Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well then it was to work to crunch some numbers to see what size GBs I would need to build. Since the work was done by the clients of the center we had to work with what we had. Some good will and some not so good. I am learning a lot about the alcohol rehab scene.

First off we had to mix all the cement by hand. I decided since the tank was half out of the ground, we would build a small wall about 1 meter away from the tank and rest the growbeds on the tank and on the wall. So we began by simply pouring some slabs on the ground which we would later lift in place and then use brick to make the sides.

The slabs ended up a bit crooked but the beauty of cement is that there is nothing that can't be plastered and straightened. We poured the slabs on the ground and let them dry for nearly a week before we tried to lift them. Each slab was 1 meter wide by 260 cm long

So then we lifted all the slabs in place and bricked up the sides and then plastered the walls.

The walls are 30 cm high

And finally after washing gravel and wiring it all up, it was finished and ready to cycle.

wow! DT this looks great! Well done to all concerned.

PS, great to have you back too

Since the last pic, we have cycled the water with 13- 500 gram tilapias and today we planted 3 growbeds with various veggies.

On sept 7, I will be purchasing about 400 fingerlings (tilapia) for the tank and that will be the load we will have in this system. We will probably be harvesting fish at about 600 grams. If my fish are any indication then that will take about 7-8 months to grow out.

I will try to get some more recent pics of the system to post here. I have several other systems in the works, so I will probably be starting new threads as those progress. Sorry for all the catch up work. I will try to be more consistent now that we are back home in El Salvador and things have settled down. It's good to be back!

Wow Jaymie, you're all growed up! I didn't know I was gone that long.

Wow! Impressive! Very monolithic! An AP system archeologists will puzzle over in 100 years (or say "..and here we have an early AP system. As you can see, the grow bed to fish ratio is excellent, indicating that even back in the 21st century, primitive modern man was making steps to ensure food security...")

Well, how about in October? Hahahah! I have some small financial issues that were to be dealt with that languish, unattended... Social Investment Fund ordered a solar system, and now we have to waqit for the cell phone guy to come so I can install it....

Good for you, BTW, for making such a positive impact!

Well not so positive yet.... but hoping it will be.

October is fine, I do have a quick trip to the US the 1-9 of the month so will have to be after that. Let me know when you can. I will let you know what I have here so you can determine whether it is worth the trip. Maybe we can make a quick 2 hour trip to Honduras to see a guy that is doing a bunch of AP systems there, funded by the government.

That would be awesome! THANK YOU!

I will be working towards that!

Welcome back DT... and I see you've been enjoying your break

Nice practical piece of work you've done their at the rehab centre...

Hopefully it might inspire something positive in the lives of those in the centre.

Good to be back Rupert. Now if I can just find my own system thread. I can't even remember what it was called.....

DT, your system is here: http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... t=salvador

yeah, about 15 years

Great to have you back on board, good to see the new systems happening

That looks fantastic dt - and not a chainsaw in sight