Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,

We suffered a house fire about 12 months ago after much trial and tribulation works are finally progressing, with excavations starting at last . The back half (fire damaged) part of the house is now demolished and the concrete pour for a conc new slab should happen next week.

In the last 12 months since the fire I have been working on designs and learning google skecthup to make my various concepts easier to interpret. I now have most elements of the build design in 3d to scale. I thought I might expand this design principle to the pond.

So before the fire I had been using autopot systems connected to a small pond and I have previously had a small continuous flow system with good success on tomatoes / cucumbers and basil etc.

Now that the build is underway and the excavator is busy carving up the block I though I should have good hard look at how to

a, Have an attractive pond and entertaining area (attractive with no visible pipes / plastic)
b, Capture the nitrates and use them
c, Reconnect my autopots on the upstairs deck
d, install some continuous flow systems or other... (not sure where yet)

The vision is to have a well stocked pond using (if possible) sleepy cod.

We live in the inner city in Melbourne so space is pretty minimal.

The idea is the upstairs deck would be the production area - this area has Full sun all day - I can trail plants through the upstairs deck balustrading.

Downstairs I am going to make this ornamental - Japanese style around the deck. My Bonsai already are connected to a propogating (wicking) table - I would use this system again downstairs (as smal bonsai stands and upstairs on a larger table. Note on the deck upstairs two tables are shown - these would be connected to the pond water

The double brick walls around the deck and pond receive good sun... I though perhaps I could place something on top of these double brick walls and trail plants down the external faces.


Pond will be 1200 deep, 1600 wide, 2400 (ish) long

Thinking of a biofilter waterfall I have used a home mad jobby previously with good success however the volume of water is going to far greater than I have ever attempted...
Not sure how to get solids from the bottom of the pond. (or if I need to?)
Do I need a bottom drain... how to do this with pond liner???
Not sure what to do about filtration.
Skimmer?


Would value any thought or advice.



Concept attached. Have more concepts and pics that I can provide....

Cheers,
Stuart (aka Dogdoor)

Welcome aboard

Thanks Charlie

Mmm I think that is one of the flashest designs I have seen on here, are you a draughtsman or similar? Welcome to the forum Dogdoor.

Thanks Faye, that's high praise indeed.

Not an architect or draftsman - i do have a background in building and am a self professed computer geek so the two met in the middle and started designing...

Cheers,
Stuart

Concept shots - depicting lighting - Shadows at 8 am

Shadows at 4 pm.

The side wall is 2800 mm high and the tree to the left of the pond should shadow the pond in the heat of the day.

The renders are geolocated so the lighting and shadow angles should be accurate.

Why not add a very large ceramic pot filled with expanded clay or similar and plant it with ornamental plants that suit the garden area. A small pump that delivers water through the pot, you could grow a tree fern and other small ferns and palms.
Here is a pic of the tree fern in the back ground. Looking at your design a rectangular planter on the left side could work and drain back to the pond. Tree ferns drop a little so perhaps a clumping Bamboo palm would be better. Aaah so many options.

Ps I think you are just showing off now

Interesting Idea. And yes, my wife just told me off for being a show off so that is a fair cop!

My old pond (fibre glass tub) has a plastic barrel bio filter with reeds growing in it...
I could use a similar setup as the waterfall - biofilter with some kind of plant in it.
Perhaps a Japanese species or something that works in japanese gardens - water iris?
The spout / flow back would be under the tree I think.

Showing off... is what it's all about on the forum....

Yeah I am extremely envious of your drafting skills. I watched the beginner sketchup videos and was like oh I got this.... yeah I am gonna have to rewatch them again. I will be cool to see your concept to actual.

Rupert!

It was a long learning curve and there is tonnes to work out still.
If you get stuck with Sketchup give me a shout CityRootsFarm happy to assist if able.

Now - planning... So the double brick walls are going to get hot.

What to do?

Cascading planters from above?

Hmmm.... I'm looking at that wall and the proximity to the pond and I'm thinking "water wall feature." Water runs down the wall. Wall helps heat/oxygenate the water, looks cool. Maybe even lag in a few wall pots for strawberries or something on the way down....

Water wall is an interesting idea.
I do want moving water and not sure how to achieve this, I toyed with building up rock for a waterfall, but it could look cobbled together in such a small space

When you say water wall do you mean like water dropping out of a spout or water running down a feature section? This could look good edged with cascading plants.
Choosing something that is understated will be the key I think.

A bluestone alley runs up both sides of the walls (on the other side) and the exterior face is in full sun all day, Maybe tomatoes and strawbs (urban garden) planted wall on the outside and some ivy-ish thing on the inside?

May have to see if/how the brick and mortar would affect water chemistry. But beyond that, your wall/your design Could figure a method of having the water return from the pot on top running either from a single point or devising some sort of spreader bar to disburse it across the entire face like a piece of copper pipe with holes drilled every X inches. Maybe cut a small indent an inch from the bottom to allow for a method of catching the water and re-routing to the pond. Would have to be all of 1/4-1/2" deep I'd think. Just deep enough to slide a piece of plexi or something into and then collecting in a small trough. Or you could create something of a "natural" stream bed at the bottom of the wall to run back into the pond.

If you're not dead set on the brick you could re-face entirely or in sections it with another stone, piece of granite, marble or a smooth concrete skim coat over the brick. All kinds of neat acid washes and/or staining techniques for concrete on Youtube. Whether you re-face or not, you could create specific plant holder pockets all over one or both faces. Heck, depending on what you want and the materials you work with, you could incorporate the water feature down both sides of the wall. You'd just have to figure out how to channel the water back to the pond.