Queenslander in Brunei growing veges & Koi

[DaveOponic]

Hi all,

I'm an Aussie expat. living in Brunei on the tropical island of Borneo. It was hard work digging soil here in the heat and my first crop of tomatoes fried in the tropical sun. I started doing Hydroponics here nearly three years ago now and made several pipe and table systems thanks to Hydro Ron's PVC designs (US web site)

The problem here was that it was so hard to find the right nutrient. So now I have hooked up the fishpond to my sewer pipe system and also made a new grow tray from a 2oo litre PVC drum cut in half.

I am doing good with basil and various leafy veges but looking for some ideas on how to improve the setup.

I am back to Sunshine Coast and Brisbane for ten days in June and would love to visit a commercial or backyard setup while I am home. I am really thinking that fish and vegetables will be my retirement business in a few years when i am home again.

This is a great site. I have already learned a lot just by looking at the pics of systems in Aust. and elsewhere. Look forward to some good chats on Aquaponics etc.


Dave Emerton

[Murray]

Hi Dave, welcome and look forward to seeing your progress.
Sounds like you are already a long way along with your aquaponics. Some photos would be good.

[DaveOponic]

Here are some photos of my setup. Luckily the house we are renting has two big concrete fishponds to hook up to. My sewer pipe system is nearly three years old and has grown lots of leafy veges and basil. My new drum garden is less than a week old and I have a few basil seedlings and a Choi Sum there in the middle.

I used a few bags of charcoal to fill the first half of the drum and topped it with clay balls. So far so good, it is draining nicely. The only problem is my sprinkler jets are spraying some fishy water over the sides of the drum.

Dave

[Hamish]

Love the look of your PVC grow bed system - could you poing me in the direction of the plans? I have googled but cant seem to find it.

[DaveOponic]

Hi Hamish,

No plans for this unit. I just looked at various photos on the web and put it all together.

For the PVC sewer pipe system I used 4 inch pipe. Cut holes every 7 inhes or so. In the holes I use foam soft drink cups and with a soldering iron melt some drain holes, then use clay balls around the seedling.

For the drum grow bed I use a 200 litre (44 gal) drum, ex detergent. Cut in half with angle grinder. Half fill with BBQ charcoal and then half clay balls.

The pump is standard EHEIM aquarium pump. I use another full drum as a biological filter and ballast. Two pumps and a timer.

The system is working well and I have my first customer who wants me to set up a system for him.


Dave

[Hamish]

Nice job! Well done!