Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

When I took my first steps in AP probably like a lot of other people I read and copied the IBC of Aquaponics.
The water falling from the grow bed oxygenates the FT.
Yes! of course it does: Then you scare everybody with the need for back up battery systems for air.
I realize that here in the UK power supplies are more reliable than in another parts of the world.
I still panicked for the six hours it took to charge the back up batteries!
What if?
Then I read that warmer water holds less oxygen.
What do I do in the summer?
Little solar panel and air pump. Sorted.
Relax. Erm NO! DWC needs air
No problem no DWC in my system.
Why are some of the people who seem to know what they are talking about running air pumps?
Everybody says Do meters are expensive. You really don’t need one. Thank you another couple of hundred pounds I saved. BUT?
Do I have too many fish?
On the safe side. Add an air pump.
Diaphragm or compressor?
How can I express this delicately?
Rubber? Diaphragm? No I think I will go with the compressor!
So I bought one. It came with 8 mtrs of 4/6mm silicone tube. Four round air stones. A bit of 10 cm tube and a four outlet manifold.
I ran one tube say 5 mtre to the main FT. One say 1 mtre to the 2nd Ft and one say 1 mtre to the 3rd FT.
Lot’s of air in the closest Ft less at distance.
OK do some more reading.
Ryan’s back porch thread.
What? Dedicated pump station. 22mm air distribution system?
Ryan was gracious enough to respond to my questions. Thank You.
Less friction losses in bigger pipes.
So he thinks this is so important he builds a dedicated air delivery system with 22mm to reduce friction losses.
Better do some more reading.
CC Bear Takes the time to gently point me in the direction of his earlier posts on his air system. Thank you.
I love the air pump suspended in a hanging basket to reduce vibration noise.
OK. This is not just an add on but serious part of AP
So What is best practice?
Main pipe delivery size?
Interface to 4/6 silicone tubes?
Air stones?
Round? Square? Ceramic?

I'm not quite sure what the question here is...

Many systems run quite happily without air pumps in their systems. But I think it comes down to stocking densities with the fish for people like Ryan. He can have more larger fish with oxygenation, and being a commercial sense, he'll want more fish.

With the DWC air pumps, I think it depends on what your DO levels are. I did a trial with and without the air pumps in a bed, and the bed without the air did better. I had a forum member come around with his fancy DO meter, and it showed that I was almost at saturation (I think from my system design with the waterfall, and other drops in the system), so the airstones didn't add much.

And with Ryan's back porch system, I think he was trialling a few things for his commercial setup, hence the decidated pump station.

And I'm being cheap and lazy with my backup system, I still don't have one. I've lived in Adelaide for 8 years now, and the longest black out I can remember was 10 minutes, and they are few and far between. Plus I don't have a high stocking density, so I have a bit of wiggle room. But it might come back and bite me in the butt one day.

Thanks Titus for a great summary of air - to add or not to bother (that is the question). Thank goodness someone else is confused about the need for supplemental aeration. I wasn't planning any as according to the IBC of Aquaponics, I didn't need to. I imagine that my 20 grow towers immediately prior to the fish tank should provide considerable oxygen so long as the pump is running. So, maybe aeration with battery backup is an insurance policy for water pump failure or power blackout? But if that is the case, is it better to get an expensive air pump with rechargeable battery backup, or set up a UPS with a cheap air pump, or rely on a Raspberry Pi &/or Arduino to start up a battery air pump in the event of a failure? And what volume of air flow is required for a 1000 litre IBC FT with ~30 trout (yes, I know it depends on the temperature...)?? My system has just cycled and I plan to pick up the fingerlings at the end of the week, hence air being at front of mind right now.

Colum, your relaxed attitude is reassuring.

Maybe some of the more experienced members can put something about air on the Oft Repeated Rules of Thumb thread viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6646&start=90

I have added an aerator/air compressor as backup in case of pump failure only, not because I need the extra oxygen. I have two standalone simple IBC systems with one 60lpm aerator running 3 stones to each system. I've had it successfully tested once when a piece of string got in to my pump and made it stop.

The aerator runs constantly because I couldn't be bothered trying to work out how to set up a pump failure switchover thing, but I do have a UPS hooked up to keep the pumps (water and air) going in case of a power outage.

joc, what I read was aim for the same volume air turnover per hour as system volume as minimum, the same as choosing a water pump.

..
I built my system and had it running, prior to. Consulting forumns... it's significantly - common sense..

As stated many times, I have an air pump in the garage and use a Garden hose to run to the system...

DO.... Interesting to know but do you have to know.. why not just play safe and have lots of air..
I have air stones in every water body, working on the principle that even if the pump stops, every water body will remain oxygenated ..
In this way I don't ever have to worrie about local temperature and oxygen de-saturation..