Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

G'day -
Some of you may have seen some questions I have been asking on General System Discussions.

Here's some photos of progress upon my cheap cheap recycled/reused system.

The shed - the previous owners had used it as a hydroponics shed, I believe; we'd only ever used it to store building materials. It was covered with torn and frayed fabric; that has all been removed in readiness for replacement, and the very fragile corrugated fibreglass roofing has been replaced (with second-hand) where necessary and left-over flashing from the house installed. What you can't see is that the flashing on the far side is old ridge capping...


Here's the fishtank - an old outdoor spa with all the holes fibreglassed up - on its plinth. Note my magnificent bricklaying skills. One of the shed's posts had to come out to accommodate the system, which required the use of, foreground, my favourite construction tool...


Here it is again. Behind, the second-hand watertank, whose tap pulled out when I tried to remove it to clean it out. More fibreglassing required...


I seem to have reached my picture limit...

Continuing...

Here's the framing which will make sure 2 1/2 tonnes of water and fishies don't fall on me - old treated pine posts and rails from a fence we took down:


Here's the first of four growbeds - second-hand corner spas. I will use the jets to distribute the water just under the top of the growing media:


And here's the framing coming together - second-hand wall studs from the local recycled building place:


Still to come:

• sump(s) - second-hand bath(s); if two required, plumbed together to make one volume
• pump - maybe the only new or near-new item in the system
• growing media - crushed brick from the local recycling centre
• plumbing - sadly, this will all have to be new...
• water - from our dam
• second-hand corrugated iron cladding, so it doesn't look so bloody ugly!
• fishies
• food

cool, I'll look forward to following this build, make sure you take heaps of pics

Thanks, Simo.

I had a look at your link; you start off by saying "5 fertile acres"...

We have 5 infertile acres!

Hi Michael

Looks kind of.... dark - are the veg going to get the required 6 hours direct sunlight?

Yeah, fair call. The photos taken early evening on an overcast day - but mainly, very very dirty fibreglass roofing.

I intend to get to it with a pressure cleaner water-spray thingy, and, if that doesn't do it, replace the roofing.

Hi MS
Looking good I'm a big fan of AP systems that utilise recycled materials
Using the spa outlets to feed the GB would be a neat approach but I'm wondering if there may be blockage problems that would be difficult to access.

Yeah, blockage could be an issue; what I like about it is that there are no pipes obstructing the surface of the growbed, and that the water enters the growbed from all sides.

If I find that blockage is a problem, I'll disconnect them and dump the water in from above - perhaps from two sides or even a full ring around the edge - the drain is in the centre.

Recycled/reused: I spend quite a bit of time at our local recycling centres. It just makes me weep to see how much stuff gets thrown away. We are too rich and too wasteful. /rant off.

Oh, and thanks for the comments.

Some small progress.

A long trench from the envirocycle to the shed for power & water:


The replacement fabric arrived yesterday for the walls, so that's this weekend's job.

Still on the lookout for three more corner spas for growbeds, and two baths for sumps.

In about 10 minutes I'll know if I've won the Davey sump pump I'm bidding on on eBay...

[quote="michaelshewitt] Yeah, blockage could be an issue; what I like about it is that there are no pipes obstructing the surface of the growbed, and that the water enters the growbed from all sides.
[/quote]

Yeah it wil definately be a problem sorry The roots will block them up within 6 months, so just make sure access is easy enough to fix it

I hate digging trenches
You only fill them in again!!!

I'll second that.

Oh yes.

Today, finished trench & installed the wiring within the shed - GPO's and fluoro fittings.

Sadly, I didn't make it to the local electrical wholesaler before they closed today, so didn't get the orange conduit I need for the trench - so no power yet.

Tomorrow. Then the filling in.

I prefer digging holes to digging trenchs... at least you can fill them up with water... and turn them into ponds...

Some more small progress - not very interesting photographic material, though.

Wired in the power - lights and GPO's now work; plumbed in the tap:


Also finished the guttering. The raintank's already half-full.

But no progress on the fabric walls; it's been blowing a gale and it bloody well snowed this morning... but it's OK, the climate isn't changing, back to the footy, no need to worry.

Now to fill in that trench.