Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all

I didn’t think it would take so long to get our system going, but five odd months later we’re finally up and running despite a few dramas and many trips to Bunnings, the wreckers and the limestone peeps.

We have a 1000l tank with 25 feeder fish and a 500l grow bed in Perth WA. We’ll be switching to Barramundi when the hot weather starts and expanding to another grow bed or five barrels a little later down the track when we have a little more room...and knowledge.

We learnt...
Carting half a tonne of pea gravel 12+ metres through the house and two doorways in a wheelbarrow is not fun at all
Not to underestimate the weight of pea gravel
PVC glue is a necessity
Check the tank for leaks before filling it fully
It will take longer than you think

We would have been lost without the forum, it's been a great source of info TY

Clearing


Trying to get a flat surface...


Loads of pea gravel!

Getting there...


About a week later...


Finally!

Today...






We've still got a little way to go...

Can anyone shed some light on the numbers/measurements for an appropriate image size (i.e. much smaller) for future reference?

Try 800x600... that should fit nicely...

Thanks Ivan...can't edit these but will do the resizing in the future

nicely done there...

question though....how did you get the water so CLEAR!

looks like somebody done wash their gravel real good

Even looks like room for expansion with another two or three growth beds and a hoop house for winter

Really neat system there.

The gravel came good through our salty tears It took two of us about five hours to sort it all out. I think we were almost traumatised by the end of it!

We did empty the tank due to the amount of accumulated crap while it was sitting idle for a few weeks (I blame the whipper snipper) but the water was pretty clear of gravel dust even then. We rinsed the pea gravel in the trailer, then in the barrow, then in small green garden bins about a third full at a time with two rinses and then again in the grow bed. We had heavy rain for awhile and hadn't hooked the piping up which may of helped too.

Needless to say, we'll be using the bagged Hydroton next time. And a more efficient stand too.



Thanks. Unfortunately the tank can't sit underneath the grow bed due to our cheap and nasty stand so we've wasted a bit of space there, and I'm not prepared to give up my newly established herb garden. Might be able to put some barrels behind the grow bed soon, though we thought we'd wait for a little while...if we can...maybe
Aquaponics seems to be like what I hear about birthing, you quickly forget the pain and want to do it all over again

Hoop house? What's that one?

Hoop house... Shade made of hoops... depending on the location of your system, the summer heat can limit growth and kill plants...

Check this thread out... he using shade cloth
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5841&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=MDP&start=45

Or my thread... I am using trellis and growing sun loving plants over growbeds to shade the other plants... sorry about the photo quality...
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5680&start=420

Hi Ash

I wish I had've seen your post about 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't have used pea gravel, the mud level in the bottom was horrendous, river stone, scoria, or even blue metal would've been much better, I had to cart two large trailer loads front to back of house and up 2m of steps in buckets, then to realise once in the GB's that we had to remove it to get rid of the 2 inch layer of mud (which had set like concrete), now washing it in 1/2 barrels, wire etc. We could have saved three plus days of hard yakka just by pointing to a different spot in the gravel yard. I still would not have gone hydroton as just too expensive.

anyway advice for all, use riverstone, blue metal or similar, but watch out for the mud content. About to go out and wash the last lot in the trailer, and coat our lovely street in red dust (neighbours will love it hehe)

Thanks Ivan - they look incredible. I think we'll be settling for some posts and shade clothe due to the space.

Sounds like you had a great time with it too Hope you've got it all sorted now.


Our lovely clear water turned with full sunlight on the tank. I'm guessing the combination of adding bacteria, Seasol and maybe a lil overfeeding wouldn't have helped either.

We covered it with Builders block out from Bunnings, got an air pump and stopped feeding the fish which seemed to work. We did put three small algae eaters in but they didn't survive and we also lost two goldfish We'll be making some sort of cover in the next few days ...lesson certainly learnt!
18/9

22/9


We've also had alot of pests in the system and the earth gardens - white mite things, aphids, little black insects and loads of midgies - I haven't had so many before. I've been applying the natural garlic spray and started using seasol every two weeks so hopefully it will sort itself out. Had to sacrifice the pak choy in both areas as they were pretty infested. They looked a little strange anyway...beans?


The $30 Bunnings grow house is doing so well, except that I got a little impatient waiting for the cherry tomatoes to appear and seeded again - we must have at least 30 CT plants in there The Zucchini on the top left was planted only three weeks ago

Ash, with your water, just block out the sunlight for 1-2 weeks and don't worry about it. With tanks in full sunlight, the walls of the tank will get coated with a layer of algae and bioslime over time, it is not affect the fish health of water quality as such... I personally would leave the walls uncleaned as they will be coated again over time. It is part of nature... Embrace it.

It is mainly that nutrient is building up on your system hence the algae bloom... Cannot remember if you have fishes in there yet, but if you have algae bloom it is important you keep aeration up, and it might good to run your flood and drain if it is on a timer for an extra 15mins as the extra time will help filter more dying algae and add more aeration. Remember algae takes in oxygen in the night hence the extra aeration for the fishes.

Algae eaters I believe a tropical fishes (>22degC), hence why they did not make it in the colder waters...

Hi Ash,
I am cycling my first system as well.
I recomend getting some airation into your FT, I bought an air pump from BYAP and works a treat plus I am rigging up a venturi airator. see my post tommorow for very dodgy airator.
Maybe not work on yours as I guess you got no pump from GB to FT. Go the actual airator then.