Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

its in the one and only -over loaded- grow bed.

A spur of the moment thing! If it takes off then i'll move it

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The only tool you need is a paperclip

LOL - We are in almost the same boat - all my stuff goes into one bed - at least the water that passes through it comes out very clea

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We care enough to help everybody with AP

I put a paw paw plant in my grow-bed - contained within a net basket - with the intention that it would be moved within a couple of weeks. 6 weeks later, no cahnce of moving it now. Will be an interesting sight seeing a full grown paw-paw plant in the middle of my bed, which is elevated 90cm as it is. Will need to get a cherry picker to pick the fruit

I worked out some dates today, to give the system a timeline. The fish arrived Friday 19th January (Jades - slim, about 7-8cm) (Silvers - slim, about 3-4cm), they spent a week in quarantine, going into the monster on Sunday 28th Jan (week 1). Spent some time fiddling around with the pumps and pipes and swearing a lot (now we're up to week 5). Planted veggie seeds.

So, that makes it Week 6 (thanks Jamie, I'll copy your idea - except we don't have a test kit, so there'll be no numbers to compare)

Fish are good

The Jades are fat, about 9-10cm, very visible. They tend to swim high in the water, so they cut the surface as they speed over to let you know they desperately need more food Their colour makes it easy to see them in the water too.

The Silvers are fat (I think), about 4-5cm, not as visible. They seem to swim about 10cm below the surface of the water, so in slightly silty water you can't see them well. They don't seem to be as bold as the Jades, but hang around at the back of the pack, hopefully

The water is slowly clearing. The depth of visibility is improving. I need to get a bag of shell grit tomorrow, that I'll probably put in the sump.

There are still a few plumbing issues that get dealt with as they are spotted (loop siphons not kicking in as quickly as I'd like etc)

I have 2 blue drums that have the top-up water in them. They are up higher than the tank and so can siphon down to the closest grow bed. It has been pretty hot and humid here for the last week, so I've been adding 200L each day or day & half.

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Is that 25ml piping over your GBs Jaymie? How and where do you drain them. Can't quite tell from your pics. Looks like somebody else is gunna need an export licence!

Looks like Coles and Woollies might need to reduce their fruit n veg and fresh fish depts in time to come, we won't need them. That would be fabulous!

we've got a bit of a mix of pipework happening But the pipes immediately feeding into the growbeds is 19mm (we've got a nearly endless supply)

Nah, we won't be able to export any fish and vege for a long time, lots of favours to pay back first

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Sheez looks great on to the jungle!

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John
Hooked on Ponics

Jaymie, how are the mini trees going?
Are the half drums going to be big enough for them do you think?

Chrissy

Chrissy,

The lemon and lime trees are both dwarf varieties. Time will tell on how well they do I suppose
The mulberries can be pruned down between seasons, that should keep them "controlled"

Jaymie

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The word 'Bonsai' comes to mind
My dad kept a number of them for years and they never kaked it - even with the occasional trimming of roots...

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We care enough to help everybody with AP

......aaaahhhhh - but did he have big melons

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Do it - like 'Ell!

no, that was next door... uhm, on the tree

It would be interesting to see if you could do something similar with a fruiting tree on a larger scale - I have seen bonsai fruit, but then the fruit had to be supported in fear of it breaking the tree...

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We care enough to help everybody with AP

I finally got the chance today to time the pumping cycles. (I'm listing these mainly for my own use, but if anyone is interested they can read it too )

Bertha, the big submersible pump, started at T0.

Davey, the sump pump, started at T6 minutes.

Bertha, finished at T39 minutes.

Davey, finished at T48 minutes.

Davey, started at T56 minutes and off at T59 minutes.

Davey, started at T68 minutes and off at T71 minutes.

Davey, started at T80 minutes and off at T83 minutes.

Davey, started at T95 minutes and off at T98 minutes.

Davey, started at T112 minutes and off at T115 minutes.

Davey, started at T126 minutes and off at T128 minutes.

Bertha, started at T125 minutes ....... etc


What all this means is that Bertha pumps for about 40 minutes to fill the growbeds, Davey pumps for about 40 minutes at the same time. Then Bertha finishes and Davey pumps for periods of about 3 minutes every 10 minutes to empty the big and medium grow beds.

While Bertha is pumping, the blue drum beds are filling and siphoning out, some of them twice in the 40 minutes. They all fill at different rates and their loop siphons kick in at slightly different heights/depths (I love variety, don't you? )

So, if all the siphons work to plan, the whole system cycles through pumping and draining 12 times each day.

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.....and how many times is the tank volume turned over/hour

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Do it - like 'Ell!

some ?

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