Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Dr Fish I’ll take you up on your offer when you get back. Cheers

Visited Dr Fish's system and was thoroughly impressed, bugger going to be hard to build anything as good as his. Thanks for the invite.
Long story short I'm supposedly looking after wife for 2 weeks since her operation but ended up getting a cortisone injection today which will stop me from my plan of plumbing up system this week BUT-
a silly question-
i have a 900L FT and a 600Lsump and 2 grow beds from an IBC cut into 2 with one 400mm high and the other 300mm high SO,

How much water do I need to put in the system when all the clay media is in as Im a little stumped?
sorry for the dumb question but pumping from sump to FT the SLO into 2 x GBs then into sump again.

cheers

Hey Liney,

Great to have you pop over, welcome anytime. I was told that the grow beds have an approximate 60/40 media to water ratio. That should allow you to calculate the amount of water in the GBs.

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Hiya Liney, nice work. Without going back into your thread, are you running cf or f&d as this will affect the sump level and thus water volume by the gb volumes.
Using the Dr's ratio and assuming the gbs are filled 50mm to the top and the water level is 50mm below that you'd be looking at around 250l in the gbs.
So constant flood, max 1750 litres, flood n drain (Timed or siphon) would be just the combined ft and sump, 1500litres.
A couple of points to keep in mind. Although the sump volume is 600l the pump will be sitting up off the bottom so will probably suck air at 100l. During the summer here when the water warms up you can lose 100 litres a week! And don't forget the inevitable expansion... If running f&d your're actually sitting on around 350l effective water capacity. Keep an eye on the sump.

Thanks skeggley I’ve just brought all the plumbing today and looking forward to actually putting it together. I’m using bell siphons flood and drain and without seeing it in operation wasn’t sure how much water would be or stay in the sump during it operating. Hopefully there would be enough water for the pump to operate without it running dry. Using 50mm as a SLO and then going straight to the growbeds with 2 x 25mm taps -1 into each GB and have gone with 25mm from pump into FT. Hope it works out ok.


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So today I actually turned the system on to see if there were any leaks and flush out any stray plastic swarf/rubbish and to see if the pump actually works. Turns out it DOES and very well. Ive based my system on Robobs build using his bell siphons etc and they work a treat. I have only 2 x 350L grow beds but only 1 filled with clay balls until this weekend when I can buy the rest. What I found by only filling and draining 1 x bed is that I have to slow the pump flow down sooo much otherwise the Fish tank overflows and by doing this I can't get the venturi on the FT to work as the flow is reduced thus not helping.
Also want to know as I'm about to start the cycling without fish and it being close to winter this will take a while- does anyone have ratios of what to add etc?
I was in Bunnings Hardware and saw several types of Charli Carp and not sure which version to use. I have a 900L IBC FT, 600L sump and 2 x 350L GBs and like I mentioned will be loading the other GB up and starting it all this weekend.
Sorry for the questions but I spent a bl@@dy long time earlier this year reading so much that Ive forgotten most of it.

Hey Liney,

Exciting times I'm no expert, but I assume it was the bed with clay and bell syphon that you were using and not the empty one? Obviously, the water volumes are quite different. Also, you need to leave the sump empty enough to handle the times when both GBs are in the drained state. Otherwise, you may need to run one as constant height. Actually, reading again I see your FT is overflowing. What diameter piping did you end up running for the drain side?

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What diameter piping did you end up running for the drain?

Hi mate
I used 50mm for the SLO and then 2 x 25mm taps for the GBs. Need to go buy a small piece of 13mm irrigation pipe for the Venturi to work and Charlie carp. I take it I just start adding it to the GB to start the cycling and add some seedlings?
Thanks



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Yeah, there are a few ways of cycling the system. I assume adding CCarp would work. Yep get some plants in. Tomatoes are probably best to avoid now as they suck up a lot of nutrient and it's getting cooler now. Something like a quarter cup of CCarp might be ok.

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Just had a thought- I have a 120L pond with 3 x goldfish running through a plant waterfall for filtration, if I do a full test on this water and it has good levels would a small amount of this water help in establishing bacteria in my new system?

Hi Liney,
when you plumb your fish tank run an overflow back to the sump and then you don't have any worry of losing water or running your pump dry.

Don't slow your pump down, put a Tee about 300mm - 400mm above the pump with a ball valve and control the flow up to your fish tank. That way you are not putting any pressure or load on your pump and you are adding extra aeration to the sump.

run an overflow back to the sump and then you don't have any worry of losing water or running your pump dry.

Don't slow your pump down, put a Tee about 300mm - 400mm above the pump with a ball valve .[/quote]
Thanks that’s what I was contemplating but that height is where my barrel union is so wonder if I go below or above. Below the tap would be nearly always under water or above would have time out of the water. Suggestions?
Will run the overflow into sump need more pipe first.


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Thanks that’s what I was contemplating but that height is where my barrel union is so wonder if I go below or above. Below the tap would be nearly always under water or above would have time out of the water. Suggestions?
Will run the overflow into sump need more pipe first.


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The Tee would be better above the barrel union, that way when you unscrew the barrel union to remove your pump for cleaning, you are only pulling the pump out.

You could run off the Tee to a spray bar, and place your ball valve just before your spray bar.

So here are a few snaps of how its progressing but will hopefully have better ones this weekend once the second GB is filled up and my seedlings are all in. The overflow return to the sump hopefully helps when too much water going in compared with SLO-ing out.

Liney I'd put the Tee here, and connect it to a spray bar.

Take the spray bar all the way across your tank and fix or support the end.