Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a large swimming pool in my back yard here in the Philippines and am considering turning it into a pond with growbeds all around the edge. Can anyone give me some advise or link me to similiar projects. Here is a picture of it. It is three feet deep in the shallow end and nine feet deep in the deep end.

That's a massive pool I'm not to sure it would work but I'm sure someone with more experience will have more info for you

I would probably fill just the deep end with water at first and have grow beds in the shallow end.

My pool was much smaller than yours, and I considered many possibilities in its conversion before I took the deck option.

the number one issue IMO is to much sunlight on the water causing algae blooms fed by the nutrient rich water; some kind of cover over the FT side of the pool will solve that.

putting the GB's in the shallow end is a good idea, the only draw back is going up and down the steps! however I would use plastic std type GBs on stands ( or fabricate from whatever ... ), if the shallow end is fairly square and flat you will get lots of big GBs in there.

Having a lot of FT water in comparison to GB volume helps stability but you will need to limit feeding to the GB capacity or the GB's will get overloaded with muck. And the old rule of thumb no more than one fish per 25L of gravel ( or equivalent bio-filtration )

Certainly put GB's around the edges, but the higher they are the more pumping you will need.

For pumping I would put 2 or 3 submersible pumps in the center of the FT and direct the return water to induce a big swirl motion.

Having multiple pumps will give you some back up in case of pump failure, and gives you options for:- different crops, GB height and Constant Flood v Flood and Drain cycles.

Have a look at my system the early prototype stages are pretty rough but its going great now.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16397&hilit=slowboats+pool

PS are you moving from Cal to Philippines?

Hi Slowboat,

Your thread is what actually gave me the idea although I haven't read all the way through it yet.

The shallow end of the pool gradually slopes down to about the mid-point. I was think of making that section level and put the grow beds there. Then I would fill up the deep end which would be more or less a 30ft x 20ft x 4ft fish tank. According to some online volume converters that would be about 18,000 gallons or 68,137 liters. That's pretty big in scope I know.

I would start slow like you did and gradually build up. I thought about making at least some sort of shade or partial shade over the FT end. Maybe shade screen or something. I might even put shade screen around the grow beds to keep bugs out.

Typhoons and power outages could be major problems.

We are still in California now while the kids are finishing up school, but once they can fend for themselves my wife and I will likely go back to the Philippines. The pool is drained at the moment while we are gone. It would likely be at least three years before we return so I am in the research and idea gathering stage now.

I guess I should start a small system now in California to gain some experience. One problem is that our house is in a heavily wooded area so we don't have much shade. I guess I could just grow some native plants with gold fish in an IBC tote system. I will look into that too.

Thanks for you comments!

I love pool conversions! That one is massive. The draw back is that it takes a looooong time for nutrients to build up. I would say that a way to ensure early success it to start out treating it as an RAS system ( recirculating aquaculture system, as in fish but no plants) until you have a decent amount of nutrients. Then bring your grow beds online.

That's an excellent idea. So, I could just stock fish and run the water through grow beds filled with media but no plants for however long it takes to build up nutrients, correct?

Grow beds, cannister filters, etc yes.

And if you haven't seen this yet, it's awesome: http://gardenpool.org/

I live in the area so I'll be going on a tour soon! Stoked!

Maybe look into floating gardens?

https://www.google.com/search?q=floatin ... 25&bih=829

Gardenoool's use of poultry incorporated with the Aquaponics is controversial here. Salmonella is a real danger. Uncomposted poultry fecies is a potential pathogen vector. Not a big deal with the fish, as they will be cooked, but with the raw vegetables. Obviously their chickens will be healthier than the battery farm chickens, but there is still the potential. For personal consumption, the level of risk you take is your own concern, but selling the produce is an other story.

Yeah, I don't like that chicken poop feeding the fish idea. I think I would skip that.

I love Slowboats system. I read the whole thread. I could perhaps do a deck over the deep end with growbeds on the deck and growbeds in the shallow end of the pool. That would be a huge system. I'm going to have a 68,000 Liter Fish Tank. I can't wait to get back to the Philippines and get started.

I'm thinking I might be able to run multiple species in the fish tank by using floating fish cages to keep them seperate. I see alot of floating fish cages in the Philippines. I'd like to have tilapia, catfish and freshwater prawns.

hi im new here. where in the philippines are you. im thinking of starting in davao