Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

yep sorry guys, Privatteer is correct, the longer roots is on the flood and drain

Hi there

I have a Q, I am sorry if it was already said, but I cannot find it in this thread and I have actually made the effort to find it. what is the size of this thing? There was some about the covering material so I have an idea and the photos are quite good with scale reference.. but I wonder If you could say straight up, how big is it.

Hi rty007, you mentioned the covering material so I`m asuming you are asking about the greenhouse itself wich is 24mtrs x 8mtrs and 4mtrs high at the peak

Yeah, I am a dummy, I need one of those books "asking questions for dummies" How tightly do you intend to pack it with growbeds, and what yields out of this greenhouse do you expect? Just a general idea, I don't need 70lbs and 2,5 oz just a general idea

I did have a little idea a year or two ago but my thoughts have changed on the ways, and what to grow. If I find my original papers I`ll post them for ya. My plan at that time was to have 4 x 19 mtr DWC growbeds inside the greenhouse but now I`ll cut them down to just a few of them and have a mix of grow beds(expanded clay and various DWC ) Me personaly I prefer the flood and drain for my longer term veg ie chillies capsicums and vine type plants pumpkin rockies etc, my dwc beds are 350mm deep x 1150mm wide and my rockmelons root mass was creating stagnent areas with water flow and some plants next to them would just die.
So plans have changed since then and i havent realy worked out yields again, at the moment I`m having a try at tomatoes, I have a local food outlet who is willing to sell them for me so I`ll start with one product and as the system expands I`ll add another product and just keep expanding in that manna I think. I dont see this as a get rich quick thiny but it will become a part income from my working from home plan.

RupertofOZ did a realy good costings and yield thing somewhere in these forums, if you try various searches you my find it, or if Rupe reads this and can remember he may point you in that direction

I realy recomend a green house for winter, we got down to -2.4 around 7am this morning(Gingin Weather) crunchy lawn and all, water temp in tanks is still 15degC silvers still feeding well in the afternoons

Looking good T, grass goes crunch mine has gone yellow, 9 years and finally got it right, 7 days of frost stuffed it completely the crunching saves mowing it though

A bit of an update, Have put in another F/D growbed plus seeing how tomatoes take up a bit of space I decided to put in some dedicated GB`s one for each plant (blue drums) I cut them about 340mm up from the bottom, upturned the top section to make a stand for the bottom section

this is why I went for the dedicated tomy tanks, as you can see in the pics they just took over in this DWC tank

Just love seeing pictures of things growing... aint it just so easy...

yep ounce the hard work is done (digging trenches, running pipes, lugging tanks, growbeds and rocks etc.) then the rest is damb easy

Thats not big, its obscene! absofricking marvelous man, hats off!

And all of it handmade by you, from the greenhouse to the fiberglass growbeds, must be quite a feeling sipping a beer in that baby.

Great work on those pictures of the different DWC plants, was quite interesting. I see you're also now going the flood and drain hydroton way, good way to remove solids that I think.

Great work with the tommy barrels, very neat setup with the stands

How to do you keep the plastic on the outside so neat and taut? you mention something about gunny wire and I can see something crossing between the members but don't unerstand how it works :/ a close up of the connection perhaps...?

Good plan on selling the tommies too, remember to have them marketted as organic and natural veggies!

Cheers mate, hope it bulges at the seams with plant growth

G-day abdul, its taken a while to get this far ... yep a few beers too about the plastic on the green house, I managed to get a great deal on a new product (not so new now) Its called V-Grip It hangs onto the plastic realy well I`ll take some pics for ya later today... still dark here so far it has survived an 80kmh wind gust and not let go.
The somthing crossing between the members is the strainer wires to help hold the main frame rigid, agin I`ll take a quick pic

Cheers mate, will swing by and take a much appreciated look

Oh and by the way, you can grow mint in those floating rafts, long as you're careful that the roots don't get into the plumbing, it grows like cra-a-a-zy! If they can sell that at your market you can grow oodles of it!

Gday TEA20

WOW you r living the dream it all looks great !!!!!
if your up for it i wouldn't mind coming up for a look some time.
we had a group come over to my joint on sunday it looks like aquaponics
is taking over in the northern sub (wont b long b4 Muchea is a sub)LOL


cheers Wolly