Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ryan
I was hoping to hear from you so you could come visit and see my system. While everyone here has offered excellent and experienced advice with CHIFT PIST, Autosyphons, etc I run my system using KISS principles with one pump and no sump. If you like, the offer is still open and Sunday would suit me better. You have my details from an early PM, if not I can PM then again.

cheers
Derek

If making a hole in the fish tank is really out of the question. A no holes overflow venturi drain will work. Make it big, like 50-100 mm big. Use some mesh, screen, or filter bag around the intake to keep fish from swimming thought it. No holes overflow thread in the hardware section should help you out.

I've used some of the black irrigation pipe in some parts of systems before but it is really kinda too small for most purposes. I generally reserve it for quick small fixes like mini systems or to isolate the quarantine tank. The white pvc is pretty easy to use and the fittings are cheap.
When deciding on size of piping, it is usually better to go bigger. Never restrict you pump intake or outflow with smaller pipe than it is designed for. On my big system, all my feed piping starts at 1 1/2" or 40 mm, I do reduce down when I split off to feed to the grow beds. I've found that 1" or 25mm is small enough. There is one half barrel bed that I feed with a 1/2" pipe and there are clogging issues so I have to clear that one regularly. Gravity drain plumbing generally needs to be bigger than the pressurized supply plumbing. For me that means, if I'm feeding a bed with 1" pipe and restricting it with a valve a bit, then the drain plumbing needs to be larger than 1". In practice this is working out that the restricted 1" inlet bed is draining fine through a 1" loop siphon dropping into a 3" pipe to carry the water to a sump or whatever.

Have fun with the fish tank!

I took a photo if the proposed site for my AP system. The FT and sump will be roughly where the BBQ is. The GBs will be in the foreground.

Hopefully this turns out ot be my long-term nursery/herb garden!

I see theres treated pine decking when it rains it wont drip in the fish tank or beds [not nice stuff]

I've thought about this, and figured I would keep the FT and sump covered. I'll be testing it with a hose before any fish go in, and if so, I have some space to the side of the deck.

Thanks for the heads-up though.

Any suggestions for a pump to be sourced locally (Brisbane north, preferably between Caboolture and Redcliffe)? This will probably be for a sump tank, dependant on what I see at Derek's place on the weekend.

Also, probably a bit premature, but what test kit should I get, and where from?

You'll save a fortune buying online - what pump size are you after?

Not quite sure - I'll have a 500L FT, 6 x 100L GBs and (probably) a sump. Any links for a suitable model?

It is not too early to think about getting a test kit!!!!!! There are all sorts of things you can learn with one long before you have fish and even before you have anything set up.

Learning about the pH of your source water, (What is your source water going to be anyway?) is important. Test the pH right out of the tap and then leave some in a bucket with a bubbler for a day and test the pH again.
Learning about the pH effects of your intended growbed media. If you are going to use gravel but don't know what it is, throw some in that bucket of water that you already know the pH of leave it in there with the bubbler and check the pH say after a day and perhaps again after a week. Or if that tap water already had a really high pH you might not see much effect with the gravel so you might want to use some distilled water to test the gravel's pH effects on the water. What I'm getting at is limestone and marble tend to draw the pH up way high making it difficult to grow lots of plants.

You can also test your source water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. In general these should be 0 or really low to start but knowing what you are starting with is important.

API makes a freshwater master test kit that tests for pH, high range pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. These are the important tests that everyone should have on hand at least during cycling and if fish start dying or acting strange. A thermometer in the tank is also a good idea.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/WH-4000-Weipro-Internal-External-Water-Pump-2200l-h_W0QQitemZ130253834195QQihZ003QQcategoryZ20754QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Ideal for Marine & Fresh Water with ceramic shaft.
Power: 240V 50HZ
Liter/h: 2200L/H
Head Max: 2.10M
Watt: 30

Thats the most power efficient pump that I can find, for the size. Smaller pumps tend to be very power hungry, with low flows. The ceramic shaft is a very good feature, stainless steel shafts dont last very long on the cheapy pumps, but my ceramic shaft model is still going very well. The pump should give you sufficient flow, with probably a bit to spare.

Picked up my FT today. Hopefully picking up my sump and GBs tomorrow.

The next thing will be the plumbing. I see many people using PVC pipe - is 40mm the best size?

I think I understand the siphons that are required for the GBs, but I'm yet to decide how to get the water from the FT to the GBs. Perhaps a no flow overflow is an option, or drilling a hole in the side of the FT. I'll post a diagram of the intended setup soon.

for the small system 25 or 32mm pvc for the pump will be all you need, and 40mm for the drain.

Drilling a hole in the tank is the most reliable method, the no holes method can loose prime occasionally.

Diagram attached. I may take your advice and go with the simpler hole in the side.

Also, does the pump need PVC, or can it be poly pipe?

I still don't understand what stops the ST from running dry? Is the pump supposed to run continuously, or set on a timer?

Another thing - would it be feasible to use a PC UPS (uninteruptable power supply) to help safeguard against blackouts?

A UPS for the air is a good idea.

For the air? I was considering using it for the sump pump? Given it's only drawing about 30W, I would expect a decent UPS to keep that running for a while, particularly if it's set on a timer.