Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

and a couple of the pavers .....

xxxx Gold and what's wrong with the AP spirit level - don't they use an alcoholic spirit

Just laid out the pavers, gotta dig some dirt now, thought I went into AP so as not to play in dirt

ps - the string line is just for show...have no idea what its used for

isent that what you use to see how far to the other end

they're great for trippin over lol

Not funny - did that today, within a minute of running it (curses followed)



have to check with Jaymie on that

Glad to see that you color-coordinated the water tank. Will that provide water just for the AP system, or for general household use, too? I know a lot of you Aussies collect water from the roof, but I haven't figured out whether there are limits on the use. On some Caribbean islands, you will see water collected like this and routed to a sictern under the house. The water is used for anything from drinking to flushing. It's almost unheard of in this part of the US, although we do have drought some times. The most you would see is a 55gal barrel to collect water for the garden. Seems rather toy-like in comparison.

And thank you for not using the micro-font.

Hi Janet, the tank is going to be used for AP only (except for what is acquired by the AP wife for her dirt thing).

Tank limitations – this is basically what is law in Queensland, but all states are pretty similar
If town water is available, this is to be connected and can be used for everything
Tanks can be fitted and used for gardens and plants
A tank can be plumbed into the house and used for laundry, showers, dish washers but not for drinking – this is due to health problems like dead possums, bird crap etc being washed off the roofs. A tank plumbed to the house needs to be done by a licensed plumber. (if water was treated from the tank then it might be used for drinking water but not sure on that). People do use tank water for drinking and swear by it but they either walk outside to fill a receptacle or have it fitted by other means.

The drought has brought out a bit of HSM due to dam levels running critically low so both state and local government have offered some incentives:

State (Qld) offer a rebate of up to $1,000 on the purchase of a water tank (this is a one off payment and the tank can be used for any purpose).

My local council offers a rebate (on top of the state rebate) of up to $500 if the tank is fitted to the house – used for laundry, showers etc - this payment is to offset plumbing costs.

Now there are conditions apply like minimum tank size, licensed personnel, invoices required etc but that is basically it (coincidentally minimum tank size is 3,000l in my area).

So my tank will cost me the 90mm fittings for the water inlet/outlet and the base after receiving the rebate.

These incentives will reduce the dependence on town water and it is now a requirement that all new constructions have a water tank.

Think that just about covers it

our rain water tank is connected to the kitchen (was installed when the house was built and by the plumber) and we use it for all kettle boiling (our reticulated water is very high in calcium and destroys kettles in less than a year).

Cool. Very frugal. I think in the Caribbean, they may have a diverter that allows the first bit of rain to run to waste to wash the poo and possums off the roof. Then the remaining rain is collected. Or maybe that's just what they tell the tourists.

diverters are part of the boom in water related products

About $50 bucks for a 90mm first flush diverter (which is what you are talking about Janet). There is also the type of diverter that diverts a bit of the stormwater from the downpipes to the pool, garden or whatever. Silly thing is a lot of these only have 20mm fittings on them, which doesn't exactly work to full potential in a downpour.

Was gonna add my home made diverter to it but was pushed for drop between the gutter downpipe and the tank inlet and didn't want to dig down to far to sink the tank - the fish get all that good nutrient now

We have a thing called a 'pigpit' a bricked up box that a series of 'T's with screwcaps from the roof runoff (SW) pipes, the winter stops and we uncap the Ts and let the water flush when we get rain.
That way the crap is cleaned out and doesn't sit festering during the summer months.
After the first rains we re cap them.

Council bylaw for every one on special rural to have a minimum of 92000ltr tank ( we are greedy and have 2. Plus a few more for good luck!)

C1

C1 probably does not have mains water in Margaret River (not living in town?) and We also do not have mains water here. Our water comes from a 30 000 gallon (132 000 litre) rain water tank.
Our house is close to natural forest and the winds deposit a large amount of leaves, flowers, etc. from the trees in the forest, on our roof. We have mesh in the gutters to stop these items entering the rainwater system. The rainwater pipes come together at the tank (at a lower level than the house) and pass thru another fine mesh to remove the fine solids from the gutters.

I had a 5 bay shed built (100sqM roof) and added a 3000 gallon (13,200 litre) tank from that roof. The overflow from the new tank feeds the house tank, via the rainwater pipes.


Tony