Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Work going slow building Aquaponics system ,painted stands taking long time to dry ,owing to cold weather, bought Insulating material called space saving designed to Insulate lofts using on sump tank, decided to lay along bottom and sides use duct tape to seal ,ply wood surrounds, then paint black, finding It quite hard to drill the I B C metal frame for the wooden frame .According to news papers we are In for bad weather next week ,the original system In glass greenhouse has no lagging ,so It means bubble rapping ,and heating greenhouse by gas heating., or surround system using bubble rap

Resolved the Issue of using screws to fix wood to I B Cs ,buy saddle clips used for pipes, make quite a neat job. saves a lot of time

I will send photographs of siphons ,as regards fail safe I would say they have been well tried and tested ,very confident they will work properly ,bought from smoky mountain aquaponics system layout photographs and drawings at Silvia Bernstein. forum.

Yep, think we are in for some bad weather very soon, it's already getting so cold! Nice idea with the saddle clips. I've found the 1000 litre IBCs but can't decide whether to get a timber, steel or plastic pallet! Timber seems like the most popular choice, what did you go for mrjohnpink?

Thank you for Message ,concerning I B Cs mine are steal .grow bed stands made of steal frames for safety. Rather expensive but well worth it.When making frame I will use 15 cm saddle clips, easier than drillingI.f you have to cut down Topes, use wooden frame as template saddle clips enable the wood to be adjusted ,clips can be adjusted .I don't know anything about wooden or plastic totes used on the base of totes. Concerning saddle clips I bought metal clips rather expensive, you can buy plastic far cheaper.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150896281863?ss ... 1555.l2649

I shall not comment on this item.....still better price than FISHPLANT syphon priced at £80!

I wonder how much it would have paid including shipping from US plus import tax etc...

Bad weather here too(Somerset), had to stop today from fitting a polytunnel cover 35 mt long!
Instead I'm now working on DWC with wet hands and freezing wind temperature! what a pleasure!

I only have a small system in the greenhouse to keep greenhouse warm used candle covered over with flower pot. Building new system C H O P in new greenhouse .I photographed syphon's on my other posts sub tanks .as for fail safe ,looks on You Tube to be good product,.haven't tried as yet still building system. Seems bad weather in \Somerset well at least I can work in greenhouse have small oil electric radiator to keep warm .

This is the fail safe syphon I am curious as to see syphon working properly? keep you informed

Looks to be a pretty standard design bell syphon other than the fancy drawer handle on top of the syphon cover. It's only about 10 dollars worth of parts and about 30 min to make.

well its a tried system ,there wouldn't be much in it for me ,by the time I have found parts ,easier to buy ,as said I think its a well tried tested product, the original system syphon I find difficult to set up something wrong somewhere .I shall replace syphon ,add new sub tank to original system next year.

Thanks John, will give it a go! Yeah, according to the site timber pallets for the base are most commonly used but i'll go with your recommendation of the steel.

steel I much prefer over wood , the safety aspect is always worth considering a 1000 litre fish tank weight about a ton ,good idea to make sure aquaponics system stands on a good level foundation ,cement base or slabs on a good foundation ,this is the first thing I looked into ,imagine a system slowly tilting falling ,consequences ,don't bear thinking about .To hold grow beds had steal frames made expensive but worth it some people might think they are over the top ,when grow beds are placed on top ,they will just melt into the background sump tank underneath and grow beds properly furnished and painted. after all I have to live with it ,the more you put into system better in the long run I hope

Just waiting for friend to come round with angle grinder, then I can press on .At last I have heat in greenhouse enabling me to work on system ,hopefully finish the first part ,then work on fish tank .Can anybody recommend good fish pump adequate to do the job water pushing about7 feet ,also including aerator ?

hailea are cheap and do works for many years, not so easy to fix......just replace.
Fishmate are a local good option as well as Blagdon, pricy but extremely reliable too.
Or look at axial pool pumps...also very expensive but even more reliable.
Aerators again my vote goes to Hailea, they do a great range.
I personally use:
x11 Hailea aerator pumps 60lt x min (ACO9820)
x4 Hailea water pump LX20000 (2 with float switch)
one of the air pump har now run continuously for three years
the water pumps worked great for now a full year (many on & off)