Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Not sure it's a great idea - depends on the missus

Mine spends a lot of time complaining that it doesn't look nice and clean (she expected sparkling clean apparently) and that it smells

Yeah Chilli. Probably best kept separate.

@bythebrook. Yes. My fish tank is 5000L. It can be difficult chasing fish around it when trying to harvest so I am planning a number of 2000L tanks with a view to expand if I can find a market - which I am working on in the background.

Oooo - someones up to something..... and they are keeping it all secret like.

Just like many other AP enthusiasts - I have some commercial aspirations - but it will only be a part of what I will be doing on my land.

Oh well keep ya secrets Arbe...... we dont mind

You might consider mouse traps in your grow beds... they usually sting for the doggie, but will train the doggie to stay out or off of furniture...

She is nearly 2 now and getting out of her puppy stage. She is still a ball of energy but now knows what she can and cant get away with.

Lol , I can sympathize. Any urban farming initiative I'm proud of and put a lot of thought and effort into is dismissed as dirty, ugly, or a bug/insect attracter. Things are improving though as the produce gets bigger and closer to harvest.

Hey Arbe,

Hows the system?

Ive built something quite similar to yours

Vege wise my system didn't go too well over winter - I think due to lack of sun light due to its position.

Many things grew tall very quickly but then bolted to seed or didn't develop properly.

Chalk it up as a lesson learned.

I have been using it lately to sprout oats for my Chooks who absolutely love them. Since feeding them the sprouted oats in addition to their scraps and layer crumble they have been producing 4 eggs a day almost every day (4 Chooks. Used to get 2-3 and occasionally 4).

Fish wise I have 20 odd Koi who are growing nicely.

System wise: it just keeps ticking along with no problems what's so ever.

Haven't had to spend any time fixing things which is good as I am currently busy trying to get my hobby farm established which AP will form a big part of.

How do you find your slo works? A few people thing that with a slotted pipe, it reduces the capacity to suck up the solids.

I was thinking of implementing a central single slo

hey arbe, I setup my GB outlets the same as you, well I got the idea from your design, 90mm backbone with a T piece off(well its angled off) but instead of an end cap/uniseal I used a reducer(from B) that goes to about 40mm, then had to find a way to attach a tap to it which took a bit but it works well.

Only drama I find is fish solids get caught up in the 90mm part on the beds with taps on them.

RE slotted pipe, I too have one and it seems to work Ok but I am finding I get solids build up, just a matter of changing the angle of the water back inot the tank in a few spots to push it around. Would be different if I had a round tank and I could push the water around, but an IBC is square.

The slots are not a problem, I have more slot empty space then the amount of water going in, just the other day as an experiment I drilled some holes into the vertical part of the pipe to see if it helps in removal of suspended stuff.. time will tell on this.

The solids are quiet visible as they are sucked through my SLO and apart from pond scum my tank is very clean. The only build up of anything noticeable is due to the ridges on the bottom of the tank but these eventually make their way to the SLO due to the water movement.



I like your idea at the end with the tap. Would make maintenance a whole lot easier than unscrewing the end cap and screwing it back on.

I don't seem to get any build up of solids in my pipes (have only taken the end cap off twice to inspect only to find none or very little solids). I do see a lot of solids deposited in my growbeds but.

I am also currently running a low load on my system with around 20 Koi but didn't have any problems with solids when I had 100 Trout either.

What does your distribution to you growbeds look like? A ring around the bed, a pipe down the middle/one side or a simple tape then pipe flowing water to your bed?

Just got a phone call from my (much) better half. Apparently the council have come to visit my fish farm???

Dont have a great deal of information, but they have taken photos. Not sure why. Can only think that a complaint has been received. The tank sits behind my garage between my house and the neighbour - ie there is only one person it could affect/be heard by/visible to (if they pier over the fence).

Do I have anything to be concerned about?

(may see me heading in the same direction as TC soon - although I have already brought the farm - I just need to move to it).

For years my local council had a health inspector who was scared of dogs. They never inspected my property, or any others that had a "beware of dog" sign.

As long as your system isn't noisy or smelly I can't see how a complaint could be substantiated. Are your fish having noisy parties?