Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Please upload 3 pictures of your large system with a brief description and a link to your system thread

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The only tool you need is a paperclip

Jaymie's System

System has a 10,000L fish tank with a submersible pump, running to many grow beds.

These are: big grow bed 3500L, medium grow bed 2000L, 16 x horizontal cut blue drums (@ 100L each), 6 x vertical cut blue drums (@ 100L each), 8 150mm diameter x 1.5m tall towers and two bath tubs.

Most of the beds are filled with gravel. Two horizontal and one of the vertical drums are filled with sand. Four of the towers have gravel, four have coco peat.

The monster tank pump runs off a float switch. The grow beds are flood and drain with the cycle dictated by the flood of the two larger beds. The towers trickle through during the pump out cycle.

The water drains back to two 1000L sumps with another submersible pump and float switch. The two sumps are joined with skin fittings to avoid overflowing problems.

Currently there are nearly 250 fish and a wide variety of vegetables and fruit trees growing happily in the system.


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My system has 2 tanks joined with a syphon, totalling 3700 litres at capacity. Sub pump pumps to 4 growbeds totalling just over 3000 litres, mainly gravel (14mm drainage blue metal) but 2 of the smaller beds are perlite with a 10cm layer of gravel on the top. Water drains thru standpipes into a sump and is returned to the fishtanks from there.
I am about half way thru the first harvest of barramundi which have been in the tanks since 29th of Spetember 06. Many harvests of vegies have occured. The system is housed in a 6.5m by 4.2 m poly tunnel which we built ourselves.
This system has been very successful and will be a test system for much bigger systems in the future. monya's system

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www.thefishfarm.com.au

David C System

My system consists of:
Fish tank = 6000l galvanized tank 2.5M wide x 1.2M hight
Grow beds = 4 x 1000L galvanized grow beds 1.8M wide
300mm high filled with 14mm gravel.
All housed in a 12M x 4.5M green house.
Flood and drain with stand pipe. Drained to an in ground 120l wheelie bin as the sump.
2 submersible pumps with in built float switches keep the whole system pumping.

Here is my system
It is currently a work in progress:

The two tank's are about 2000 Litres each, and in their former life were abalone tanks

Growbeds currently are 4 black 50 litre pots, so far only one is filled with mature gravel from my old system, and a couple of plants (also from my old system. The growbed in the foreground is fitted with an experimental device for flooding and draining (discussed page 3 of my system thread)

Fish are 13 goldfish, and were all from the same spawn....

my system: The aqualined galtank has a sump pump on a timer, which pumps to the gbs via 40mm pressure pipe. There is a return ball valve to the fishtank from this which helps aeration and provides a siphon break when the pump cycle stops.
Pipe reduces to 20/25mm pipe at each gb, flow adjusted with ball valve taps. Media is 5mm blue metal with 20 mm scoria around standpipes to stop 5mm clogging drain holes. Drains to subsurface 90mm stormie pipe via gravity back to 2 joined sumps on a float switch. Tap out of sump to run water out if needed, ball valve prior to tank in water return, to adjust return flow rate. (I have it partially closed to increase aeration due to longer pump time. Bit of adjusting so it does this at a rate that doesn't cause sump to overflow.)

Hi again everyone!
We are back in action with the big "dream system" almost complete (thanks to hubby's persistance)
We have 8 of Murray's fibreglass grow beds filled with gravel and 1/2 an old tank in the ground for the fish. the tank capacity is around 8500 litres. At present we just have afew yabbys in the tank and nothing planted yet. We've got a big air blower rigged up for hot weather and the whole lot will be covered with shade cloth before too long. We haven't piped the water around the grow bed yet and have been wondering if it is worth the pipe, seems like it would be easier to just let it flood out on top???
The system works on gravity, large pipe runs along the fence with growbeds draining into it and back down into the tank. Downside is the growbeds are a bit high for tall growing plants but we are working on a solution to that.
we have tried to keep thepipe work frog proof as they were a bit of a problem in our small system, blocking up the pipes.

