Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I started a thread in the new members section.
The guys set me straight and told me AP did not work exactly that way .
That got me to thinking.
I got a lot of work to do to figure out if AP will fit into what i have.
Then a lot of work to figure out how to do it.
Then a lot of work to make it happen.
Thanks to the guys on not being to hard on me and taking me with a grain of salt.



Let me get started by showing you what i have.

Dirt garden and pond.



Another pond.




Some raceways that need to be mucked out and some work done on to them.




Another pond that needs to be mucked out.





Another pond.





The next post i will get to the meat of the project.

Ok now Im jelous and your just showing off!!


WOW thats amazing...

<drooling>
Charlie, you get excited by MasterChef, but I reckon you'd be excited to have even half of that real-estate? I know I'd be excited!
</drooling>

I'm seeing reed-bed filters, spawning raceways and growing out ponds; Greg, is there an aquaculturist near you to provide an assessment of your property?


Scott

Im definately excited .... and a little sad its not my back yard, not many can compete with that!

This is where i think AP would fit in good for me.
Both raceways are 6 feet wide by 50 feet long by 3 feet deep.
Right now the one on the left is full of sand.
The one on the right has 500 fingerlings in it.
In the building behind them are 2 raceways that are 5 feet wide by 18 feet long by 3 feet deep.





First question.
How will 30 year old cement affect chemical balance?

Bunson

The property was a working trout farm for 40 years.
We have had it for 20 years.
About 10 years back this area went into a bad drought.
We fought it for over 6 years at a cost of about half a million dollars in dead fish and lost revenue.
Finally we gave up.
The rain came back about 2 years ago.
But the aquafer is gone and without that to get you thru the dry months there is no way to raise enough fish to be profitable.

So right now i am trying to get my system back in shape and in good health.
Basically as far as the fish goes i want to get 4 or 5 thousand spread out in the whole system.

That does not count the large lake.

I was thinking clean out the one raceway and put a bed of gravel in it.
Let the water from the other raceway gravity flow into it.
Put a sump below and pump the water back up to the fish.
Ebb and flow.
Put a green house over the grow bed.





First question.
How will 30 year old cement affect chemical balance?

The way i understand it is that you do not need a filter.
Fish waste and worms in the system is good?


First concern.
Is the bottom of the tank level?

Might I suggest
1) do the fish first with one pump running 24/7, not a real big one, just to circulate the water and maybe a waterfall or venturi to add O2
2) a se ond larger pump from the fish pond to your raised grow beds on a flood and strain timer

This makes the thinking easier and also makes the whole system so much easier to design because you only have to design 2 simple systems rather than one interdependent system

Also the 2 systems have different gradients, and pump volumes so it just way easier rouse different pumps for different jobs, you can match the pump characteristics to the job instead of trying to design the who system at once.

Astor the old concrete I would expect it would be ok unles it is breaking down, why don't you flush it for a week amd do a water test, I would expect ph and phosphorous would be good indicators. Another way would be to take some minnows out of your natural ponds and see how they do.

In the one cement tank i already have 500 fingerlings that are doing fine.
But it is a open system right now.
A lot of fresh water is flowing thru it and then going back into the creek.

I will just have to see what happens as far as the PH goes when i start recirculating the water.

The two tanks are side by side.
I was thinking about gravity flow of water to my grow bed.
put a pipe between the two.
Then have a sump tank at the bottom of the grow bed and pump the water back up to the top of the fish tank.

I would probably still need a extra pump to just keep the fish tank moving and oxygenated .

And now i have to go and rescue my fish trap.
I was pulling it up at the end of the pier in this picture.
about the time i could see it had about 12 small brim in it the rope came loose.
It is about 6 feet down.LOL

I put down a little bit of a very rough plan on paper.

This is what things look like now.
I will need to get the dirt moved first.




This is the rough plan i drew up.




Will the fish tank portion be to big?

The green house will be a steel frame with the clear roofing.

Somebody had asked for a picture of my creeks.
We are in the dry season right now.
Been over a month since we have had any rain.

One of the water intakes for the smaller ponds.



Same creek further down.



The other creek that feeds the large lake is about the same size.
9 feet wide.


A smaller creek on the property.

Plans are looking good Greg.

Jeez - I wish we had a dry season like that

[quote="NORTHGA000"]


Will the fish tank portion be to big?
That would be 2625 gallons.

Would that not be all out of proportion to what i could grow in the green house?
Also it would be harder to keep aerated.

What's the intended volume of the GBs? What media do you intend to use and what's its water holding capacity? You might not need the sump.

Having 10,000L of water in the FT is not problematic if you have the right amount of filtration and aeration. Finding that "right amount" is the problem at the design phase


Scott