Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

You should start a goat proof chicken feeder factory!

Heh. My whole life people have said, about various things I've made, "you should make those and sell them!" It has never worked. I have this problem with repeating things--I get bored too quickly. Making the first one is a fun challenge. Making the second is usually still fun, just because I'm changing things based on what I've learned from the first one. Making the third is boring. The fourth pretty much never gets finished. And all the supplies I've bought for making hundreds of them end up cluttering up my garage until I think of something different to do with them.

So I just have to keep finding new things to make. Preferably with stuff I've already bought for making other things that never got made, so I can use my garage for something else. (Not for storing cars, though. That's just too un-American.)

Progress is happening!

No photos today, though; I was too busy working, and forgot to take any.

One end of the greenhouse is completely (and properly) rebuilt. I gave it a test shove, after it was done, because before, after FenceGuy did it, I could move the whole end several inches with very little effort. Now? Like a ROCK, dude. I shoved it as hard as I could, and didn't even get a wiggle. And that's without the 2 rows of purlin pipe we still need to put back up at the proper spacing.

Also, I made a DOOR. All by myself! Well, actually, I didn't hang it by myself, because that was beyond the capabilities of my wimpy girl muscles, so Hubs helped me with that part. But I did the rest by myself, and by golly, it is unquestionably the BEST door I have ever made. Which isn't saying much, since I've only ever made two. But I'm proud of it. I might just buy myself a tool belt to celebrate.

We should be able to get the second end finished tomorrow. Then all that's left is re-fastening the plastic, this time PROPERLY. (I still clench up a little bit every time I see all the staple holes around the edges. Grrr!) And maybe some bench rails, because they'll add to the stability, especially on the side where the rim boards aren't attached to the bows.

And then...THEN I AM GOING TO GO SHOPPING FOR PVC PIPES AND FITTINGS!

Any excuse to go shopping,amazing how much weight wimpy girl muscles can carry when its shopping spoils.

I'm not a typical female when it comes to shopping. Hubs has been known to lament that if Home Depot carried clothing, I might actually have an adequate wardrobe. In the meantime, he periodically drags me to clothing stores and forces me to try things on, and won't let me leave until I buy stuff. If not for him, I'd have nothing to wear to work.

Until it comes time to carry the stuff in from the car to the house

I have the same...feature.

Thats why I went for 120 things

I had guessed as much.

Warning: Actual AP talk ahead!

I thought I'd order some uniseals, since when I get to the point of playing with PVC I'm not going to want to wait. Which means I have to figure out roughly what sizes of things I'm using. So here's what the plan in my head has right now--tell me if I need to make modifications:

Two 3" SLO pipes carry water via gravity from the 275 gal IBC fish tank into a 4" pipe that runs horizontally the length of the greenhouse to deliver water to the IBC-slice grow beds (4 to start, later 6). The grow beds are supplied by 1" lines out of the 4" pipe, and drain via Affnan siphons using 1" stand pipes. From there the water drains into another 4" pipe running underneath the grow beds, and from there into the sump tanks via 2" pipes. The sump consists of 3 partially-buried 100-gal stock tanks plumbed together with 3" pipe. The water is then pumped back up into the fish tank by my as-yet-nonexistent pump.

Do I have the pipe diameters too small anywhere?

[EDIT] Or too big? (Is that even possible?)

Your growbed outlet should be twice the size of your inlet. I use 1/2" in and 1" out. I also kept the same size from my SLO to my horizontal distribution pipe. My sump is rather central to all of my grow beds, so kept the return lines discrete. Looking back, I probably would step down the horizontal distribution pipe, as solids like to accumulate in it, and if the pipe was smaller that would not be a problem as the water velocity would be higher. Then I would use actual tees as opposed to uniseals. The issue with the uniseals is that it is difficult tell how far up the pipe the smaller pipe is sticking in. Again, you end up with some solids buildup, as it acts like a swirl filter. I want my solids in the grow bed.

I thought I'd need the 4" distribution pipe to keep the flow capacity high enough to handle the output from the fish tank. One 4" pipe is roughly equal in cross-section to two 3" SLOs (actually a little less: 14 sq in vs. 12.6 sq in). Wouldn't I be risking overflowing the tank if I went smaller?

I'm not sure how the spacing is going to end up between my 4 (later 6) grow beds and 3 sump sections, so the return distribution pipe seemed the most prudent way to go...

Thanks for the 1:2 input:output tip; now that you mention it, I vaguely remember having read that somewhere along the way. Also, good point about the uniseals in the distribution pipe. How do you connect 1/2" tees to 4" pipe? I have a whole lot to learn about plumbing. *sigh*

Hay there,
Is it just one IBC fish tank? How big is your pump going to be?

I would recommend just one SLO drain. And T off outside to distribute to the beds It would likely be very difficult to balance two separate SLO drains to get them exactly the same height.