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don't take life too seriously, no one gets out of it alive anyway.

here's another photo of our system. I missed it the first time

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don't take life too seriously, no one gets out of it alive anyway.

System thread: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2611

4239 liter/1120 Gallons. This is 25% of the system that is being constructed.

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Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

TCLynx's Big System Thread
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2640

Well I suppose I should add to the gallery since I have been here a while now and had my first fish dinner from the system. Kinda a good thing that I waited to post since the system has grown since the original design. This system doesn't show it's scale well in only a photo or two so I'll include a diagram as one of the images.



Stats,
Aprox 900 gallons of fish tank 3400 l
(one large in ground lined tank aprox 600 gallons but it fluctuates) 2270 l
(one lined galvanized tank 300 gallons, Constant height in Tank) 1130 l
(one 45 plus gallon storage bin tank sunk in ground as isolation tank) 170 l

Aprox 1200 gallons (4540 l) of gravel filled flood n drain grow bed volume
The gravel is a mixture of ½” brown river rock and washed shells.
Grow bed to Fish tank Ratio of aprox 1.5 : 1
Pump: Sweetwater SHE2.4 220 Watt (about 60 gallon per minute at my system head)
Sand Filter: free from defunct pool.
Sump Pump ¾ hp in end of Monster Grow bed.
Shade structure built from Cattle Panels, wood, and shade cloth
Fish Feeders; 2 Large Ergo automatic pet feeders
Battery backup air pump system for low water situation or power outage.

Started research Early December 2007.
Early Jan 2008, built Barrel-ponic system. (just a side note here)
Broke Ground on Big system January 27, 2008.
Started filshless Cycling March 4, 2008 (cycling complete March 20)
Got 47 Catfish March 24, 2008 Large fish mostly.
Got Tilapia May 28, (into main system June 12, 2008)
First Catfish Dinner August 9, 2008







Ok, I cheated by using images already on site and more than three but the system just doesn't fit in 3 shots!!!

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Aquaponic Lynx
TCLynx Bought The Farm
Old Main System
Old 300 gallon System

CHIST PIST

4,500L FT, 400L ST with float pump so basically continuously flowing

200 silver perch

2 x 1000L GB

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Simo

My system : http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12922

The good thing about science is that you don't have to believe in it for it to be right.

My pilot project

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Yust Me Thinking

A below-ground patio pond, 800 to 1100 gallons, is the sump and present fish tank, and will probably forever be larger than any above-ground fish tank I install.
Here's the sump-with-fish, behind the house, on Google Maps:

First (and still just the one) growbed is a 300-gallon Rubbermaid filled with expanded shale. Worms and all kinds of plants, they lovin' it:

The cee-ment pond:

As seen in my System Thread and the website it inspired, Multiple Organism.

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I'll See It When I Believe It

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"What's he BUILDING in there?!?" - Tom Waits

Been meaning to put this up here for ages so here goes

The system consists of a 3800 liter Fish tank and 4 1000 liter growbeds built from brick using a round farm dam construction method. It has a 4000 liter in ground plastic sump tank reclaimed from a neighbor and repaired. The system runs flood and drained on a timer with various flood times depending on the season. Recently an additional 700 liter tank has been added with the purpose of diversifying fish species. This system is capable of supporting 120kg of fish load but is more comfortable at about half that due to solids issues.





Things I have learnt in this process

If it can happen it will happen! Don't take chances..
use strong high pressure pvc pipe and fittings especially below ground
If you are going to build with brick and cement make sure you apply a good quality sealer very thoroughly.
Ap systems deliver awesome results especially in areas where dirt gardening does not function. I know because I tried!

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http://www.lunadesigns.co.za
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6277

Great sized trout there Brian.

Did you do a weigh in?

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