Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I will be adding a little at a time so please be patient with me.

My system will be almost entirely IBCs as I have an unlimited supply of them. I am using a 3/4hp pool pump, large sand filter and a sump. The aggregate I have chosen is a 1:1 mix of 57 gravel and small river gravel. My neighbor is beginning to wonder why I am accumulating so many containers. I can't wait for one of our fenceline chats, I forget who said it on here but they are absolutely right, you can't wait to tell people about AP!

Anyway back on track the system. I am relocating my rescue dogs, they are loosing their big comfortable barn to make room for my fish tanks. This will keep the them from being exposed to direct sunlight and predators. The GBs will be in rows of four with the outer beds being higher tban the inner beds each outer bed will drain to tbe inner bed then to the sump. This will alow me to set up to 16 GBs till I have to start digging again. The large pool sand filter will be filled halfway with sand then filled to the brim with (based on some math) about 2000 Bioballs. I purchased one scoop, or half a yard (382.27 liters) of mix to see how much it would take. If I follow the majority of these IBC GBs that I see I am good. It puts media right at the first rung, I am thinking deeper for tomatoes and other large fruit. Please chime in! With my current mix I am going to be spending $25.00 per GB. Not bad but it will add up with 8 beds planned to start.
What size pipe should I reduce to for the beds? The pump and filter are 1.5in and it is shooting a solid stream 6ft! I was thinking 1in perimeter ring shooting into the aggregate. Any other suggestions? As I mentioned above, I want to fill the filter half way up with sand, as it is designed. However I think that instead of running a giant sand filter it would be a better use of space to pack the filter with bioBalls. Again y'all chime in.

My sump is going to be a fairly new IBC burried beside the barn catching the overflow from the FTs. Then I need some type of on off switch to turn the pump on when it's almost full and off when low. PLEASE HELP.

Fish tanks, once again IBCs but cut down one rung and filled to about 150-175 gallons. I have some material to make covers.

Fish, this awesome!!!!! I spoke with THE area pond manager who retired from the extension service and he is going to shock me up mature fish, sell me fingerlings, and he has ready to breed fish. All fed fish that will take to floating food. I am going to grow Red Ear, also called shell crackers, not anything sp[color[/color]ecial but they are my favorite fish and they are very hardy. Did I mention delicious? Mmmmmmm I'm already drooling over fish a year out! I have read a lot about breeding them, and I think I could manage but, I'm doing most of this at night by headlight... I just remembered I have a lightpole between my barns! New project Saturday. Anyway fish are cheap. I would like to raise threadfin shad oneday, feed my pond and raise a few large mouth bass. By them a bucket at a type a raise them up? Who knows?

I'm sure I forgot something, please throw in your opinions, experience, and expert advice! As a novice to AP I need every bit of help I can get. GOD BLESS!

Full yard container for a big plant.


I bring one home 5 days a week.


Pumping a lot of water fast!

Good to see a fellow Georgia Boy on the forum!! Sounds like an interesting system you are building. I am planning an expansion this winter and hope to have the full blown green house going by next spring. Look forward to seeing your progress.

One night at a time. I had to look your town up in google maps papaz, I used to stop in Hinesville three times a week. That is challenging, sandy soil down there.

I have done the math at it will be cheaper to pay a couple day labors to hand dig my sump hole and lines then go get my excavator from my dad's house with fuel prices the way they are.

I can definitely relate to the fuel prices, i've got to finish repairing my Bulldozer to clear the area that i'm going to put my greenhouse in. It needs some hydraulic work at at almost $90.00 per 5 gallon jug of hydraulic fluid, it is definitely hurting the budget. If you have trouble locating fish, give Owen and Williams in Hawkinsville a call. They are one of the largest hatcheries in the state and have great quality fish. Good luck, my oldest son plays a lot of Baseball around the Atlanta area so maybe we can run into each other one day and talk a little Aquaponics.

Welcome (jwg)^2 [you need a simpler nick] and papaz [like that]!!!
Glad to have a few more GA folk contributing.

If either of you have a chance there is an AP workshop at Ft Valley St college next Tuesday.
Here is the body of the email plus contact info. It is only $5. They have an active AP setup an are very free with their advice, information and fish!!!
I tried to attach the powerpoint flyer but it didnt work. pm me if you want me to email it to you.
Once again...Welcome!!

