Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If you need ideas with kids pools/sandpits Cuti.... have a look at Aeon's thread .....Pictures Here

Wheres Aeon gone!

Well I managed to locate some free gravel LOL. Not much of it but enough for planting at least. Will post pics soon.

What I have so far, the pump is missing since I haven't pulled it out of the goldfish tank, but it'll pump water up to the corner of the red tub.


The pipe connections I used, I've used before with fish their perfectly safe. I don't have any of the power tools etc, so their nice and simple to use. Though using scissors to grind a hole out is tedious. Then you stick the end of the tube in hot water till its easy to manipulate, shove it the hole and when it cools it creates an airtight seal.


Then two smaller tubs


Then back into the tub


I'm experimenting with making the tub yabby proof so ignore the odd looking lid LOL


What do ya think? its not exactly professional like the others and needs way more gravel, but so far I've just made it out of things lying around the house, once I've got more money will get more gravel and some better growbeds.

Looks like a very neat and tidy job to me.

I usually go the noxious fume route when it comes to making holes in plastic and heat up metal/copper tubing with a blowlamp.

For making really big holes, steel cans are great and come in all sizes (baked beans for 3" holes, catering size instant coffee cans for 8" holes)
Just cut the top off and attach a wooden handle to the bottom of the can (i use one from an old file) and have at it with the blowlamp for 30 seconds. You can usually do quite a few holes before it needs reheating.
Melted holes seem less prone to developing stress cracks too.

Lol for that I'd need a blowlamp LOL, something I dont have.

Lol thanks, my hands are killing me, I refuse to wash gravel again LOL, that stuff is nothing like the nice gravel i use in my fish tanks. Hmmm would it be possible to use river pebbles instead of gravel? or is there a special reason for using gravel?

gravel has a lot of surface area being angular, but river pebbles would be okay too.

thanks for the pics cuti, les will now talk to you as you have washes gravel..............

Please take all comments as constructive.

so the water is pumped up to the red container and then cascades through the pipe to the ones under it?

Only problem i see is that the water is not flowing THROUGH the gravel........there a few methods you can use to accomplish this.

the easiest way to retro your system would be to insert new hoses BELOW the gravel (right at the bottom of the tub wall and use a piece of pvc pipe thats been cut vertically to sit on the inside of the tub against that same wall (drill lots of holes in the pvc pipe).

That way, the water will flow through the gravel catching solids. you can leave your existing pipes as overflow safety's . Then run your pump and time how long it take for the water to "over flow". get a timer for the pump and set the pump on time to the "overflow time" then measure the time it takes for the tubs to completley empty and set this (or any time longer) as the pump off time.

Follow?


Steve

Yah, i thought of putting the pipes at the base but we have very frequent blackouts, sometimes lasting 3+ days. The plants dry out to quickly, so at least having the pipes up high up means that I can just add some type of ammonia directly to the containers during a blackout, rather then kill the plants every time we have a blackout LOL.

I was thinking of using a spray bar at the base of the gravel, to pump water through, so it;d be rising up and going through the overflow. I'm going to have a go at continuous flow first, as I haven't managed as of yet to find a timer that suits my needs. The only ones I've found use two hour intervals, and cant be changed. I so love living in the middle of nowhere not LOL

Even if the waters flowing across the gravel, wouldn't there still be some dispersal in the gravel? Lol I might need to rethink this all a bit.


Another question yabbies I have this funny feeling that the gridded area on my lid isn't yabby proof. But if I added another window screen with a couple more pavers would that work? and what'd be a suggested stocking for this?

Cuti, the best way to learn is to experiment, go ahead on the path that have started. I just wanted to bring it up.

Who knows you may stumble on some new concept along the way! If we all just do what epople tell us will work then nothing new will be discovered. Just Don't "chuck it all out" if it doesn't work the best, modify!

Hmph LOl, I just finished a test run using the pump and numerous buckets of water. Two problems turned up

1. I didn't take into account mother nature, it was a rather windy day and the water fall from the red container cheerfully watered the grass instead of falling into the next grow bed. I'm going to try and devise some type of funnel like object so I can still have the waterfall, but also get it to water what I want it to water.

2. As soon as the pump turns off the whole thing back siphons, emptying the red grow bed. I'm not to sure how much a problem this would be, as the spray bar I'm using is a cm or so off the bottom, so some water would still remain in the bed.

Otherwise it seems to work rather well, the water level is a couple of cm above the gravel, so I think I'll get some river pebbles to go over the top.

But now I've started thinking about weather etc, I keep getting these amusing images of it all overflowing from rain and the yabbies surfing the waves and leaving LOl. Well at least rain would act like a free water change LOL.

Okies I've fixed the wind problem. I used the top half of a cokebottle, with the mouth screwed into another piece of the blue pipe. The cokebottle funnel fits snuggly underneath the overflow, so it water falls and then runs down the pipe and into the second growbed.

well done Emma

Some more pics, everything full off water


Protected from the wind


The red tray now connected to the pump


Does anyone know what this is? A roo died in one of our dams a month ago and we've had a complete wipe out, the whole thing was taken over by algae. We've been rescuing all the plants, and I was wondering if this would be safe to go into the tub?


Sigh i wanna set up the tub, am sick of waiting for the silicone to cure.

the plant looks like Potamogeton sp. a floating pondweed. Shouldn't be a problem in the tub. Is it growing rooted in the dam floor? It can be obstructive in waterways.