Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Great work Xzorby, sometimes simple is better...

Most people have found the liquid test kits to be more reliable than the strips

Thanks, earthbound, I'll go for the liquid test thingies then (at least pH, NO2, NO3, NH3).
Our tap water doesn't have a high hardness (about 1.6mmole CaO per liter), so the pond guy said I could just fill the pond with tap water, put in a couple of goldfish fingerlings and run the system for a couple of weeks, and then put in the rest of the fingerlings (and I think I'll put some plants in around that time as well).

I think I'll get a cheap 1800L/h submersible pump (27W), which should be able to pump up fish poo and fill the growbed within half an hour (800L GB, so about 400L of water, must go 85cm up, 2m pump head).
I'll put in a couple of water plants to supply extra oxygen, and a 4W air pump (240L/h) just in case.


Anyways, got the pond liner today (1.02mm EPDM rubber for the fish tank, 0.5mm PVC for the GB, non-toxic of course), and they also had some more hardwood, so now we've got just about all the wood and all the pondliner, for a total of about 200 euros. We only need small strips of wood to sandwich the rubber against the planks, and some wood for a small frame to attach the netting to.

Took me a couple of hours to dig up about 1.5 cubic meter of soil by hand (the little two-wheel trailer couldn't carry more) and unload it again, so the big hole where the pond is almost deep enough. Cuts and blisters everywhere, but I'm used to it

post some more pics!

Sounds like its coming along nicely

Alright, more pics then.
Started digging again early this morning, then we sawed the planks to the right size, and finally some more digging (dad helped, this time, and sis made pics).

Some of the planks, and a bunch of pondliner.

Digging..

More digging..

Dad just dumped some soil into the trailer (he's a bit crazy..)

Our other cat decided to lie down for a moment.

He left quite reluctantly, after threatening to cut his diet.

Finished digging, and put the tiles back in at about 55cm into the ground.

With two of the planks, to see what it'll look like.

Wow, that's going to be great!

Lookin' sharp. Can't wait to see how it goes!

Iron Maiden and AP - like peas in a pod. Good on Xzorby.

Really clean, good job so far!

watch out for run off from next door under that fence. Haven't been following the tread too closely, are you going to use pond liner? If so then leave a generous amount on that side and tack it to the fence / brickwork so you cant get run off from next door. All it take is one week-end round-up application and goodbye fishies

Coming together nicely for you and the family

your dad sure looks like he has had his happy pills

Yes, I'm going to use pondliner.

This better? I put a thin piece of hardboard against the 'walls', just to give the pond a better shape, the sand will fill up behind the hardboard and it will eventually decay, but the pond will keep the same shape.

The planks are just lying there, they still have to be attached to eachother, the fence and the wall. After that, the pondliner will go in (which I'll sandwich between the planks you see here and small lats).

And some scraps to show how I'll attach the big plywood plank to the upper hardwood frame (the growbed).



Thanks for all the encouraging comments!

Edit: changed the title, hope you don't mind.

cool. you've got it sorted.

You cant control what the neigbours use. best engineer the problem out (like you have)



Steve

Is it just me? Or does Thomas' dad look like Dave from Bosnia???

Tom, yu're not growing fennel, are you

(don't mind us )