussieartist)

I would reverse that diffuser hose so that it's inlet is at the FT end. Less hose required.

Mal

Yeah, thanks Mal - the original design did just that but I also wanted to have the fittings in place so if I decide to do away with the diffuser hose altogether the outlet pipe is furthest away from the drain, giving more chance for solids to be caught and not just wash back into the FT.

I do see what you mean though... in the interests of perfect simplicity and economy it should be at the closest point.

Cheers
Steve

Steve,

I would rethink the diffuser holes and go for a flood and drain system. My little system is constant flow through diffuser holes and unless the pipes are perfectly level the water flow is not even and after the fish have been in the water for a while the holes tend to block up.

Just a thought................

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your info, I had planned my system to be a flood and drain, with the added facility of constant diffused flowing in the hotter months or as required. I now see the diffuser is prone to probs and hope to rectify it with diffuser mark 2 once cycling and fish occur... (in about 2 months I'd guess)

I'm not sure what you mean about the levels... Mine is all pump driven with gravity drain... let me know if I miss your point - it is my birthday and I may have had a beer or two!!!

Cheers
Steve

June 29th - Did I mention I got permission/funding to make my AP system as a birthday gift from my wife?

Anyhow, here's a pic of the system today... the antique pump is just a prop... looks cool though... The water has gone all dark and mysterious after adding worm wee, salt and Seasol... Played with water testing kit today... not sure if the results are valid this soon after adding so much stuff!

Had a nice beer or two though and listened to the water go round!

Cheers!

Is the cover off the FT just for the pics? If you leave it off the water will go green (algae=bad).

Steve,

I meant the levels of the outlets. If one is higher than another and the end open the water will not flow out of the higher hole giving you uneven watering. Also, the blocking of holes is a real problem.

Hey Aussieartist, welcome to the obsession

Look into an autosiphon for your grow bed, its an easy and cheap way to convert your existing system to a flood and drain, you'll be able to keep everything the same just add a siphon and it becomes a flood and drain, long as you have enough of a flow rate to get the siphon started but an Affnan bell siphon should handle that fine.

Look into increasing grow beds, you're currently at half the volume of your FT, twice the volume of the FT is recommended, and at least the same. This of course varies with the stocking density of the fish but all the same won't hurt.

cover up that FT, algae is a silent, deadly and very swift killer

let the water keep going round all the time for a couple of days, will be a good way to check for leaks or failures and that along with the stuff your adding should get it cycled. does it have fish in it yet? test every day so that you know whats happening, making an excel sheet of it won't hurt either, easy way to keep track of whats happening [:

First month or so will be rough while the system stabalizes itself and the beneficial bacteria get built up, but after that all should go great

On another note what do you guys think of his grow media, its just crushed roof tiles, terracotta ones, as he mentioned. Won't this be too small? or too flat and sharp for the roots?

Thanks guys for your input. I have taken all on board, although at the moment it's so cold here in Sydney right now... (Coldest June day in 61 years) I don't think algae have much of a chance... I am designing a shade cloth cover to fix the potential problems and I have a polly tunnel/greenhouse thing planned for my GB. Best news is I have a fortnight off starting Monday so lots of time to experiment.


Cheers
Steve (Aussieartist)

Bloody work keeps getting in the way of my research and looking into other people's systems and discoveries...
Am now running a spreadsheet of my test levels... I guess I'm not alone in that.
Is there a place in the forum where people post their pH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite test results?
I'm thinking on adding a "Number of beers consumed while enjoying tinkering" column...
I'm buying my first plants for the GB this weekend, and making some kind of greenhouse cover.
Science Girl (wife) laughs at me every time I set up to do my tests and write my results up... Says it's cute... Don't think she realises just how many beers this project may take!