Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys


I can get one IBC plus two ready cut halves, I am maybe thinking of cutting the IBC to make a third grow bed, this would make approx 800ltrs max for the tank, I think I might need a sump for two grow beds and areation for the tank depending on fish stocks, and for sure if I can fit 3.

I'm going the flood and drain system.


Apologies if this has been asked and answered before.. just point me in the right direction

If space is an issue, you could run the system constant flood and not need a sump?

What sort of fish will you be getting? If it's Silver Perch they don't need anywhere near as much air as Rainbow Trout, and the aeration from the water returning from the grow beds into the tank should be sufficient. That will save you some power costs too. However a backup aeration system would be well worth it for when the power cuts out.

Exactly half? 500L? Or, cut as a 300L GB?


If you're going to have two 500L GB, I'd keep the new IBC whole (may have to be partially buried?) or you could use the three GBs and use a combined F&D/CF regime which may alleviate the need for a ST.

If you've got the space, you can get a really nice system with a 1000L IBC FT, 3 x 300L GB and a 700L ST, requires just over four metres footprint and can be sited on level ground. (These values can be optimised more to ensure you use the IBCs efficiently)

Hey thanks for the replies, the space i have reserved is 8m x 2.5m.

The cut ibc are 300mm deep, I saw a pic of a nice 3 GB single ibc FT and sump today on the forum, i would love to head that way!

Thinking of keeping Silvers for my first go until I get the hang of things

My IBC system consists of one 1000lt FT, x3 300lt grow beds, x2 600lt sumps(one stocked with fish, flows to buried sump)

Plans to expand to X2 1000lt FTs, one day.

you can have heaps of grow beds with 1 IBC tank.
6-7 growbeds will fit in 8m space.

So 6-7 beds will still get enough nutritients? (provided they are plumbed up correctly of course) i just thought there wouldn't be enough to go around

With 6 x 300L GB you'll need a sump of about 6 x 300 x 0.4 = 720L plus enough water for a submersible pump to remain submerged, plus enough to allow for some evaporation and transpiration losses, so let's just call it 1000L for now.

With 1800L of media (probably only 6 x 250L = 1500L of wet media) and using a stock density of 1 fish per 25L of wet media, you'd could keep about 60 fish. I'd probably not try to cram 60 fish into a single IBC, but even starting with a relatively conservative 30 fish, there'd still be enough "nutrition" for the plants. BYAP did some trials some time ago and proved that good plant growth can be attained using a minimal amount of fish.

Awesome thanks! I'll go with what the budget allows and expand over time

Hello all

This is Moh from Dubai.

I have a question please.

We have a greenhouse in our farm which is 9X34 meters. and would like to use half of it for aquaponic use, therefore, i'll be buying some IBC tanks and will be placing them in the (half of the green house).
Now the questions here is, how many full IBC tanks full with fish shall i need? notice that i'll be having submersible pump installed in one of these "water+fish thanks" to use it as a supply pump for all grow beds that i'll be having.

Here is a copy of the green house we have, kindly take a look at it.

https://imgur.com/a/cYmi7Pb

The questions here, how many fish tanks shall i have? and how many fish shall i have in each of these tanks? Notice i'll be having Tilapia fish.
Regards,
Moh

Hi Urrazeb,

my system 2 build is pretty much what you seem to be trying to plan.

My thread includes under ground 40 mm pipe for an IBC that's about 12 m away. Due to the occasional blockages I fitted a flush out assembly. Mel warned me of such issues but at least I have a way of dealing with it.
The moral of this tale is if it's inaccessible it will stuff up there, so make sure you can deal with all parts of your new system.

Hi alhameli99

you have posted into an old thread that isn't quite specific to your question.
Recommend you start a new post with your question - that should ensure more specific responses and the thread can develop with lots of ideas.
(I guess you have to wait a few days as a new user - maybe Mod's can help with that)

There are various questions that you need to answer to define the ideal settings for your setup.

I'm running an IBC system - about 600l tank with 200l growbed filled with leca. The person I took the system over from put 35 small tilapia in the system, so I realise I am way over stocked and will need to remove some fish.

I figure one way to increase filtration would be to add a filter with some bioballs. My question is how many bioballs would be the equivalent of 25l of wet media (since I'm working on 25l of wet media per 500g fish)?

Kaldness K1 or K2 might be another option if you haven't already bought the bioballs, depends on how you're going to use it.

Take a look at the surface area and compare to rock to get an estimate on how they compare for filtration. You can find a discussion that might be helpful here but the bioball info will have to come from elsewhere - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKGiXoJMLbo.

Thanks for this. Any idea where I can find the SSA for leca?

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