Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Prob don't need 20-30 years from the liner but I figure that is just a little insurance from coming home from holidays with an empty pond and dry shrivelled plants after a holiday!!!

They are croweaters they claim $10 to anywhere in OZ.

He meant the place i showed him.
I simply wouldnt buy the liner you looked up first, there is better out there and possibly cheaper.

Possibly in Vic, try that in WA, they do do more upmarket ones.

Yeah i meant i likes Yavi's one, was a EPDM one, haven't seen as many detractors of that vs the pvc liner Sleepe linked to. Though i am so far from being an expert on either, as you can tell from the link i provided. If there is nothing wrong with pvc then great i can save a few bucks, but i'd hate to find out the hard way i was wrong but skimping on a, well i suppose you could say the thingy holding the water might be a "semi-critical" part of my system!!!

What i would think about is what media is going onto it, will it be clayballs? gravel? scoria?
The more abrasive and heavy the media, the thicker the liner.
Basically pay more for liner, can pay less for media and vice versa.

When I get home i will try upload a more current sketch3d but basically ibc gb x 2 held over the ft lined with EPDM inside my current limestone retaining wall, with a waterfall xoming out of a slat rock cladding fascade in between. Really wasn't thinking about putting much more than cosmetic plant/media in ft. Actually would. Love to find a liner in white so the fish are easier to view. Did find an white one a while back and can't seem to locate it again to see what quality/price it was!!!

Not sure it would stay white long and would look a bit unnatural with your feature.

Ahh as a fishtank liner, you certainly dont need the thickest unless it is also dug well into the ground and needs a bit of strength to hold back the possibly collapsing dirt walls a little (liner not good for this) or more likely, tree roots from nearby large trees, which will rip straight through thin liners.

However, whatever liner you buy, if the limestone is rough on the inside, i would use a liner protector or old carpet too.

Thankfully no big trees close by, one rampant passionfruit to contend with but it doesn't seem too invasive. White was just so the kids can see the fish easier, maybe I will just put a submersed light.
Probably only going to leave a little sand for a slight curve on the edge for circulation and will definitely line around the limestone edges! Doubt tanks do well with holes in them

The submerged lights may be fun but don't forget the solar powered spotlights on the water feature to keep her indoors happy.

Hell yes Sleepe, Some LED's out of the waterfall, uplights on the rock wall cladding, underlights under the growbed bases, a normal water feature for nighttime... with production!!!
She likes the waterfall idea, but not in the location of my vege bed... still some work to do, or maybe get feature in both places, one outside alfresco and and the AP setup in the garden. AP setup could start with some Koi or similar with the idea to move over to the non AP feature. Heck maybe plumb them together and use the gb to clean the water there too. It's probably 30m or so but no head, can't imagine it would need a massive pump to facilitate the transfer?

And here is a new mock up of the design atm. That water bed thingy (technical term!!!) figured i could incorporate one on each side (trouble quickly duplicating on sketchup!), with a minimum of fuss, heard they were better for growing some things... might do or not, probably mainly want strawberries, tomatoes, peas and other incidentals.

If you don't mind a little constructive criticism.

If you are using cut down IBC's, drop the GB's onto a frame on the wall, move them forwards and outwards so they overhang a little, brace either diagonally or for preference front to back. The reasons for this are as follows:-

Currently you will be carrying a lot of weight on four points, not good. A 4m stretch for the lengthways frame support is a lot and it looks, not pretty.
It will save you money on the capping and after cladding the GB's will sort of float ie overhang, looks pretty. They will shade part of your FT, which is good and make life easier on your pump.

I would have a serious think about a 30m pipe run.

Seriously Sleepe thats not contructive criticism!!! That is a perfect, cost effective, structurally sound solution... I just cant believe I needed someone to point out the bleed'n obvious.

So I was originally thinking to raise them so the kids can see the fish easier, but a 1.2M span from the front i can do out of timber and a couple of simple posts for the outside, centre of gravity on wall or just outside should be do-able, and the kids will be able to see into the corners with the lights anyway if they want. Piping can be hidden at the back.



Serious as in - "you gotta be kidding me" or serious as in "meh... It might work" or serious as in " Awesome idea, geez why didnt we all think of that earlier, you are a genius
If you meant the 2nd one then the bit i am struggling to get my head around is the flow between these. How to have it set up so there is no risk of either running dry or overfilling without having float valves that seem to cause more problems than they solve? This should, in principle be able to cover for any pump failure as oxygenated water will still be getting created from at least.

And if you meant the last one then I think you may have missed the heavy lacing of sarcasm that was going through my head at the time of writing.

Found a Head loss calculator on a post in BYAP forums, here is the link in case anyone is interested.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/5/aafeature2#section-0 but will need to manually add your own pump, seems most of the current ones are not in here. Looks like i will get 12-17 foot head pressure loss, not sure if that means i need a pump that will pump to 17ft head height? If so, i'm screwed)

Sorry that would be 1 or a little bit 2 Running 70m of at least 25mm pipe and having to put in an extra pump in the patio display, because you are not going to run it all off one pump, is not worth the effort and possibility something might go wrong. And it would be a bummer trying to get the levels spot on.

Edit

I did download the calculator though, it may be useful.