Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ahh OK! I just looked at the year of post which were 06, and as it's nearly 08 I thought you had it running longer, but I suppose you'd know

Yeah I don't really have a prob with gal, it's just the round part I had a big disagreement with a manager who runs on of the events I support in geelong with the use of round tables vs rectangle... it went on a little longer that it should have and got into some interesting area's of mathematics You've seen that show numbers right, it was like that with less BS! But I won, rectangles for the win!!!

I have weighed the pros and cons significantly. I am going with EB's stuff because 1. Its made for the job 2. I can trust what the plastic is made from and where it comes from 3. It will last a long time 4. It is supporting local industry 5. It looks bloody cool...

The main Con was the cost and the initial outlay, but the pros definitely outweigh this fact.

At the same time a fibreglass aquaculture tank in Perth (3000L) is about $1000, a PVC lined Aqua tank you will be looking at $800 just for the liner. So EB's stuff is still cheap, and you know that even though he is making a living selling this stuff, he still tries to bring them to us at a reasonable cost.

With any plastic that is black you run the risk of having contaminates. Black plastic products are USUALLY made from recycled plastics. Pellets of all sorts of colours and grades are used to make these and are just coloured black to hide the irregular colour. What makes me worried is where is this recycled plastic is coming from. They could be using plastic from toner cartridges or containers, containers which have contained poisonous or carcinogenic substances. Anything... Now I plan to run this system for 10 + years. What is going to leach out over time? what is going to react with UV? Will I be replacing these black containers in a shorter time period.

The way I figure it, if I don't ever have to buy fish again, that saves me at least $15 a week (1kg of fish). So not including veges, in one year I have paid 3 growbeds off. My whole system would have paid itself off in fish alone in 3-4 years. Plus I know exactly where those fish have come from and what they have been swimming in...

Totally correct TC- cheap up front aint always cheap in the long run.

1. Yep
2. Hell Yep
3. Bloody Better
4. Bloody Hell Yep
5. Would be better if they had a spoiler or fuzzy dice



Didn't Confucius say that?

I think the missus has come around to the bath idea When I showed her the figures and broke it all down, it makes sense for the first system, then later on I think I'll have to give these beds a go, cause yeah, they're lovely! Just have to get them over to Victoria! Have to organise a group order when a bunch of us Vic's want them. Wish my step dad was still truckie!

I'm in vic, and will take at least 1/2 a dozen... Perhaps we will start a thread?

or would a pettion be a better word ?

I PM'd EB. He's working on it, but has supplier issues atm.

We must be patient... I was always told I was a bad patient

Yeah sounds good, I'm thinking about eventually putting a system on my tennis court, and having a dam dug out in the corner of my property GO BIG!

kenour have you had much rain today?

Raining here now... and I'm meant to be digging holes, getting new pump, and other exciting things trying hard to find motivation atm...

Yep - I'd like some of EB's stuff too, but is purely hypothetical discussion when it's not available on the east coast (as yet). If I have no other option when I am ready to expand, I might have to go with the tilkey green troughs (they are not recycled stuff).

A bit, not as much as I wanted unfortunately! My main tank's at about 60%, and the little one I used to fill the pond is about 10%. I want one of the rains we had a couple of weeks ago where my tank filled 2-3 foot in a couple of hours!

I've attached a google maps image on my house, as you can see I've got a bit of roof area

stop flinging turkeys and whacking penguins!

kenour=300mtrsX100mm= 30000ltrs

hehe, now I just need to move to mums in gippsland where they get 100mm of rain!!! Then my tanks would be overflowing like hers

Mmm... heavy duty tow truck required!