Brian

Greetings,

I am sending another reminder of the workshop next week on September 11 at FVSU. This workshop will feature cage culture plus we will also end with a tour of the recirculating aquaculture systems and aquaponics. Dr. Gary Burtle will talk about recreational pond management. The flyer with the program is attached.

In addition to the usual aquaculture information and tour of the greenhouse, Ms. Naomi Davis of Digging Roots Educational Farms will be presenting information on marketing and Food Hubs.

Hope to see you.

Regards,

Pat Duncan
Director, Georgia Center for Aquaculture Development
Fort Valley State University
P.O. Box 4061
Fort Valley, GA 31030
duncanp@fvsu.edu
478-283-2012

Welcome! I love big plans, mostly because I do not have the space for too large a system! The only question I have is why the sand filter? Gravel growbeds are effective with Far less maintence. Plus you get to grow stuff in it.

Hope this helps...
If you still need it pm me your email addy...

Brian

It will help clarify the water in the system but more importantly it is a great big dark home for a crap ton of bioballs. I have also considered filling a blue barrel in my barn... err fish house with gravel in my pressure line to act as a large dark home for bacteria. I wish I had the patience to figure out google sketch, but all I have is my drafting sheets and I don't have a scanner that big. I way over engineer things! My chicken coop survived the last tornado needing only a new roof, didn't loose a bird. By the way I havent found and supporting evidences that fish need any light to grow only if you plan on breeding. I want to keep the alge to a minimum but a couple windows in the barn might be nice. Sorry for the lack of pictures as things are happening photos by headlight stink and I'm to tired to dig the 4 foot post hole for my street lamp. I did run a wire for it though, and I got a nice stainless steel sink for the barn from a dumpster behind the hospital remodel it is brand freaking new! Anyway sister's engagement party is tomorrow so this weekend is a wash but atleast we get to shoot skeet all day, and BBQ!

Anyone know someone raising threadfin shad or red ear (shellcrackers)?

Sounds cool but can't miss work for the siminar.

Thanks for posting the flyer. I won't be attending either, but it is good to see AP catching on so well in this area.

The water gets clarified by gravel grow beds. By adding a sand filter, you are adding additional maintence without added gains. You get the joy of removing fish crap and finding something to do with it, where as a gravel growbed puts the crap to good use without any work on your part. In strait aquaculture and aquaria, the bio balls make up for the fact that those systems are inherently unbalanced. Where as in AP, it is all about balance. Gravel does what bio balls do, while also acting as grow media. I won't go into sand too much, but most people say stay away from it here do to anaerobic zones. I have never used a sand filter, so I don't know if it does cause it, but I also don't wanna clean one out either. I'm not dogging your plans, but I am suggesting simplifying by ommiting the sand fitlter and bio balls, and let your gravel do the job better.

Btw Sketchup is not too difficult to learn. The tutorials walk you through quickly, and most of the common things used in AP are already modeled and ready to download in the 3d warehouse. I had the rendering that is in the beginning of my thread done the same day I downloaded Sketchup.

The sand filter in my system serves a variety of purposes. Clarifying my water, filtering out solid waste, and the valve on the filter kicks butt! As to your cleaning comment, pool filters have a 'waste' setting which pumps the garbage out of the filter. What to do with it? I ran a 1.5 in pipe to my garden tank and am feeding my dirt plants with it. During the winter I will just dump onto my compost bed.

What most people fing gross a dirty I usually see as compost. I keep all guts, heads and bodies from my fishing expeditions all year in sealed 5 gallon buckets till the next year then pour in the bottom of the holes I dig for my tomatoes. The reclamation of the fish waste is a huge plus for me. I have decided, however, to ditch the bioballs due to cost. I was going to need about 3200 based on filling the filter with water then emptying it into buckets, followed by some math. I have refilled it with play sand to the proper level and placed it inline with the pump.

