Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi folks, I am a new member to the AP forum and just wanted to introduce myself and tell you of my plans re AP. We are based in Perth, and are currently looking at buying a block of land in the Mt Helena region in the hills of Perth.

Once we have the block, we plan to build a new home and as part of that build, we'll be putting in a designated AP structure, probably 8m x 4m. This will have a rain water tank attached to it and a solid base.

That is about as far as I have got. I have not built or used an AP system before and have only seen one in real life which was Faye Arcaro's system on her Open Garden day.

Obviously, it will be few months before we can start building the AP system, but any advice, suggestions etc on what i can do, buy, read, research, etc etc will be gratefully accepted, especially from fellow Perth based AP practitioners. I will be reading through the forum, but if you know any specific threads that may help me, that would be great.

I'm looking at a large family system, ie, 4-6 grow beds, a 5000 litre fish tank and a sump tank.

Anyway, please reply to my post wiht your comments/advice and i'll keep this thread updated as I make my decisions.

PS: the BYAP magazine is great, very informative for a novice like me. Bring on Issue 2.

if i were you and had the cash i would invest in a complete 6 bed system from earthbound. he installed Faye's system and has done some great work to get it to that stage.

you don't need to know too much as the system has been designed to be user friendly. no messing about with auto siphons and pump installation ext. this means more time to grow plants and fish, which its all about.

do yourself a favor and purchase eb's book. it will be the best investment you make and will save you time and money.

and read read read as much as possible. all of your questions will no doubt be answered in these forums.

btw welcome to the forum. glad you found your way here.

If I was building a new house i'd incorporate a 500mm wide 300mm deep paved channel though the house for the fish to swim though from one of my AP setps but i'm an AP freak

Yeah I tried to get one like that when we built an extension last year, would have looked great under our lounge room floor, wasn't quite worth a divorce though.

damn concrete floor

My old boss bought a house (for his nephew mind you) which had exactly that. The outside pond continued inside under a glass floor.

thanks folks for the advice so far...i'll order the book tomorrow from eb...it'll be good reading for the bus to and from work...not sure if I want to get a system installed or not, more reading is the key and then thinking of ideas...the good thing is i'll be able to do lots of research before being able to do anything so that should allow my to get some fairly firm ideas down about what i want...

Steve, great idea, but the missus doesn't agree:)

Outbackozzie: I'm reading your thread now, what a great set up...i'm up to page 4 so far so am leaving this thread to head back to yours...

Thanks all for the advice so far...

Stewie,
Get yourself an aquarium with a pump, a 24 hour timer with 15 minute intervals, some PVC pipe (see text for sizes), a plastic tub of about half the volume of the aquarium, some washed gravel and some fish (Goldies are fine)

Cut a hole in the bottom of the tub to suit 25mm PVC male and female PVC-BSP adaptors, put them thru the hole with some thread seal paste and tighten to lock them in place.
Cut some 90mm pipe to 300mm long and drill some 5 mm holes around the lower half.
Cut some 25mm PVC pipe to 300mm long. Drill one 2.5mm hole in one end of the 25mm PVC, just far enough from the end so that the hole is not blocked by the adaptor. Push it lightly into the adaptor so that it can be removed later.
Place the 90mm PVC pipe around the 25mm pipe.
Get some washed gravel and fill the tub to about 300mm deep, keeping the 90mm pipe centered on the 25mm pipe.
Get an aquarium pump and flexible pipe to carry the aquarium water to the tub, slightly burying the pipe end in the gravel.
Connect a hose to the tub drain fitting to return the water to the aquarium.
Fill the aquarium with de-chlorinated water and add the Goldies.
Connect the aquarium pump to the mains via the timer, set to 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off.
After a few cycles, top up the aquarium to within 25mm of the top (a little water will remain in the tub)

Feed the Goldies and monitor the pH and Ammonia levels daily.
When the Ammonia levels rise, start to monitor the Nitrite levels also.
When Nitrite levels start to rise, start to monitor the Nitrate levels also.
When Nitrate levels start to rise, plant your favourite herbs or veggies in the gravel in the tub.
If Ammonia or Nitrite levels get too high (read forum for practical limits), stop feeding and\or perform a partial water change with de-chlorinated water.
Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels should stabilise in about 2 weeks.

This will give you 3 important benefits:

• Experience in cycling a BYAP system,
• Fresh vegetables or herbs,
• Bacteria to inoculate your final system to minimise cycling time.

Most of all, HAVE FUN!

It is a good starting system stewie - but needed the pvc to be cut as more than half. Half does not allow enough water flow.

I think that the perlite may contribute to the slow flow aswell - once the new system is running, I am going to swap the perlite/hydroton mix into the new one, and refill the old with straight hydro and see what happens

thanks Tony for all that info...i'm on the case and am going shopping this weekend for some gear...now may be the time to advise you of my total lack of handyman skills....could be interesting...

Hey Stewie, in case you don't know.... Joel (earthbound) now has a full range of BYAP systems and products available at his recently opened store.....

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... php?t=2577

brilliant...thats where i'll be going, i knew there was a shop, just didn't know where...thanks for that...

Five years later...I can't belive it...I have a system at last, nothing like what I was talking about but a system none the less.

Some pics shortly, but in a nutshell:

* IBC with the top cut off
* 10 x Silver Perch Fingerlings
* 10 x Yabbies
* Growing chillis and tomatoes.

Plan is to put in 5 more IBC's over time.

Thats an incredilble journey. Plans often change but with a bit of will power we are unstppable. Well done.

Some pics from Dec 2012