Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This is how I actually dug the hole.

I used the wee ones too to dig my sump.

J.B.

Made a trip to bunnings today to try and solve my plumbing dilemma.

I'd like to put ball valves on to my growbed inlets however they are only available for pressure pipe.

I am running 50mm DWV SLO out of the Fishtank and into a growbed. I don't want to run pressure pipe because it's twice the price and you need to use bulkhead fittings.

I don't have uniseals and am not sure where to get them quickly and cheaply.

Anyways what I've figured out is that a 40mm Pressure Pipe(PP) joiner fits snugly inside a 50mm DWV Female end. I then downsize that with a PP 40mm-25mm sleeve and add a 25mm ball valve.

I previously ran a 90mm SLO however while pretty much impossible to clog, it was also awkward to deal with and too big for the requirements imo.

I'm going to run a 50mm SLO and a 50mm emergency overflow this time around.

Thus far I have my main full IBC sump in the ground - Need to cut it open
Hole covered by 1.8m sleepers, with an IBC cage on top that will contain a mini sump and then a growbed.

Actually I drew a picture

The sump - FT feed will be split into 3. One for each of my two fishtanks and one for a DWC bed.

I can see why you are into aquaponics. That soil looks terrible! I don't think you need a licence for a mini ex, only if you are entering a job site. I have made the same progress today, just about to post the pics. Looking forward to see your progress. Just one thought though, I looked into those containers, was going to get some on eBay but got turned off cause they're apparently not uv stable? So I bought some 2nd hand water tanks which I discovered had a smudge of rust in the bottom today. Bugger, oh well I hope to get some years out of them.

They're not UV stable - most of them aren't anyway but most people either wrap theirs in shadecloth/plastic/wood/whatever or paint them.

I'm painting mine. Picked up a 10L container of outdoor off tint paint from bunnings today for $50.

Here's some pictures of my drain. I only measured once and then cut the hole and it ended up too big(Measure TWICE folks!). So I cut some washers out of the lid of an old plastic container and siliconed the crap out of everything. The bottom is a 150mm DWV end cap siliconed onto the IBC, with a 25mm pressure pipe threaded fitting bolted through it.

Previously I used a 100mm pipe for my gravel guard but had two main problems. The bottom wasn't even so it let small gravel underneath and into the standpipe area, and being so damn tight, I had a really hard time cleaning that gravel out.

This time I've gone for 150mm pipe as my gravel guard and stuck an end cap on the bottom that the pipe will slot into and won't be able to let gravel in underneath. It will also give me a lot more area to work within the guard if I need to.

I've also upsized to 25mm standpipe from 20mm previously. No particular reason for this one, just decided to go a bit bigger.

pics in next post

For uni seals you call or email the guy at http://www.uniseal.com.au/

Prompt service, tell him your pipe size and he will give you the appropriate uniseals. He does everything by express post.

To make it a day or two faster, ask for a quote/invoice on an exact number of uniseals the first time you call, otherwise he will do an approximate quote, then wait for you to confirm before sending actual invoice.

Tell him when you transfer the funds and he sends it ASAP.

For pressure pipe at bunnings, head over to the building supplies/wood yard. They will have 6m lengths for almost the same prices as the 3m lengths in the isle. Get the cut shop to cut them in halves or thirds to fit in car

Emailed in on saturday for some pricing. Hoping for a reply today.

Also re: 6m lengths I was aware of that already and will pick them up that way.


Last night I finished up cutting my sump IBC, prepped my mini sump and growbed, cleaned and resiliconed my standpipe assembly, laid down my sleepers and assembled the sump > Sleepers > Mini Sump > Growbed.

I also have my pump connected from the mini sump to the growbed via some pressure pipe. Unglued for now I'll glue it when I have the final assembly in the big sump.

I have had a bottle of water with urea aging for about 2 months so I'll start cycling with that.

Does anyone know for sure if Canberra water has chloramine? I have some old media that I can just rinse in my old tank water to keep it fresh and bacterialised but I don't want to just throw it in the new system and kill all the bacteria with chloramine.

Looks like no chloramine in Canberra water

http://www.aquasafe.com.au/skin/fronten ... alysis.pdf

I got my uniseal pricing

the 48mm Pipe OD ones are $5 ea
55mm one is $9.80

I just measured my pipe it's 55mm OD... for a RFF it will cost me almost $40 just in uniseals... not really sounding like a cheap option anymore.

sigh

I decided not to opt for uniseals at this stage... made do with some pvc fittings instead.

Leveled my FT to the required height and prepped my drum to become a RFF.




The system is cycling, I have nitrite readings already but I did use old washed media... seems some bacteria stuck.


Eventually this system will have the pump in the bottom sump under the growbed you see, pumping into the fishtanks (There is another IBC Fishtank coming) and also into a DWC bed which will come last.

Right now I'm trying to get the system cycled enough to get my 25 trout in, and then add 2 more gravel growbeds to make sure I can get rid of the ammonia and nitrites fast enough.

Because trout are dirty and I'll be stocking 50 fish(25 trout 25 SP) to only 3 gravel growbeds I wanted to make sure I'm removing as much solid as possible.

Tomorrow I'm picking up some more pipe to finish plumbing the FT>RFF>GB>mini sump>mainsump and hopefully get that flowing properly. I may have to take it easy because I'll need to use tap water and don't want to kill all my bacteria with chlorine.

Trout order is in. Water readings are looking good.

Ammonia .25
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 80+
pH Don't care

Should be cycled in a week.