Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Rather than a liner i would rough it up and paint a coat of gell cote on the inside would look better and more durable

Quick work lamb, looks good. Should be an interesting system. Yabbies and marron seem to be fine in a large tank with fish if there are a lot of hides for them and their stocking density is low (ie just using them to clean the bottom of the tank and not expecting to feast on them).

I think most people who have kept them successfully have used separate tanks and in some cases separated them within the tanks, either way lots of hides is the best way to limit the fighting.

I agree with Food and Fish, if you have access to gelcoat that tank will come up best with a nice black coat of it rather than a liner.

thanks again people.

I will look into getting some black gel-coat (only had access to white and not too keen on keeping that clean).

I'm wondering if the marron tank could be above the fish tank level wise and just overflowed by the pump every flood cycle (with a separate line from the pump as per the original sketch)

this way i could sit it on top of the fish tank to save on space.

Can't you buy black pigment to add to the gelcoat or can it not be coloured? I know fibreglass and resin sales sells pigments but don't know anything about gelcoat regarding whether it can be added so maybe I am barking up the wrong tree.

No reason why you could not have yabbie tank above FT as you suggest.

Hi Guys,

Took your advice and got some gel-coat quoted up. works out to $170 (got more quoted up so I can use it for future mods/ponds/grow beds) inclusive of black pigment and various other equipment
pretty sure $170 is a fair price for a 1500L pond.

I should have the pond all coated by the weekend, I aim to paint over the wood also to protect le fishes from the pine (not that it should be an issue anyhow as it's below the pond level).

Best thing is you have the skills/knowledge to do it.

You should be able to make up some real nice timber growbeds to whatever size you want and fibreglass line them before gel coating. There is someone on here who made up a heap of fibreglass growbeds using a mould they had and they came up real nice. I think putting them directly into a wooded frame/stand is a better option than a mould though. Some wet sand could be used in the corners to shape them into a nice rounded curve rather than a sharp 90 degree corner for ease of glassing.

I think you need to rough the surface to get a beter bond

Hi Food&Fish, I'll definately be prepping the surface to ensure proper adhesion so it doesn't peel off. very important to key it into the surface. I'm using flowcoat rather than gel-coat as it dries firm rather than tacky like a gel coat does.

ABSOLUTELY! Flo-coat is far better than Gel coat, it requires a pretty exact amount of catalyst MPK, but well worth the effort. Because it doesn't have to stand any great water pressure, if it is applied to a "structural" base, it performs very well, is less expensive than Gel-coat and will flex a bit bit more without rupturing.
I did my Mini-orb GBs with Flo-coat and am impressed (so far!) with it's performance.

Good luck with your venture,

Cheers IanK

Hi Ian,

how did you find the adhesion of the flowcoat to your mini orb? it's a great idea.
I'm considering doing something similar but using form ply as the structural base and making 3 long trough like beds.

Picked up my flowcoat this morning so I should be able to get the tank painted after work in the late hours of the night with the help of a nice scotch.

So the new plan is to run the big tank with the little tank on top for crustaceans, then I will run 3 beds next to it which will drain through 3 individual nft channels back into the big tank. the small tank will just be fed by the pump every cycle.

Well made some progress last night, few too many scotches but they aided in dealing with the copious amounts of chemicals going on.
It should hold water now hopefully, going to test it on the weekend once it has had time to cure fully.

ended up using 1 x 4kg tin of flowcoat. I have another one spare now that I can use on the grow beds. I'm hoping I mixed everything correctly...

1. proposed setup, top tank for crustaceans and duck weed

2. tank all scuffed up with a 4" grinder and flap disc

3. internal patch, a few sections of the tank had cracked and fallen away

4. old tank is new again

Cool, looks good..... Love to see recycling happening..

Ah a site to behold

Hi,
The flo-coat adhered pretty well to the mini-orb up to date. All the pressure, for what it is, with the aggregate and the water pushing the flo-coat against the Mini-orb, all seems to be well.
Your tank looks good.

Cheers IanK

Hey Lamb, I want my tank back

Great job you have done, you should be happy with how it has turned out. You will need to support those plastic liners they buckle badly if not attached to a frame.