Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Your system is evolving and looking good! I don't know why but I just like the wire tanks! Keep up the good work.

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Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

The wire mesh tank is just a really quick, cheap way to get more fish tank up high enough to co CHIFT PIST. Would be more elegant to use a formed tank liner that will do the circle better but then it wouldn't be cheap.

For quick and temporary, One might manage it with tarp and plastic if they needed a very cheap tank fast but at that point you might as well use a cheap pool since they are both likely to fail in the long run.

Fish have been very neglected over the past couple days since I worked a 20+ hour day yesterday. They don't seem too upset about it though. I think I'll go take a nap, it's really hot out and has been for the past week or so, I'm not up to building the new grow bed today. Maybe next week as I think today is my only real day off this week.

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Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics

Why do you think your wire and liner would fail? Seems like as long as your end-ties are solid, they should last a long long time.

I'm not thinking that mine would fail. I was saying that if you just used a tarp or plastic instead of high quality pond liner, it would be likely to fail as the plastic ages or if anything scrapes it or punctures it.

With the heavy duty pond liner, I expect that I'll be able to take this tank apart and set it up at the new house in a few years time and it will still be in good shape.

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Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics

Ah, that makes more sense to me .

I am very much liking the results of the CHIFT PIST upgrade to the big system The catfish I kept after the culling of the sicker ones all seem to have recovered from the skin infections. The big catfish down in the sump tank are doing quite well and the smaller ones up in the new tank seem to be doing even better!!!!

Yesterday I cleaned out the 3" feed pipe from the fish tank to the grow beds for the first time yesterday. Turn off pump and take caps off ends of pipe over grow beds and allow buildup of gunk to drain into the grow beds. Re-cap ends of pipe (I have screw on clean out ends on the pipe currently so really easy to do) and turn pump back on.

With only the 4 big catfish down in the sump tank, I've not been having to clean out the pump trap quite as often and If I improve the netting over the tank to keep all leaves out, I'll have to clean the pump trap only rarely I think.

Definitely, for heavy stocking, CHIFT PIST with constant pump flow to keep the main fish tank aerated seems to be the way to go to me.

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Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics

CHIFT PIST with constant pump flow. Yes! The only way to go! Its just all around more healthy for the fish. Especially with higher stocking densities.

_________________
Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

it's sooooooo Hot here lately. Glad I got fish that are ok with really warm water. The Tilapia babies are growing like mad. Some of the first batch that I noticed are already over an inch long!!!!

The odd ball babies are still definitely looking different than tilapia and I still think they are baby catfish but I still can't see whiskers yet. The main thing (other than the fact that catfish are the only other type of fish that I put in the system) that makes me think they are catfish is the shape of their buldging bellies.

_________________
Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics

Here is a commercial setup that uses wire cage tanks and huge air lifts.

_________________
Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

And While you are at it how about some wire cage raft tanks?

_________________
Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

Interesting Dandi.... where abouts is this setup??

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Fresh By Nature - Distributor of Aquaponic Systems and Products in NSW
http://www.freshbynature.com.au

I dont know the details, but you can ask the person posting videos of it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bocharly

_________________
Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

I am nearly certain that is a system set up in Mexico that I know. Very much of a mix of low cost and high tech. sometimes a strange mix. Saved a lot in some areas, but spent a bunch in others, mostly due to design.

Mathew

Hay I'm back. Lightning hit the cable a couple days ago and it took a while to get them to fix it.

So I got some pictures of fish, Little fish this time

This is a pic of a cup full of babies that I scooped out of the duckweed tank which is currently acting as my tilapia breeding tank for the summer (12 tilapia being supported by the barrel ponics system)

Only took me a few minutes to net these little guys out. I then put them into my little indoor aquarium.

As the really little ones grow I grade them through a plant basket. The ones that can swim through stay in the little aquarium and the larger ones move out to the bigger outdoor aquarium.

The fish with the dark stripe down their sides and the different shape are the ones I think might be catfish fry. If they are not catfish, I am at a loss as to what kind of fish they could be since they really don't look like tilapia.

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Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics

So since I re-arranged things and move the waterfall tank to be the new quarantine tank. I had this spot to build a new deep grow bed. 10 foot long and 29 inches wide by 17 inches deep. (about 240 gallons worth of gravel filtration.)

Built the frame set them in place, screwed them together with some scrap bits then put in the liner.

Did some plumbing and started filling with gravel.

_________________
Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics