Imy's brand new system (1st try)

[imy]

Hi all,
Well, this is my first post and what better way to start than by showing some pics of my little system (still in construction)

I did some work on it with my other half today so I'm a little excited by the progress.

The hot house is the top off a quaker style shed. Duratough plastic and aluminium windows and door.

One end (as you can probably see) is for a traditional veggie patch but the sides of the frame will be plastic and the top and front will have bird mesh (darned bower birds can clean up a veggie patch in 3 hours)

The grow beds are 1.5m poly long troughs for agricultural use. The fish tank is a 1.7m poly trough, sunk into the ground and there is also a 120l poly barrel tank for yabbies (not in the pics yet) We sank the tank and set the yabbie barrel today so all that is needed is some plumbing, gravel, yabbies, plants, fish and....JUST ADD WATER! :p

I got 14 varieties of tomato seeds off eBay so I'm planning to grow only those this summer, with a couple of lettuce yachts floating on the fish tank.

[Hamish]

Nice work! Looks great! Look forward to more pics. With regard to floating rafts for lettuce on the fish tank make sure you ues mesh or something to exclude the fish from the roots or they will eat the roots as fast as they grow.

[GaryD]

Hi imy,

Welcome.....and there is no better way to start than by showing us pictures.

I'd love to know more about your greenhouse.....did you buy it like that or did you wreck an existing shed?

A word of caution about those corrugated stock troughs.....don't fill them with gravel or you'll be picking them up off the floor. Most plastic won't cop the weight of gravel. You may have better luck using clay pebbles or you set them up as floating raft tanks.

GaryD

[imy]

Hi!

Yep, we wrecked a shed! LOL
Nah, not really, we bought a quaker style shed hoping to put it up as a garage but it was just too tall and looked stupid next to my A-frame house (different but similar shapes clashed :o )
Anyway, my partner cut the top of one day! The bottom part of the shed will still go up as a carport eventually but the hothouse and veggie patch were a priority!

Dang! I was hoping to use gravel for grow media. I thought my troughs would withstand the weight since we're doing a CF system and not flood and drain. The gravel I hope to use isn't too weighty... for gravel. ;) I looked into clay but it was $250 to just fill those beds and thats without freight. OUCH.

I'm also thinking I might just have an exclusive yabbie system... anyone had experience with that? We were thinking about fish and umming and ahhing about which species to buy. Our fish tank is in dappled shade and partially dug into the ground. I'm just googling yabbie breeding now.

[djs-sa]

those poly grow beds will be fine if u make a supporting frame to stop them bowing out but without support u will have touble

[imy]

those poly grow beds will be fine if u make a supporting frame to stop them bowing out but without support u will have touble

Yep, we made a frame for support today. We discovered when we got the fittings that we needed to alter the height of the tables.

I just did my first 'wet run'. Thankfully no more leaks but OMG :eek: I think my pump is too powerful. The water comes blasting out. Maybe it won't be a huge problem if I bury the tubes?

[Hamish]

Divert the excess flow back into the tank and use it to airate the water with a venturi. Murray sells the powerstream - cheap and works well.

[imy]

Cool... might do that. I have a spare venturi off my marine fish tank indoors.

I bought a pump with a 4m head height thinking that the manufacturers had exaggerated its performance (they usually do)

Not this time!

[Hamish]

Its good to have more flow to use. allows more room to expand and add more grow beds and airation for more fish :D

[imy]

Its good to have more flow to use. allows more room to expand and add more grow beds and airation for more fish :D

Might have to add more beds ;) :D

[Jonty]

Hi Imy,

Great to see you are underway. Like all of us you will have frustrating days but the end results are worth it. From little steps great strides are made.

Regards
Jonty

[imy]

I hope so!

Onto my next question! LOL I am thinking of stocking the fish tank with only yabbies (did I tell everyone that?) anyway, I was hoping to get marron but of course they are banned in VIC... so I'm just thinking about the destructo-yabbies now.

I've searched and googled but people don't seem to have much success in a small enclosure (my tank is 800l + a seperate 120l drum) here are my ideas:

~Just keep girl yabbies in the big tank with millions of PVC hides and hope for the best, introducing males for breeding (they will be kept seperated in the drum... maybe 2 of them at most?)
~Keep both males and females in isolated plastic cages in the big and small tank and also have outside of cage hides for small baby yabbies. House males and females together for only short breeding times.

