Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Firstly, apologies to the other Blackduck on this forum - I didn't know there was another with a similar name - sorry Whilst staying with a friend in Perth for a friend's funeral, I noticed a very jazzy setup in his back yard. I had never heard of aquaponics before and was intrigued. To cut a long story short, within a week, I was hooked, and have been working toward my own system for over two months now. The information I have gleaned from this forum has been invaluable (thank you everyone - big and small contributors alike). I started cycling my system today - sans fish, but I'm so buzzed, I don't really think they're necessary

My wife has also been so caught up in the excitement that we(she) planted some veges today - but the fish don't arrive 'till next weekend (trout from Tooperang) - I'm sure they'll be fine.

As you can see, it's a basic barrelponics system - 2600L in the FT, to 1000L GBs. I decided against a CHIFT PIST system because I'm lazy AND, the ground under this system is clay (bordering on granite). VERY tough! AND I nearly died just digging the besser blocks in. The Water in the FT drops about 10-12 cms when it cycles. If the fish look stressed - I'll bite the bullet and put in a sump, otherwise, if it ain't broke...

The only other thing that is vaguely different, is that I found a cheap hot house on the internet, I'll give it a go, but I have the feeling I'll spend most of winter chasing it from the neighbour's yards when it blows away.

I realize I'm just starting out - so if anyone has any other ideas to help me out - particularly during the crucial starting up phase...all suggestions gladly accepted (where were you all during the gravel washing stage? )

Looking good.

Is the tank aquaplated?

I know you said the ground is hard but to stop your hot house from blowing away can you drive in some star pickets and attach the hot house to them?

Hi Arbe.

Yes, and yes. I made sure the tank was lined properly - I had no idea about zinc and fish before I read this forum. Also spent the afternoon banging in star pickets to hold the hot house down. I'm really worried though - I live on a peninsular, so the weather tends to be a little dynamic - to say the least!

Really nice, neat work on that system. With the hothouse it will be a great producer but make sure your hothouse can open for ventillation in summer or your veges will be pre-cooked

If you started cycling yesterday, your system wont be cycled next week. Its winter and that means it will take at least 8 weeks for it to cycle.

Have you got a test kit?

Cycling and cycled are funny words. Cycling a system is cycled based on a current bio load.

If you take a page from aquariums, cycling is the ability for a system to convert 4ppm Ammonia into Nitrite and then into Nitrate in 24 hours. That means 0 Amm, 0 Rite, whatever Rate.

If you have to put trout in, make sure you closely monitor them. Otherwise, your going to lose most of them to Ammonia poisoning.

Yep, good advice VLT.

Blackduk - nice looking system.

How many fish, what type, and of what size, do you have in the system ?

Get a good test kit ASAP. Your system will take several weeks to be cycled, and during that time your fish are at risk - you need to know what you ammonia and nitrite levels are.

Also, salt your system to 1ppt ASAP, as this reduces the toxicity of the nitrite to your fish. 1ppt = 1kg salt in 1000L, so work out what you need from that.

Nice system BD.

Just a couple of things, depending on how you are running your system, timer flood and drain, autosiphons, you might need to consider
1. Having ball valves on inlet to the growbed, otherwise you might find that some growbeds will not fill fuly.
2. Only two 40mm returns pipe to the fish tank? Return flow might be too restricted due to having five drains in one pipe.

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Nice system!

One thing, without ball valves wouldnt the beds closest to the pump be filling much faster then the ones at the back?

Darn beaten by ivansng

I reckon that there will be no problem with the barrels filling.. That pump will fill them all at the same time..

I suppose I should add that ball valves might be required if you are using siphons.

I do think the drain pipes may be a bit of an issue though....

hi blakduck, system looks great, nice and neat the only comment i have is your return lines may need to be a bit bigger, especially if all of your GBs siphon at the same time.

Nice setup there Blackduk. When I read The Duck Pond, I thought you were referring to duck-aponics, which a friend of mine in Perth has been doing.