In my 1000 gallon tanks being fed like 2500-3000 gph, I use 4 inch drain pipe.
For all my smaller systems, I've always used 3" pipe (tip the outside of a 3" sewer pipe fitting is the same size as 3" schedule 40 pipe and so fits into a 3" uniseal. Same holds true for the 4" stuff.)

Anyway, I expect you would be fine with just one 3" SLO drain unless you are planning a HUGE pump and then you will likely need to bypass much flow back to the sump anyway since you will need to restrict flow into the grow beds to balance siphons and there for you will either need to run one bed constant flood to accept all the extra flow or really reduce the amount of water going into your fish tank to keep from overflowing it.

When installing uniseals you want to make sure you are not putting it right on a ripple or bump in the molding on the plastic. a 3" uniseal doesn't even fit around much of the bottom of a 100 gallon stock tank except on the center of one side so you are likely to have to place the 4" uniseals further up on the tank so the tank won't be able to drain the bottom 5 inches or so.

Tip to installing the larger uniseals, I usually use an angle grinder to give the end I'm going to push into the uniseal a nice bevel. Put a T on it to give you a good handle to push against. I do not recommend soap or windex for lubrication since those are bad for fish if you can't get all the residue rinsed away. Rubbing alcohol works though and will evaporate but I did the last few with spit (does that mean I'm ready to be a mom if I'm willing to spit on or lick things to clean them?) If it is a small uniseal going through a thin tank, a little water is often all you need.

When installing drain stand pipes in the bottom of beds using uniseals, I have some tricks to share so you can keep your stand pipes removable. For a 1" stand pipe, use a 1 1/4" uniseal and a 1" coupler fits a 1 1/4" uniseal close enough. For my really big timed flood and drain grow beds where I like the 1 1/2" drain pipes, I use a 2" uniseal with a 1 1/2" coupler stuck into it. This allows you to take the stand pipe out of adjustment and cleaning. Just make sure to put the little ripple from molding the coupler so that it will be down below the bed rather than in the uniseal causing a possible leak. Rule, no jamming the stand pipes down hard cause you could shove the coupling down out of the bottom of the uniseal. You want the stand pipes gently set into the beds so they are fairly easy to pull up.

And for the distrobution to the beds, I agree use Ts and adapters since getting all the uniseals and pipes installed into another pipe can be rather tricky and a mangled hole in the pipe won't let the uniseal seal properly.

So what size pipes. I expect that a 3" drain from the fish tank to the grow beds is big enough. I've used 3" pipe for systems with up to a 600 gallon fish tank, Always install a bypass so you can divert some flow back into the sump in case there is too much flow for the fish tank.
For the combined drain from the grow beds back to the sumps, perhaps 4" would be wise in case all beds decided to have their siphons kick in all at once but I've had as many as 3 grow beds share a 3" combined drain pipe before.

When installing pipe into uniseals down in the ground in trenches where it is nearly impossible to get things perfectly aligned, those flexible couplers (the rubber ones with the pipe clamps) are your friend. They are not appropriate for high pressure plumbing (like from your well) but they work fine for gravity drains and I even use them on pipes with smaller pumps where union couplings are not very convenient.

So much good information!!! Thanks, TC. And no, not planning on a huge pump. Just a good enough one.

Funny thing about spit. If you want to gross out a nurse, saliva is the only bodily fluid you might have success with. It's bizarre how many nurses, who can deal with the most disgusting stuff without batting an eyelid, are squeamish about saliva. (Not me, fortunately!)

Okay, so revised plumbing plan:

One 275-gal IBC fish tank (although I'm about to talk myself into getting a 330-gal instead, since I need another 275-gal for my last two grow beds anyway)

Four IBC-slice growbeds, with plans to expand to 6

3 100-gal Rubbermaid stock tanks connected together for a 300-gal sump

One as-yet-to-be-obtained good enough but not overkill pump to go in the sump

One 3" SLO drain from the fish tank, feeding into a 3" distribution pipe down the length of the greenhouse to feed the grow beds

Also a 3" overflow, set slightly higher than the SLO outlet, running back to the sump (forgot this little detail earlier!)

Four (later six) IBC-slice grow beds fed by 1/2" pipes coming off the 3" distribution pipe, with 1" standpipes (adjustable because they'll be sitting in 1" couplers, yay!)

The 1" drains feed into a 4" return pipe with 2" outlets to carry water back to each of the three sump tanks

The three sump tanks are connected together via 3" flexible tubing

Dang. I need overflows for the grow beds too, in case the siphons fail, don't I? Is 1" okay for those, too?

If your siphon fails, it just does not suck the water down, but acts as constant flood. Overflow is not a problem. Overflow from the fish tank is handled by a tee on top of the SLO. If the bottom clogs, water will go over the top of the tee and into the growbeds.