Crappy Basil Growers R Us

dasboot

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The starting point,the first four growbeds,another four being placed behind these,just got to build the support.I will see how this gets on and more as time goes on. Might already move them to the other end,as it will be easier to erect shade cloth over the beds,and a more sturdy cover over the pond,just got to come up with the right ideal.

Charlie

Watching this one with great interest. Looks like a beautiful spot.

dasboot

Thanks again Charlie,yes iam happy here, cant wait to get the system up and running,home grown does seem very appealing and after looking through Fayes fantastic pics,something iam reall looking forward to. Using the pond seemed logical but it is giving me some small issues,still that's all the fun of it.
Still waiting for the rest of my river gravel,but seeing the chap is riddling out of the local river I must be patient. In the mean time I have decided to cover the pond,in an effort to reduce my green water problem,as you mentiontioned about the DO,the water temp this morning was 28 and my ph at 7.2, iam going to wait until mid afternoon,check again then tonight,see what we get. The first four beds have been plumbed in and checked,iam going to run it constant flow though the day,then on the timer for flood and drain through the night.
Before I continue with the growbeds,got to finish my neighbours car port,then go and cut bamboo to make the frame for the shade cloth over the pool. Then work out if iam going to leave the beds where they are then make up a green house for them. The rainy season can be a bit rough some nights,don't want to see it all washed away. More pics soon

dasboot

These three should be the first,but just forgot I had them so I downloaded these so the changes are more evident,anyway as said this is the fish pond,with the empty filter boxes,the two blue pipes are bottom drain,the pond was in such a way that water being pumped in the bottom right corner flows up the pond,hits the radiusd end,at this point there is a cut out for a surface skimmer,then on causing a circlular flow pattern. This gets redirected by the waterfall,back across the pond,this has the effect then of starting another circles flow pattern in the bottom corner.The bottom of the pond was coned at roughly there centres and a bottom drain installed,so ineffect two in pond vortexes. Almost works...does keep the bottom clear of leaves and the bigger lighter bits,the main mistake was using two inch bottom drains,not enough velocity so they can block,turning off the ball valves and lowering the filter level,then just opening the offender seems to clear the leaves out,it's been there two years nothing major yet.
The filter box had two rows of some sort of plastic mesh rolled into tubes,threaded on to a plastic pipe and placed in the flow,this slowed it right down allowing the solids to fall out if suspension. The main box had a mixture of Pumis stones,huge surface area,and oyster shells.
The plan is to shade cover the pond,not sure how to achieve this yet,but I want to reduce the amount of algae being produced.Then just use the two filter chambers as pure settlement of solids.

KrisGee

Stunning and I'm looking forward to developments. May get a chance to come over later in the year if that's ok.

dasboot

If your in my neck of the woods you are more than welcome,to come and visit us,hopefully everything will be up an established. There are some very beautiful places very close to us and it would be my pleasure to give you the guided tour. Doi Tung for one,has the royal families gardens,there they have many gorgeous layouts of flowers from around Thailand. Of particular interest are the green house where you can see them cloning endangered species in an effort to preserve them. Quite breath talking,so if your up my way you truly are very welcome.

dasboot

Just stopped for a brew,so I thought I would post these,work today consisted on building the frame for the shade cloth over the pond. First job collect the bamboo not so bad when it's at the end of the garden,good fun as well. The frame in the making,Building Thai style,gotta love it,I will put one layer of black plastic shade cloth over the top of this,should help with the algae production.

mantis

Beautiful looking spot and that pond etc have so much potential for an aquaponics build :headbang:

dasboot

Shade cloth on,filter covers and growbeds covers next job.

dasboot

After posting this,I went straight over to read the NE Thailand Monster project,quetions about the green house,do I need one? It's in the low thirtys nearly everyday,so don't want more heat,but I was concerned about our rainy season,things can get a bit wet and rough at times.

dasboot

Thanks Mantis,ok what are your thoughts,what would you do given this as a project now,5000 gall pond,500 gall filter box,two bottom drains into the filters. Your new canvas,go for it ..

Domani

Yep, you're not doing so bad there either. Looks very nice and green allover.

dasboot

I absolutely love it,can't wait for tomorrow,it's 11pm just come back in from looking at it again........how bad is that.

Domani

Bad, very, very bad! You need somebody to talk to or you turn into an aubergine. :thumbleft:

dasboot

So how well do they grow in Aquaponics systems.

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