Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Round 2.....

Very cool FLoyd.. Shame about the the decorate rope shrinkage...

EB: yeah it sucks.....real bummer, would have been much neater and easier if it hadnt shrunk...still trying to come up with the best solution...

DON: yeh your totally right mate. Ive since learned that gal is no good AP...My original plan was do as you have suggested, and have the supports out side the sump, but I couldnt figure out how to do have them outside, adequately support the GB and still be able to cover the lot up with timber so you can see any of it....
Im happy with how it has turned out - its just a bummer its not a permanent support and will eventually need to be replaced, which will be a shit of a job. Hopefully the supports will last as long as the gravel, and when the gravel needs a wash out, ill re do the supports....

Quick update......

We've eaten about a dozen of the biggest Tilapia...they were about 500g when we harvested...the rest are still in the main tank....and THEY HAVE HAD BABIES!! horay!!

I noticed some tiny tiny tiny little things swimming on the surface a while ago, so I set up a small tank, scooped em up and now they are growing happily in their new nursery....more then 100 of the suckers...

The pumps are now 100% running off solar, which is great, and we are using very few pellets...infact I went about 6 weeks with no pellets at all with no obvious issues....

We have had soooo many crops in here....right now the Thai basil is just going off, the tomatoes have finished more or less for the season...chillies loving it...Ive planted 2 papayas to see how they go and they have exploded with growth...and there is a lime tree in one of the grow beds as an experient...after 2 weeks its now shooting new growth...

soooo, all good on the AP front!

It all sounds wonderful Floyd! Dare I ask if we can see a couple of pics of how the system is looking now? Very glad to hear that you are eating the fish and ll is going well.
Thanks for the update

Absolutely beautiful system. Love it. This can definately turn the tables in the "do all AP systems look ugly" thread. It doesn't even look like there is any AP from outside. Well done. Love the tropical feel.

cheers ya'll!

...

ill get some more of the solar cell array...its pretty fancy

ATM the babies are just in a 200L drum and I do 1/3 water changes every few days....simply buy bucketing a few loads of water from the small tank to the main tank, then topping the small tank up with water from the main tank... Its got a small airstone in there surring the day time too....

This week im going to design and install an integrated permanent nursery tank to the system....Ive got a heaps of old HDPE rain water tanks...so i think ill cut a 1000L tank in half, and put it next to the main tank....then ill change the SLO so it goes into the nursery tank, then the nursery tank will have its own slo going to the GB's via the ST....then its pumped back to the main tank....

floyd.

Busy day....

Set up the afore mentioned integrated nursery tank...love it!

the front may be beautiful, but the back end is purely functional (and recycled)

1. find unused and old tank
2. cut top off and wash out, scrub sides
3. rummage around for discarded fittings and pipe...
4. find some old motorbike inner tubes to use for gaskets and o-rings
5. go to the shop for the odd fittings you cant find
6. cut up old SLO system and divert it into new nursery tank
7. make new SLO in nursery tank and send its flow to the GBs/ST
8. move my babies to their new home

wam bam thank you mam..... not bad for a days work

(that green box on the left in the last pic is the new circuit box that connects me up to the solar array nearby...)

Looks great Floyd.

Your Thai basil looks completely different to my Thai basil

Maybe his thai basil is only "thai" basil cause he's in thai land

theres probably about half a dozen things people call Thai basil...

I call it that because when I arrived all the Thais were calling it sweet basil, which to me means Italian basil...all a bit confusing anyways....but its basil that everyone in Thailand eats alot of...Thai basil seems to work


Just had an interesting experience.....had a good look in my sump tank for some reason and noticed a 'forgotten generation' of fish in there!!!

There were about 6 of the real little suckers in the photos above that must have gotten through their new SLO yesterday...rescued them easy enough...but there is also about half a dozen fish about 3-4cm long! They must have been born a few months ago when I was back in Aus teaching, their brethren must have been eaten by mum and dad, and only these guys remane...classic!

tried for ages to catch em, but they're way to quick, and my sump is way to difficult to access (as you can see in the vid above)...also my sump is really 3 sump interconnected with buried pipe, so there could be more in the other tanks hahaha just imagine some get into the other sumps, get to big to come back through to the main sump, and get old and fat in solitary confinement....

1 benefit of going from FT to ST before FT I guess hehehe your SLO escapees get a 2nd chance, they dont just end up on hot rocks in the GB

Floyd

quick pic update

That's a serious battery backup system...