Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Washing is the nut's thing..

5 hrs to do 5 wheel-burrow full.. Just nut's..

Hey on a side note.. If anyone decides to use 50mm pressure pipe.. Telstra bends fitt a treat..
So if you have the room and are willing to mix industries.. /which I am..

I think the sweep bends reduces my head loss by heaps.. No sharp 90's..

I'll show photo's when I get the pipes/pump lines finished..

Juergen

Looking really good snow.

I just cannot see how a uniseal can give a satisfactory long term problem free seal at the bottom of a 1000 liter tank like that. I see it will just give you problems forever. I would personally only use a uniseal where a pipe needs to pass into a tank above water level. You should find some sort of bulkhead fitting that you can screw together from each side of the tank and ditch the uniseals. Just my opinion. I would want to sort that out before you get fish running and then things get a whole lot more difficult to fix.

Uniseals would be great for keeping sump returns and plumbing neat and tidy and keeping insects and rodents out of the system but not for places where they need to seal at the bottom of tanks where there is pressure. I have seen quite a few people struggling with leaking uniseals on this forum.

If something has a high chance of causing problems down the line, stay away! Avoid the HSM and potential loss of fish. Especially where you are running a bigger system and loosing all your fish is going to be a bigger more expensive loss. If the tank is subsiding in the hole you will have issues with plumbing and even land up with broken pvc pipes. Can you not put a 75mm concrete base down for the tanks to sit on or something like that?

I use High pressure pvc fittings that screw together and they work great for passing in and out of barrels and ibc tanks. Just use some pft tape to create a nice seal. No problems.

you need a mesh screen for washing media set up horozantally then you chuck the media on and get someone with a hose pipe to rinse while you move the media around on the screen. When the water runs out the bottom clean you move the media into the wheelbarrow. I had media on one side and the screen at a slight angle and the screen rested on a trailer where I moved the media onto once it was clean. This was very efficient way to wash media. Me and 2 buddies did a cube in about 2 hours using this method. you need masses of water though...

The uniseal Issue I have no problem With.. I have one in my very first pond system.. it is done fine.. No leaks and it is even buried..[knock on wood..]

Looks Like I will have to just trudge on with the scoria issue..

I will be monitoring the uniseals..

At least at this stage I think If I get into any trouble.. I can rig the system to cycle thru the moving media for a short while..

Bulkhead fitting I'm to to sure What we have available.. I do know from What I have seen so far I'm not 100% happy with..

Juergen

My first 2 systems, I got really hung up on washing the gravel.
Now I barley bother, quick wash and bung it in the GB, the difference is minimal and it clears after a couple of days of 24/7 pumping anyway.

My first 2 systems, I got really hung up on washing the gravel.
Now I barley bother, quick wash and bung it in the GB, the difference is minimal and it clears after a couple of days of 24/7 pumping anyway.

Does that have any effect on the fish?

we use a cement mixer to wash gravel for jobs at work .just through it in leave it run for 10min then repeat with several quick rinses .uses far less water than traditional ways.aquariums tend to be very clear once filled
cheers
byron

+1
i think ill be doing this next time. Its just dirt and some gravel fines so will settle in the bottom of the GB and end up in FT...

Same here, skipped the effort of washing gravel a few times, but things were sandy at the bottom, maybe like a quarter of an inch?

From what I have read here not washing the gravel will only make for dirty water for a short period. However, I have fish in the pond now so will making the water dirty by not washing the gravel hurt the fish in any way?

I'll tell you tonight.. I'm about to head out into the dreaded sun and start to move the small mountain of scoria into the growbeds and just give them a rinse down once they are in place..

Juergen

I still got quite dirty water after I basically double rinsed my gravel. And then took it all out of the grow bed again after it was running for a week or so, and when it all went it again the water still got quite dirty....

Yup, a lot of it circulates around the system until it gets trapped in the gravel.
Some settles in the FT and sump, I stir it up a bit in the first few days until most is trapped in the GB's.
Emptying/refilling a GB disturbs all that trapped stuff causing a lot of it to flow into the system again.
If I have to do that, I divert the outlet to the dirt garden and just flush the GB through a couple of times.

Hey SuperV..

I don't think I would be doing that..

A top layer of Hydroton and the bottom section of Scoria..about 6-700lt worth..
About 1200-1400kg of scoria..

Not a chance that I will be doing that..

Juergen

SnowT, I said that to myself when I first finished my system, and just this weekend finished re-moving about 2m of river pebbles from one set of growbeds to another... I didnt wash them that well when they went into the system, and I can tell you now, the mud and gunk that came out of the tubs when I emptied them was disgusting. not in a foul smelling rotten way, just really heavy dirt particles.

I like the idea of clay balls on the top for planting into. might have to consider that myself, as the pebbles are tough on the hands.

Dont bother washing it...it will eventually clear

Think of the sediment as trace elements