Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Today's dilemma... To cut the poles so they can be dug into the soil and concreted in or do I just bury them?

Concrete will be more stable but also more "permanent".

Here's a photo of the first pole roughly in place, uncut. The plastic pallet I'm using to hold back the soil on that end of the sump very conveniently has these holes that fit the poles perfectly and although I'm not relying on them to weight bear, (the vessel blocks will do that) at least they help stop the poles from rolling...

Go concrete!

Two main support poles now in place. Am tempted to do a third since I have the steel. Will make it necessary to buy more Besser blocks though. (Ignore random placement of Besser blocks in photo. They are just there to hold the poles in position while the concrete hardens.)

Ahhh well. At least it's a start!

Ok I give up on making the top half of the RWT into a FT. Too hard. Especially with having to build a custom base.

I've been offered $ for it which barely covers the materials I have used to try and make it waterproof.

So I am thinking of removing the top and using it as a lid for the bottom half of the RWT - which is already in place my shed as FT#1.

I'll cut a hatch for maintenance/fish viewing/fish feeding rom a couple of ridges and use stainless steel hinges, and a bolt to make it child proof.

Should cut down on evaporation from the tank as well...

Good idea or not?




The rest of this part of the RWT I will recycle as a raised garden bed.

Good idea.

Good idea. So long as the fish are not totally in the dark during daylight hours


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Do they need a bit of light? I thought fish were happier and less stressed in the dark?

If they need a little light I can easily rig up some waterproof led strips in the tank and put them on a timer.

This will also be helpful when I'm checking up on them

Leave the hatch open and put a bit of light shadecloth or similar over it, that's what I do with both my systems. No need to mess around with artificial lighting when there is a perfectly good natural light in the sky

Can't argue with you there, but my fish tanks are located in my shed. So they will be in pretty dim light even if I leave the hatch open.

They don't need super bright light, is it pitch black in there with the door closed?

One worthy suggestion, , is to obtain some Koi, as these will act as SP pacifiers:

Progress update:

Have decided finally to clad the IBCs with HT pallet wood. We will paint the wood and try to give it an attractive distressed look.

So today I started disassembling pallets and after a lot of ineffectual banging with a hammer that wasn't getting me anywhere, I found a helpful video that described how to disassemble using a bit of brute force, a brick and a heavy lump of concrete.

Worked like a charm! So much faster!

<a href="http://s1002.photobucket.com/user/SophiaA7/media/Aquaponics/D222B25D-9667-4A35-A208-A31F72C83890.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/SophiaA7/Aquaponics/D222B25D-9667-4A35-A208-A31F72C83890.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo D222B25D-9667-4A35-A208-A31F72C83890.jpg"/></a>



Clever hubby found a 4 liter tin of brown paint in the "mistint" section at Bunnings for $10. This will be the paint we use on the pallet wood.

This will be the base coat then we will layer over some darker brown and maybe some other colours... Hopefully it will look as nice as I imagine it!

My better half loves the mistint table, and brought home seven big cans of paint. We're thinking of spray painting the unfinished OSB on our house until we finish building our new bedrooms and stucco the whole building.

Needless to say, the original suggestion of welding was.still the most economically choice, but, given the super practical use as a top for the other half, , then I would look to see if there was a practical way of fitting a lifting point so the whole top can be easily lifted up to undertake any tank maintenance..
Plan ahead for "Wot-Ifs" .. you can be guaranteed that they do happen...

Another practical use could be to use it as a WICKING BED.. like Gordan. Where he filled the base with pebbles. Covered with membrane, and soil over that and you pass the normal GB flow through the pebbles which will act as additional bio-filtration...

Only offering the thought as it is a seriously more valuable use, and your FT lid can be more simple..

The Wicking bed will give another GB type, better suited to root vegies like carrots ..

PS.. IF it does leak, then it will not be serious.. as there is only a small pressure head anyway, and, if the cone is buried a bit and filled with weighty pebbles, the compression will reduce movement and possible separation and leakage...

Pebbles are constantly appearing on gumtree as freebies...
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Excellent idea BuiDoi - but I just don't have room at the moment for a grow bed this size anywhere close to the other grow beds.

Do you want it?

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Same problem.. no space..

So exhausting options puts FT top back on the list..
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