A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

In-Ground started today

Just got the excavation done for my in-ground this afternoon. 14'W*20'L, 5' front wall sloping up to a 12' north facing back wall. Sun elevation in the winter here (51.40N) is pretty low so I wanted to take advantage of the natural slope of the property to capture everything available. I am a redneck engineer (Canuck style) and a great believer in making stuff myself as I usually cannot afford most retail products. I'm usually known as a, "it may not be pretty but it works" type of person. Any how, I will post pics as they come. Nice to see a cold weather forum here.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Phil Slaton on May 12, 2014 at 5:38pm

Tell us about the tanks that you are going to use. Also tell us where you live in the great white north.

Permalink Reply by Ian Cameron on May 12, 2014 at 9:22pm

I plan to use 4 Tuff Stuff 140gal tanks for the fish and a 700gal poly for the sump. I live just north of Barriere, BC, next to the North Thompson River.

Permalink Reply by Phil Slaton on May 13, 2014 at 12:41am

thanks

Permalink Reply by Jeremiah Robinson on May 13, 2014 at 11:08am

Hey Ian,

Your system looks epic! I'm very excited to see more pictures.

In BC, if you use un-insulated tanks like the ones you're suggesting, you'll need a lot of heat. It's also not clear to me from (after a bit of reading) whether they're food safe.

You can make well-insulated food-safe tanks that are about the same size out of freezers. They'll be cheaper too.

There are also ways you can avoid a sump tank. If you use an Indexing Valve and separate your grow beds, you can avoid needing one. You would need a beefy pump though.

Permalink Reply by Phil Slaton on May 31, 2014 at 1:27pm

Photo of your tanks in the ground yet?

Permalink Reply by Ian Cameron on June 6, 2014 at 11:32am

Reply by Phil Slaton on Saturday Photo of your tanks in the ground yet?

No. tanks are not in yet. Its been raining pretty steadily for the last week, and because this is cut into clay you can imagine the difficulties of getting things done. I am just finishing the front and one side retaining wall with 4"*6" timbers, and tamping the back fill (by hand). Should be looking to do the tank holes by Monday (hopefully).

Reply by Jeremiah Robinson on May 13, 2014 at 11:08am

I plan on using the sump as an extra unit of mass. My pumps and distribution setup are already in place n my above ground system. It works well, and I really don't want to change anything. The old maxim "If it ain't broke don't fix it." applies to me.