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Cool!!! Can you post pics of your set-up?

There is a fellow here in town (a high school teacher has it in the kitchen lab at school) who has as system set up with his talapia. No gravel, and a pump on gravity feed that feeds an aquaponics system that grows helpbs and tomatoes for the kitchen. The poop fertilizes the tomatoes, and the...

I would also suggest that it depends whether it is painted or it is plain galvanized. I would worry a little about aluminium. If you have a 'first flush' system I would be very surprised if there was an issue. The stuff that is sitting on the roof for ages will be taken off in the first 1-cm...

We used water collected from the metal roof of a 10x10' building most of last summer. I think it tasted much better than our chlorinated city water! It was great to not have to haul water any great distance for fermenting feed, or watering chickens, or bathing in.

Dare I suggest that perhaps there may be quite a bit of water flow coming off your roof? Calculate the surface area and multiply by the depth of water you get per year (3-11 inches?) You will find that is a LOT MORE than you probably thought! I was surprised when I did the calculation for my...

NewFoundLand - Would you consider your climate to be mediteranian? I will be moving to coastal British Columbia (Canada), and the climate there is WAY WETTER than I am used to. Here we have a dry-ish winter and rain through the summer periodically (total about 450ml precip per year). Where I'm...

Another idea for those not avers to compost and keen on saving water is the 'humanure toilet'. Basically it's a bucket that you excrete into, and cover with organic matter (fresh sawdust is best). Put sawdust in the bottom of the bucket, and a toilet seat on top. Every time you make a deposit...

Deb - have you tried just getting a long board and putting on the bottom of the tank on one end, and over the side on the other diagonal like? That way no matter at what level the water is at, there's always a ramp for critters to climb out. We use this for amphibian traps so that if a mouse or...

Deb, The more organic matter you add to the soil, the more your soil will hold water. You could theoretically use gravel for your water to percolate through, but the nice thing about the wood chips is that 1) they will hold water better than the gravel and therefore keep the soil moist for...

Cool - I will need to find some of that Basic H soap.. I wonder if it comes in another name in Canada?

There is actually a very efficient process that can be dug up on the internet somewhere... it is legally used in Australia commonly for purifying water (I think it's a Biofilter). You can supposedly use it for blackwater, and drink out of the other end... The basic system works something like...

There is a gadget you can buy (or make) that is called a "first flush" system. Effectively what it does is it takes the first bunch of water from a rain storm and diverts it, then after that (presumably after your roof is clean) it is directed toward the tank. Most people use a cheap 250gallon...