Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I cut the pvc with a hand saw, and heated the plastic with a heat gun, above the cut in a U shaped area. The pvc got a bit toasty looking , but the strawbs should cover that up soon enough. Alex has had the camera at work, so I haven't taken any pictures lately. I'll try to fix that this afternoon.

All the towers are still in bits, because I can't install any more grow beds until the greenhouse plastic is up. (they get in the way of the ladders) I need a husband at home in the early morning for a few hours.

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I doubt the strawberries will care of how the pvc looks. I however am looking foreward to seeing pictures of your work. What size pipe are you using?

150mm PVC, stormwater pipe with end caps fitted in a similar fashion to Aquamad's design. The towers will be directly above the blue drums in case of leaks.

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That's close to our 6 inch pipe, pretty good size. What type of grow media are you planning on using?

still not really decided... we thought about coco peat like Murray is using, but it stays wet all the time, there would have to be very low flow.
Maybe something light, perlite or vermiculite? We can't afford clay balls.
Or possibly a larger gravel. There are 8 towers of approx 25L each so we wouldn't need much of whatever we decide to use (eventually)

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I would think a gravel would be good, wouldn't perlite or vermiculite tend to wash out? Also, how large did you cut the U shape?

I think it will probably be gravel (cheapest)
I'll go up and take some pics and show you the towers. It might be easier back soon

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Thanks Jaymie, it is past mid-night here and I'm off for the night. Catch you in the morn.

the towers are 150mm stormwater pipe, slices cut with hand saw, pvc above the cut heated and softened then pushed in to form the top of the pocket

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Those look great, the whole system looks like it is going well. I know I said I was off for the night and now that it is close to 1 am I had better be, but so much to read, and new babies every where. Thanks for getting the pictures. I am going to try this, hope mine turn out as good as yours.

have a good sleep (go, why are you still here?)

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Nice work on the towers J, they look great. Room for 48 seedlings if I have counted right, thats pretty cool...

roll on strawbs, yum yum yum!

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And the slater bugs (wood lice) will have no chance of getting to them at that height.

Why didn't you use the apple corer and chainsaw

They look great J, can't wait to see them loaded :sunny:

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Do it - like 'Ell!