Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK, first modification to the system.

I checked it this afternoon when I got home and noticed a couple of the sprinkler holes were blocked. Apon closer inspection I noticed a tiny blue claw poking out through the hole at the sunlight - lucky I didn't glue the reticulation lines together I pulled the end cap off and THREE small marron came out the end like they were riding a waterslide.

Being mainly bottom dwellers I didn't think the Marron would get into the overflow, but I was wrong... oops.

I used a small amount of plastic fly screen mesh to cover the overflow so hopefully it won't happen again.

aaaawww Daaaaddd party pooper

I had a thought afterwards though J (besides, why didn't you get the camera and take a pic of the claw poking out). The system is running on a timer, on for half an hour off for an hour, and Marron can survive periods out of the water.... I wondered whether they would find their way back up the "waterslide" to the tank??? ... or just keep trying in vain to squeeze out through the little sprinkler holes.

looking good there S77.
Those baby marron look like a tasty morsel growing.hehehe
well done!!
C1

I fully agree and glad yer back and posting.

Hey Simmo..... I know it's the same number, but are they the same growbeds you had before? Looks like they're holding up ok, not too much sagging...

Nice system mate.... How big is your pump?

Thanks guys, hopefully I will be a little less busy for a little while and will be able to keep up with things here

Yep, same beds exactly EB, and the mix in them is probably 2/3 pea gravel and 1/3 expanded clay, so they are doing pretty well at holding their shape given the weight they are holding. It took 3 decent wheelbarrow loads to transfer the gravel, so they hold more than you would think as well.

The next thing will be how long they hold up in the sun.

the blue barrels will last a long time, I have had some in the weather for many years more than ten.

Oh, and the pump... I think it is a 3000Lph one, from the big 'B', using 13mm flexi tube which fits it nicely.

Do you run the pump continously Simmo?

Theres a timer which runs the pump for 30 mins then rests for an hour. The past 3 days though I have had it running full time to cycle the water quickly and for testing how robust the system is etc and the beds happily flood and drain via the autosiphons.

C1 Yeh, it's funny with plastics. Some get brittle very quickly when exposed to sunlight, but I've seen IBCs that have been sitting out in the sun for years - for example my mate has one on his property attached to an old above ground pool that gets at least 12 hours direct sunlight a day (on average over the year I mean - it's in full sun basically).

Its been there for at least 5 years going strong... and the frame is still sturdy enough to climb on and bombie from.

They have uv stabilisers or not, you pay for it in the new product but soon becomes forgotten when there is a stack of plastic doing not much!

Great work Simmo.

Simmo, any way you can monitor and record the effect of temperature on the growbeds now that you have those black tubs out in full sun rather than the shade you had before.... realising of course that autumn approachs, I'm curious just how much, if any, temperature gain the black tubs might have over the blue barrels?