I haven't been very active on the forums in the last couple of weeks. The reasons for this are twofold: One, I'm getting married in less than a month and we're doing all our last minute preparation. But mainly due to the second point. With spring having sprung, I got my green thumb out of storage and built an aquaponics grow bed as well as a wicking bed. It's the first time I've done anything with aquaponics or wicking beds and I must say I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm spending pretty much all of my spare daylight ours out in the backyard tinkering with my system. The wicking bed is doing okay, but nothing to write home about, but I'm quite impressed with the early indicators of the aquaponics. Plants that I thought were dead (I had to dig them out before I started building and they were out of the ground for a couple of weeks), are springing back to life. I'm finding it very rewarding and as I've decided that I'm taking a break from investing until after my wedding, it's a great hobby for me to focus on. What about you, what are your hobbies or projects that you're working on?
Favourite hobbies include reading, sleeping, playing the flute, patting the cat. And when he's in luck, the husband
Driving and cars. Love tinkering. Currently have a modern Citroen which doesn't encourage it but pop around to a mate who has a classic Porsche 928 and another with a mid 80s Ferrari Mondial convertible. Try and get away for a good weekend drive a couple of times a year. Running. Doing my second half marathon this year. Parkrun every weekend.
Me too Did my first marathon a few weeks ago. Just booked my flights to Melbourne for the Melbourne marathon in a few weeks. Congrats on getting married @spludgey.
Congrats @splurged! Your at the point end now and ready to party! Where are you getting married? Any photos you care to share of the aquaponics? Very interesting stuff! I met a guy that had an unreal garden set up on the northern beaches and took me for a walk through. He used his old septic tank for the fish and pumped the water into an old bath for the plants. It was like gardening of the future I thought! Are you part of a gardening club or just doing it yourself and learning as you go? How many and what type of fish? Hobbies wise for me is travelling, camping, 4wding. Off to Geraldton and Kalbarri next few nights I think. Last minute planning is the way to do it! And
Running, yoga, reading, sleeping and cake decorating/baking. Don't seem to get much time to do caking very much these days unless it's someone's birthday and I plan the time like a military operation.
Thanks mate. It's in the lower Blue Mountains, Bilpin way. I'm doing it all by myself, but I've done a bit of reading first and I've got a reasonably extensive background in waste water treatment, which is surprisingly similar to aquaponics. The pond that I have is around 1500L big (though it looks tiny in pictures) and the aquaponics grow bed is 2300mm by 1200mm by 300mm internally and is filled with 1.5t of 10mm blue metal. As I'm a vegetarian and lazy, I only stock small natives in the pond that don't need much care or food. I know that my nutrient levels aren't going to be as high as in some other systems, so my plant yields might be a bit lower, but since I don't have to worry about fish dying or electricity bills or the like, it's a worthwhile trade off for me. Pictures are below. Wicking bed on the right, aquaponics on the left. The seedlings are hiding underneath and will be ready to be planted in a week or two (if I can find some space for them). The garden hose is how the water is pumped to the aquaponics bed and it's siphoned through the PVC pipe once it reaches a certain level. Anti gravity cat always has to help! This is the bell siphon in it's protective housing (a bucket). The water is very murky, but I'm hoping that it will clear up soon. I'm considering chucking in a couple of egg whites to help it along. Brown hole in the ground with the solar panel which supplies the electricity to pump the water up. As you can see, growth isn't great yet, but the capsicums which I thought to be dead are making a return. Aquaponics schematic (feed pipe not shown) I actually did to a very brief search, but didn't see that one.
@spludgey nice setup! Bilpin, apple country. Nice area! The Cider will be flowing! Got some work issue p&id's and running some scada yet ? One we get sorted in keen to do similar, very sustainable. I'll be in syd soon and will see the out-laws neighbour who had an amazing yard. I'll try and get some photos. He could drop a fishing line off his deck into the tank! Made good use of a steep block