If anyone has any ideas or expreience in keeping these pinchy little guys, please feel free to pipe up! :)

[Hamish]

I posted a link to some special yabby cages a while back called EDU's - a quick forum search should bring up the thread...

[alexmac]

Hi Imy,
We have over a 100 yabbies in a 1000 lt tank no problems. Keep the feed up to them and provide good accommodation for them. If you care to go to our thread (Alexmac author) you may pick up some pointers.
Good luck.
Alex

[imy]

Thanks Hamish... I found those little pods but they seem a little cruel and I'd assume that feeding time would be very difficult.
I'm looking at larger containers.

Alex- Your tank looks just like mine...but with heaps of yabbies! Good to see you've managed to keep that many happy for so long. I suppose I should have a go at it and cut my losses if they decide to eat each other. Is the duckweed essential for your yabbie system or is it something that just appears?

[alexmac]

Hi Imy,
The yabbie tank is our sump and grows duck weed to feed the fish, we put it there.
If anyone wants some duckweed and are willing to pay the postage let me know (via my thread).
They seem to move around more when they have the duckweed cover. We have a plastic lid about a foot across on which we place chook pellets. When the lid has been cleaned up put some more on it. Also have some old hay on the bottom just strands not big bunches for the algae to grow on which they eat.
It is a cement tank so a lot of algae grows on the side of the tank.
They love sweet corn cobs, with corn on of course, break up into two inch long bits and just drop them into the tank. They ride them around the tank like cowboys. Dry cobs last longer
Alex

[Hamish]

I kept a few red claw as pets a couple of years back and they loved raw carrot.

[imy]

Hamish- I've read they like all kinds of veggies, carrot included!

We now have gravel all washed and in the beds. The pump isn't running yet because we had to add a t-piece and tap just off the pump to divert some of the flow back to the tank, the pressure was scary, even with the new tap open fully, its still scary pressure but should be okay if I bury the pipes in the beds. Its not all going yet because I have to add more pipe to the diverting t-piece to put it under the surface because its blasting at the water surface and making a noise which is loud enough to disturb the neighbours!

I'm wondering about getting a timer to put on the pump which will stop the pump at night. I've read that some do this but its usually with flood and drain and mine is CF. Would it be possible?

[Hamish]

Hamish- I've read they like all kinds of veggies, carrot included!

We now have gravel all washed and in the beds. The pump isn't running yet because we had to add a t-piece and tap just off the pump to divert some of the flow back to the tank, the pressure was scary, even with the new tap open fully, its still scary pressure but should be okay if I bury the pipes in the beds. Its not all going yet because I have to add more pipe to the diverting t-piece to put it under the surface because its blasting at the water surface and making a noise which is loud enough to disturb the neighbours!

I'm wondering about getting a timer to put on the pump which will stop the pump at night. I've read that some do this but its usually with flood and drain and mine is CF. Would it be possible?
I have the same issue with neighbour nois issues - I run my system 7am to 7pm on a timer. The gravel will not dry out overnight so wont be a problem. I do have a canister filter that runs 24/7 to keep water flowing and also have an airpump running 24/4 - both make very little noise. Also running during the day keeps heat in the system over winter.

[imy]

Should have some yabbies very soon! :D I've been enquiring with a supplier... sooo happy!

[imy]

Just ordered 40yabbies!!! They should be here on Friday next weeek (all going well)

I'm a bit worried about the long journey they will be taking but I'm assured they will be okay :confused:

[djs-sa]

how far do ur yabbies need to travel to get to u?

[imy]

how far do ur yabbies need to travel to get to u?

3-4 days! Scary thought but I'm assured they will be okay (barring maybe a few casualties):o

[GaryD]

Hi Imy,

Here's another idea that I've exploited in the past.

Find a couple of kids who live near a watercourse not to far from where you live. Let them know that you are willing to pay for live yabbies. If the price is right (let them nominate it), they'll return soon after with a bucket full of yabbies of all different sizes.

My experience tells me that the little shysters will put the small ones on the bottom but you'll still have yabbies running out of your ears.

Gary

[imy]

Thanks Gary but I tried that! :cool: (I'm a teacher so the kids have been kept up to speed on the development of the system and how it all works... or at least, how its supposed to work in the end LOL!)

The problem down here is that the drought has knocked the yabby population around a bit. I even have an uncle nearby with a dam he has stocked but the low water levels have made things tricky for the little critters and we're leaving them to breed up since he's gone to the trouble of buying stock in.

Just bad timing (Isn't it always the way?) :o