To the anaerobic concern, I bought back a few air compressor pumps from the scrap yard for $20. After a little WD-40, hammer motivation, and a few sheets of 22ga.copper sheets cut to size, smeared with a thin layer of red RTV to replace a two leaking cylinder gaskets I have two working pumps. Over the last couple years I have been collecting 1/2hp to 2hp electric motors and two of theses have been mated up to the pumps so I have a primary and back up. The primary pumps 9.8 cfm into a 120 gallon propane tank for 15 minutes then the pressure bleeds off into the FTs via two sticks of 1/2in pvc air curtains I saw someone else on here make. The pump cycles on once an hour and takes about 10 minutes to bleed off after the pump turns off, so 25 minutes of super aeration per hour. My back up is only 5.4 cfm with the pulley I have on it but hopefully I won't need it until I can find a cheap replacement pulley.

So where I am... GBs sitting on tables in yard, four at 48 inches and four at 39 inches. These gravity drain into my four FTS in the barn, then the FTs into the sump. From there, the pump draws water and pushes it through the filter and up into the beds. I want to get a different timer switch but until I can afford one it will be 15 minutes on 15 minutes off during daylight hours, and 15 minutes on and 45 minutes off at night. The air pump will stay on its cycle 24/7. My wife Facebooked her way into 100 free trout for me from a high school friend who works for the extension service.

Also I found some friends who feed their pond fish with some cheap dog food that floats, I will be doing a side by side with three commercial fish foods and the dog food. We will see. I have plans to add blue plastic 55 gallon drums filled with aggregate beside the FTs to give the bacteria a great dark HUGE space to break down the ammonia and nitrites.

Power consumption! I put a apm-probe to each electric device and with our Co-Op's current pricing it will cost $26.37 a month to run the system minus when I have to add well water (my chickens get all my rain water).

The sand filter in my system serves a variety of purposes. Clarifying my water, filtering out solid waste, and the valve on the filter kicks butt! As to your cleaning comment, pool filters have a 'waste' setting which pumps the garbage out of the filter. What to do with it? I ran a 1.5 in pipe to my garden tank and am feeding my dirt plants with it. During the winter I will just dump onto my compost bed.

What most people find gross and dirty I usually see as compost. I keep all guts, heads and bodies from my fishing expeditions all year in sealed 5 gallon buckets till the next year then pour in the bottom of the holes I dig for my tomatoes. The reclamation of the fish waste is a huge plus for me. I have decided, however, to ditch the bioballs due to cost. I was going to need about 3200 based on filling the filter with water then emptying it into buckets, followed by some math. I have refilled it with play sand to the proper level and placed it inline with the pump.

To the anaerobic concern, I bought back a few air compressor pumps from the scrap yard for $20. After a little WD-40, hammer motivation, and a few sheets of 22ga.copper sheets cut to size, smeared with a thin layer of red RTV to replace a two leaking cylinder gaskets I have two working pumps. Over the last couple years I have been collecting 1/2hp to 2hp electric motors and two of theses have been mated up to the pumps so I have a primary and back up. The primary pump pushes 9.8 cfm into a 120 gallon propane tank for 15 minutes then the pressure bleeds off into the FTs via two sticks of 1/2in pvc air curtains I saw someone else on here make. The pump cycles on once an hour and takes about 10 minutes to bleed off after the pump turns off, so 25 minutes of super aeration per hour. My back up is only 5.4 cfm with the pulley I have on it but hopefully I won't need it until I can find a cheap replacement pulley.

So where I am... GBs sitting on tables in yard, four at 48 inches and four at 39 inches. These gravity drain into my four FTS in the barn, then the FTs into the sump. From there, the pump draws water and pushes it through the filter and up into the beds. I want to get a different timer switch but until I can afford one it will be 15 minutes on 15 minutes off during daylight hours, and 15 minutes on and 45 minutes off at night. The air pump will stay on its cycle 24/7. My wife Facebooked her way into 100 free trout for me from a high school friend who works for the extension service.

Also I found some friends who feed their pond fish with some cheap dog food that floats, I will be doing a side by side with three commercial fish foods and the dog food. We will see. I have plans to add blue plastic 55 gallon drums filled with aggregate beside the FTs to give the bacteria a great dark HUGE space to break down the ammonia and nitrites.

Power consumption! I put a apm-probe to each electric device and with our Co-Op's current pricing it will cost $26.37 a month to run the system minus when I have to add well water (my chickens get all my rain water).