bushboy's "air hockey table" system

[bushboy]

I've been busy...:D - currently working on a much larger system after finding I have little to do now that my first system in humming along

Using 3 work station metal frames I have been making to 2 more fish tanks - 1 about 750l and the second 2,000l.
The construction has been to screw 12mm ply to the frames , fibreglass the corners/edges and then all the surfaces to make it waterproof.

Metal frames - free
(another neighbour didn't want them awhile ago so using the principle
expressed elsewhere of "if it's free pick it up" I claimed them not realising what I could use them for at the time)
Plywood costs etc about $300 so far

For the grow beds I can't believe my luck - over the road is a bush block that a car repairer
had stored lots of really good junk - I had spotted 5 interesting looking trays that on closer inspection were fibreglass trays
about 400mm deep x 2.5m long and 1.6m wide. I rang the owner up and he gave me the ok to recover them for no cost!!
He reported that he had made them 15 years ago and that were to have been air hockey tables but there were never collected
and never paid for -he even remembered that they had cost him about $1500 each back then to make.
3 of them are usable as is and the other 2 have some cut outs that I will need to fibreglass over (but nothing too serious)
They are a little wide but I don't really care and I can run the distribution pipe down the middle anyway


Pictures tomorrow - I wanted to get some today but other things got in the way

I will use 2 trays for the 2000 l system and another for the smaller tank
and it still leaves 2 more for future expansion - my wife commented today about how much food do we really need to grow
but I have sweetened her up by saying she could always grow flowers in them!

[Hamish]

Wow - what a find! Now that is good scavenging! Fishfood might finaly have met his match (although I think you have a bit of catching up to do BushBoy!).

Looking forwad to the pics :D

[bushboy]

here's the pics - system roughed in where it will be setup
beside my other one. Obviously lots more work to be done!

#1 the 2000l tank under construction
#2 the grow beds - ex air hockey tables - 3 more left!!
#3 the 750l tank nearly finished
#4 did this escape from my fish tank?

[Hamish]

Did you get the legs with them? THey look fantastic - will be interesting to see if they are strong enought to hold the weight when full. Do you think you might have to reinforce them by fiberglassing on some ribs of plywood underneath to stop them sagging in the middle?

[bushboy]

I haven't really considered the legs as being structural- yes they did come with the top trays.
What I will do is concrete blocks and sleepers like my other system - although . ...
I spotted some galv pipe that the council seems to have abandoned on a power line easement
after they changed a fencing system....it has been there for at least 6 months now and it really needs a new home ....

[Hamish]

How about mxing up some concrete and pouring it into those legs? If you paint the inside of the legs with old engine oil you could even pop out a few more concrete molded legs to use along the length of the table. Suspend a length of scrap steel in in the mould while the concrete sets for reinforcement to stop cracking once removed from the mould.

[bushboy]

good ideas Hamish - this had occurred to me as well but I need to have them at a certain height
cf the fish tank and they will be too low ( I think)
- I don't need to decide on legs for them for a few more days anyway

[gtpratt]

How about mxing up some concrete and pouring it into those legs? If you paint the inside of the legs with old engine oil you could even pop out a few more concrete molded legs to use along the length of the table. Suspend a length of scrap steel in in the mould while the concrete sets for reinforcement to stop cracking once removed from the mould.


Hi there,

just be a little careful pouring concrete into those fibrglass legs, even with sump oil I think you will find it may be difficult to get the concrete out.

It is not difficult to make a two part form for making legs exactly the size you desire.

Bit of ply and some bracing plastic line it or paint the inside (smooth is the order of the day).

Regards.

Gra.

[GaryD]

Hi,

Fibreglass tanks of that size will need good support and I doubt that four legs (as required for the air hockey table) will be sufficient. I'd scrap the leg idea in favour of cement blocks and treated pine sleepers.

You'll find a good description of this support arrangement in the May issue of the Practical Aquaponics newsletter.

Gary

[bushboy]

a red letter day for me - my second system is completed and 200 jade perch fingerlings on order

The tank is about 2000l and the grow beds x 2 1500l each
I have used drainage gravel and the pH on initial testing was > 7.8
-after 200ml pool acid it has dropped right back to neutral

photos

#1 a prolific tomato crop in my first system
#2 omg - I hope dipel works for these beasties
#3 view of tank largely inground
#4 view of grow beds - I did use the feet I got with them
I cut out the bases and poured a concrete footing through them
and then used hardwood sleepers

The tank was an interesting exercise - never having done fibreglass
it was fairly ambitious and the tank is lined in and out with fibreglass mat and flowcoat.
However it leaked ! - not much but enough to piss me right off!
I know I could have eventually conquered it but instead went and bought a pond liner from Aquatic Oasis .

Thanks for more equipment Murray -viz aerator and bilge pump

At the present I am using my existing timer - the new growbeds fill
over 2 cycles of my existing system but another timer is needed
for redundancy reasons

[Hamish]

Nice setup - well done!

[DaveOponic]

That's a neat looking system BB. I'm always amazed to see the Aussie AP systems out in the open. Here in Brunei my AP systems need to be undercover to protect veges and fish from torrential all day downpours on a daily basis and strong sunlight that fries vegetables and turns growbed gravel into volcano BBQ rocks!!!!

Hence my systems are under the eaves, protected from rain and too much direct tropical sun.

[bushboy]

Thanks for the positve feedback. Regarding being open I think I might be
putting some netting over as my salad type vegies are being decimated by bugs and do wilt in the heat of the day now that summer is here.

I ripped out quite of bit of stuff today from my first system as it was too sad to save and gave it to the chooks.
I will replant with strawberries and even contemplating some non food plants to suck up the nitrate - any suggestions??

There has been a bit of a saga with my third system - I dug the hole fir the fish tank about 1 week ago - it filled up with rain of course -
I set the tank in first time - didn't fill it with water - it rained again and the tank floated !!
Emptied the hole reset the tank partly filled with water- it rained again and you guessed it -the tank floated again.
So today, re-emptied the hole, reset the tank and FILLED it with water this time. Third time lucky -
mind you I seem to average doing things three times before I am satisfied!
It is so much fun bailing out water from holes in the ground (not)