Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I threw this temporary shade over my grow growbeds for the hot weather.
Must say I am very impressed with the looped PVC.
For a temporary structure it held up great in the wind, the PVC gives good strength but with plenty of flex to cope with gusts.
I may refine it a little and make it permanent feature.

The PVC is great, I've been using it for some time to keep the bird netting/shade cloth over my vegie patch.

I also use it to put the bird netting over my fruit trees as well. The netting doesn't get caught up in the tree branches. I can just walk under and get the fruit when it's ripe.

H.

What size is the PVC? I used 20mm pressure to build my greenhouse but it eventually collapsed on me.

PVC is 25mm pressure pipe.
I'm convinced it's the right gear for the job. I might even replace the duct tape holding it together with rope !

It's been a while since I have been active on the forum.
My AP system has been ticking away nicely, although I did forget to get my winter trout before the trout farm closed for May

I have also been playing with a duck pond filter.
Water from the pond is pumped into a settling/duckweed tank, overflows into a continuous flow reed bed, then back to the pond.

The reeds have gone berserk over the past few months, although I think they may slow down over winter.
Can anyone recommend a cold tolerant, nitrate loving aquatic plant.?

The ducks are great to watch, however they place a massive ammonia load on this little setup.
I have found it necessary to do a 20% water change each fortnight. (The lime tree is loving this!)
The pump also require alot more maintenance than the equivalent in a fish system.

Photo's tell the story.................

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that is beautiful

Nice work Scott
I like the more natural look with AP systems
Your Chooks and ducks look happy and healthy.
My 2 cents on shade structure framework. I have used 50mm poly it's strong, very long lasting, provides a good size span and a star picket fits neatly inside as ground supports its only downfall is it's more expensive than PVC but you can often find off cuts if you keep your eyes and ears open

What about mint?
Louisiana iris would grow over winter and flower around November.

I had mint until caterpillars ate every bit that the ducks didn't. I ripped out it and have replanted some runners. It will be back!
I'll try the the the Louisiana iris in the middle where the ducks can't get.

Interesting - I never fully appreciated the aesthetics of the system until now.
It was built it to functional and now nature has made it beautiful.

(I really must work on hiding the plumbing and fence).

I finally got around to tidying up the plumbing around my duck system.

Fox got hold of the ducks a few day latter.

RIP guys.

pity we can't go back 200 years and tell the brit invaders to stick their rabbits and foxes up their asses. sorry to hear about the ducks... we have lost both geese and chooks to the foxes and it breaks my heart.

We always had more trouble from dumped wild dogs than foxes. The foxes were around but generally didn't get too close to the house. Dogs on the other hand had little fear until they heard the 1st gunshot.

A bloke at work gave me this old linear actuator. It will the basis of an auto chicken door.

I'm sure I can manage solve a simple problem with a extremely complex solution !

Can you keep the pictures coming, I'm interested in how you solve this. I was looking at trying to do something with geared stepper motors that I have at work.

H.