Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good work boys :-)

Do you have any converns about the growbed mon? Are they food safe?

Love the size though? how big is your tank?

Hey Stu - are the grow-beds going on the stands you welded? They must be pretty strong buggers because there would be a massive amount of weight in those beds. Make sure the kids don't play under the beds :-/

Hey Phro no concerns re food safe, they were used for abalone so should be okay, and are 10 years old, so any off gassing would have happened by now.

VB, I welded the stands, they are plenty strong much easier welding 3mm angle than 1.6mm galv tube Each stand has 10 legs, plus is braced and has cross bars, and all joins are wleded on all sides, so i am pretty confident they will hold the weight, but I take your point.

Our workshop today went well, despite the fact that we were rained out at lunch time, even had some hail But we did get the tank in place with about 100 big goldies in it, the sump finished apart from the mesh cover that I am half way thru, the beds are all in place and full, and trenches dug with 90% of the drain plumbing done. Turns out one of the guys is a plumber, so he was put to work Others worked really well, dug flkat spots, trenches, helped all over, with the special guest being my mate who owns the FEL who moved the 12 tonne of gravel into the growbeds for us.

The liner we used for the sump is the same stuff LB used in his growbeds. Have never seen it before, it is like wetsuit material, and is almost impossible to rip. And it is super flexible, such a great product. The sump liner cost about $550, but worth every cent.

one more quick word, so we have plenty of space to play with around the standpipes (we are going to try autosyphons at some point) we used 20 litre cream buckets for the outer standpipes. Food grade and cheap, and the lid keeps gravel out of the drains

That is a good idea Stu, call it a workshop and all the helpers come to learn and the job gets done quicker.

in fact, just got an email from one guy who thanked us and offered any help and advice for the olive grove. With things like this, you get out of it what you want, ie, we were there all day answering questions etc, so people had heaps of chance to learn as much as they could, and hopefully in the future will run these workshops at other peoples houses. It is a great way to keep the enthusiasm for AP going, and is a fun way of putting a system together, eg shared lunch and workload

Great to see it all coming together for you Stu.

Yeah I'm quite happy if you organise one at my place. Actually come to think of it I already have ... The Adelaide BYAP [s]Meet[/s] Workshop Nov 17, Hallett Cove. Bring your tools, shovels, tractor ...

which side of the house would you like us to make the access path KE?
I am sure Athena feels that bedrooms are overrated

nice Stu.... 3mm angle stands for those giant beds filled with blue metal? I think my stands might be over engineered at 5mm angle for a 500L bed filled with hydroton...

Looks great Monya! Now to just finish getting it enclosed.

I liked the kid in the tank for size comparision, only thing is you will need to get some Pygmy goats if you want to keep them that size for future size references. Now is that a twenty or a thirty goat tank?

Kevin

Joel, don't say that might make me think mine are under engineered :worriedabout3tonneofgravelcollapsingthebeds:
Thanks Moke, if only they were that cute forever

The beds haven't been flooded yet, but im sure the perfectly welded stands will still hold with the extra weight