Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

iv been working with ponds for over ten years and i see wat your trying to do but i think your missing the point of aquaponics your system will be amazing for the fish but not your plants i see nuthing wrong with a single fish tank and a few grow beds the filtration of the grow beds i betterthan any pond fillter iv ever worked with sorry if i sound rude i just had to say something

A short Update..
Some Photo's..


Had a Fun Drive it took me about 90min to Drive Home, But the drive was well worth it..
Look at what I found for a Great Price..


Yes I managed to get Food Grade IBC's for a great Price and they will make the back bone of My system..
The Gentleman that I got them from has a few more.. and can get more of them..

I'm hoping that he will join us and even set-up his own system..

Ok the Next Photo..

not much digging done here but I have found the footing for the Garage..
I have to place the tank off the Wall..



The Next Picture is an indication of the height of the top of the Grow Bed's..
i'm going see how hard it is to dig in 2 IBC's in this Location, they will be my Sump for the system..

The height of the top of the Grow bed is about 700mm above the top of the retaining wall, The depth of the grow beds is 500mm..
I hate it because I have to dig down another 500mm at a minimum to place the sump tank's in..

With regard to running set-up that is still up in the air..
- I'm still Looking at a 2 pump setup for starters..
With the Grow beds on one system and maybe the moving bed/Sand and gravel filter on the other..

Juergen

An update..

In the Last Photo, there was no hole..

Well now there is.. The hole is about 1.2m wide from the timber and at the moment about 3m long..

right in the Middle of that hole is a Nice tree stump.. I want to remove the stump and place 2 Interconnected IBC's there as My Sump..

Juergen

A few updated photo's of What has Happened so far..

On a Side note.. I have worked out the size of the system to be in the area of about..

4000-4500lt of Main fish tank..
900-950lt of settlement chamber.. [Home for Yabbies]
@ 2000lt of sump [Home for Fry]

1600/2400lt of Grow bed..

1000lt of Overflow/top up tank..

So the water path should Look like this..

fish tank > Settlement Chamber > Grow Beds > Sump > Pump > Overflow/storage > Water Fall Back to Fish Tank..


The Works So far..


Partially Painted the Wall where the Fish tank will be..
- found a great colour at B's A Miss tint great price for rust paint..

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The first hole for the sump.. and the finding of the First major problem.. A tree stump..

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Tree stump defeated and All I need to do now is Pull it out of the hole.. next major problem.. A bit of an engineering problem here.. but it will be coming out..

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the outline of the sump hole has been Done, just need to get it down to Depth and cleaned out..

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I started to paint the cage to give it a Bit more protection While it is in the ground..

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The IBC tank needs a Final pressure wash and then should be ready to use for the first sump..

- Question Can this Be buried with out its base ??, if I sit it on a Base of Sand..
I don't want to have the Base Rust out under the tank..
The ground here gets waterlogged fairly easily here.. due to the composition of the soil layers..

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Did I say I had Ferret's Well this Little Chap is Loki.. My entire male..
he is in Isolation at the moment due to him wanting to mess up Diana, she's coming into season.. He has to wait a few day's..

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This is Athena and she is very Playful, has a Big VOICE and will Like you to Death..

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The "I don't Care" Walk..

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So here is my current update.. Hope to get a bit more done tomorrow but that is dependant on the weather..

On a Side Note.. this system is on hold till I get some good weather to Finish digging..

But I do have a Tiny system in..

I Finished Digging it out and clearing the hole..
- I have dropped a IBC in the hole and placed some side supports in and top Cross members..
- I Used on of the spare base plates and the Bottom ring off an IBC to make my Grow-Bed..
- I Cut the Top off a Spare IBC for a Grow bed..

set up the drain/siphon and then washed 5 bags of hydroton..

Setup the pump and started the water ring for the Grow Bed..Will finish the rest tomorrow..
- Tomorrow I need to work out how long it takes to Fill and how much it takes to drain..
--> I'm going to set-up a 1hr timer to setup the cycle..

Photo's tomorrow I need to charge my Batteries for the camera and still need to get a US power adaptor..

Juergen

thats definatly a tree root right!..... not a body or something, just just asking

Tree root and as of today it is still in the hole..

I need to get off ,y Butt and get it and the water out of the hole so I can finish the Sump location..



Juergen

The storms that we had during the week proceeded to fill up ever low spot on the property..

so I spent a few hours yesterday pumping them dry.. I hope to do some work this weekend..

Got some water results..

Not for this topic thou..

Juergen

My Baby system..

1000lt IBC as Fish tank.. No sump, 200-300lt GB can be filled up more Which I will do so..
I plan to Add a few more 1/2[Upright] Blue Barrels to grow some more plants in..
Oh yeah 1000lt/h Oase Pump[15w]
Small 2port Air pump for added Air..
And Lastly No Current Backup for when I'm not home, but I do have a 800w Genset that will run for about 7hr's on a tank of Petrol..
I want to try the single siphon for 3 barrels and see how they work..[Added 200lt of GB]
- Plumbing need to be reorganised I think..



Plants in and a few cutting, hoping that the Pineapple Sage takes..
The Plants have really taken to the system.. 15min on 45min off



In this photo from the grey/blue post closest to me to the IBC I plan to add my single row
of blue Barrels..that give enough room to still get to the dirt Growbed and to get to the barrels.. the barrel shall be off the ground draining into the Fishtank..



A close-up shot of the plants in the system.. The plants took to the system really good.. the spinach looked like it was not going to take, but it did..
The Chard in the back has put on a few centimetres in the 1-2weeks that they have been in..



The Proposed Location for the 3rd growbed.. Currently have started to net the Blueberrys that are there at the moment.. I will transplant them into a Barrel system Like I have done for one of the other plant's.. It seems to have taken..



Well I hope you Like my Update of the current AP work I have done so far..
I'm waiting for the call to tell me my tanks are ready..

Juergen

Nice work Juergen

Ok.. I just got a call from the supplier of the Water tank and the troughs..

They will be arriving on Monday.. The fun will be to get them into the back of the property.. As they need to go over a Fence.. and miss the dirt Beds..

Juergen

Ok..

Fun day today..
The tank and the troughs turned up this afternoon..
Troughs are perfect for the Job.. The Tank, that was another matter..

The tank was a Bust..
About every 40cm there was a wire[SS] connecting both long sides.. This was not good for having fish in.. To many areas where the fish could get damaged..

So the search is on for a Tank to be the main Fish Tank..

Juergen

I'm not so sure what you mean by the wire, but could you just sika some split poly over it?

Was not that simple.. I should of gotten a photo to explain..

a photo is a 1000words..
- the problem was a whole series of wires[In a Grid pattern] every 40cm[or there about]

- because of those wires I think the fish could of been damaged and the real Kicker is.. How do you get the fish out of the tank with the grid of wires stopping the net from dipping in..

Juergen

Lookin good mate.

Off subject, but may I ask what country you originated Juergen? Is your name german or slovik?

Just interested