Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey folks,

I have a standard 1000L tank as supplied by BYAP, would like to add an additional 1000L unit into the sytem and also have them next to each other at the same height, how does one go about plumbing this up. I know about the fingerling style tank where it drains into the smaller one and then feeds back into the higher elevated tank but Im after dual even heights and tanks

Any comments will be greatly appreciated, pictures will earn you extra points

Thanks

I like to use tank boss.


Female thread one side male the other. Can hook just about anything to them.

Sized from too small to stick anything through to 2" ish. You can even pick up the plastic pipe threaded to connect 2 tanks. The one I have has a bottom feed overflow using a T joint and a length of pipe to the bottom.

2 x 50mm valve sockets with a piece of 50mm pipe to join together, screw fittings into tank then set tanks where you want and put a piece of pipe in between the sockets. Slaz the joint not PVC glue as it amalgamates.

Cool, so pump out of one and return into the other and the overflow refills the pumping tank, is that correct

Lost on the bottom feed overflow and t joint, sorry

The BYAP tanks have got a drain plug at the bottom. Check out Nocky's 6000L thread. Although he did not use BYAP tanks, he used similar tanks and connected the drains together. According to what I read, the benefit is that it creates bottom flow. For example, pump from Tank A to GB, GB back to the top of Tank B, Tank B "overflows" via bottom drain to Tank A. Best located so that bottom flow pushes "shit" in Tank A towards the pump to get sucked to the GB.

The newer BYAP tanks no longer have a bung hole... due to quality control issues, and the occasional small leaks that occurred...

But the flat block section is still moulded in place... and might actually make connecting tanks easier and better...

Yeh I just had a look at my tank and it has no bung.

My Situation is this, Ive started building a nice area that is all screened and shaded and is solely for the fish, my kids are right into this now especially since we have the fish but becuase the tank is under the main grow bed and we have screening over the top becuase we have annoying wild ducks that visit our pool reguarly, that they cannot see the fish, so hence the incorporation of a nice screened area "like a greenhouse / shadehouse" this new screened area has an external size of 3.6M by 2.1M, my choice is since Im now incorporating my existing hydropnics plants in as well, is to purchase a single rectangular 2000L tank from BYAP or get an additional 1000L tank and sit them side by side in the partitioned area, my thoughts are the two 1000L tanks would be better becuase then I can have my silver perch in tank 1 and have the other tank for seasonal fish. Is this a correct assumption

Thanks

+1 for connecting together at the bottom. Use the biggest size pipe possible to connect them together. If you don't want the fish crossing between the tanks, be ready to put grills over the openings into the tanks.

Having the pipe connecting them at the bottom will give you more equal height of water in the tanks. Remember that you can only pump our or drain into the tanks as fast as the pipe between the two can equalize them, best to keep fish and critters out of that pipe or they will slow the flow.

There is one drawback to plumbing them at the bottom, if there is a problem with the fittings or plumbing between the two tanks, then you have two tanks with holes in the bottom. Use high quality fittings and install carefully. Perhaps a Union fitting or even a double union ball valve between the two tanks might be worth the extra cost so if one tank has a problem, you can close the ball valve and fix the problem without having to drain both tanks. However a Double union ball valve costs quite a bit in the size you need for such a use.

The ball valve is a good idea, then as you say if one tank is playing up , you can close the ball valve on both tanks disconnect the joint between them and fix the problem with that one tank without stressing over the other one and keeping your system still up and running, built in redundicies I think they call that

Keep everything seperate if you can.

Run two seperate systems from two tanks - it's the best way to go if you have the room.
Seperate growbeds, seperate pumps etc. Even a seperate power supply if possible.

1/2 my pumps run from one shed circuit, the other couple run from the other shed circuit.

Unfortunately, all my pumps run from the one shed....so a full shed circuit failure would be bad, been ok for two years so far though, fingers crossed.

Okay, you have a very valid point outback

So my new theory process is as follows, please feel free to point out any short fallings,

I still want to join the two tanks together, however I will put the joiner about middle way up so if I have a plumbing failure it will drop down no further than the join on both tanks, I will also purchase a second pump and set it up in the second tank, I will plumb both pumps to the same line and have them osciallate between runs, so first pump from tank 1 does 15min first hour second pump tank 2 does the second hour and then pump 1 third hour and so forth, this protects me in a way in case of a pump failure as well, may however have to get some one way valves or something to stop them pumping into each others tank, set the return drain to either tank and both will refill and redstribute the return water via the join.

Thoughts

sounds like it would be easier to just run 2 systems as OBO says

Where's the water going if it drains half the tank? If you drain from near the top you don't have to worry about half the water ending up running into the house. The 2 system idea is also good.

If you're not going to run two separate systems then I would suggest not cutting holes near the bottom of tanks; holes closer to the top have less pressure on them and hence less susceptibility to leakage and can be more easily repaired later if you want to separate the tanks than can holes towards the bottom of a tank.

I would further recommend you investigate some sort of modified CHIFT PIST thinking where one tank (primary) has the constant height and employs a SLO to drain into the other tank (secondary) containing the single pump for the system. This will be cheaper to run and in the event of a plumbing failure, instead of both tanks losing 500L each (if you have the connector in the middle of each tank) you will only lose a small fraction of this amount. You might even be able to save cutting holes in the secondary tank if you are able to raise the primary tank slightly or lower the secondary tank a little, just enough to get the top below the SLO outfall.


HTH or gives some more ideas.


Scott