Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

the wild tuna population may still be in danger of collapse.

Don't worry about using too large a bulkhead fitting, you can always reduce down if needed. Only real drawback is the added cost of the larger fittings. But it is so much more of a bummer if you plumb too small a fitting through something like an aquarium since it is not as easy to get another hole drilled.

Many people have managed to plumb though plastic containers without actually using bulkhead fittings. Just the right size hole, some aquarium silicone and threaded fittings of the appropriate size.

About the Sushi article. Do they understand that you are actually probably going to be growing fresh water fish?

Yes I told them about my catfish and tilapia/guinea pigs.

Next stop, tuna.

actually would you believe I saw some sturgeon at a Chinatown fish store? Unfortunately I don't have any such space for such beasties and I'm pretty sure that you really need a license for that.

I'd consider trying trout in the winter. Saltwater would be interesting, I'm a bluenoser from the Maritimes and spent my childhood fishing for cod, haddock, pollack, hake, halibut, mackeral and sometimes nastier things, and freshwater trout, and catfish from time to time. Not a fisherman by trade, but I knows a wee bit about my fishies, bye. But tuna is probably not in my future. Salmon I think would be a real challenge. I've never seriously considered sturgeon, they'd require some real estate, but when I dream a bit I think about a pond with koi, and well a sturgeon's about the same size....

sorry I got off on a tangent. It's raining out so I can't work on that system. I'm having a bit of Russian water.

Right the barrels don't have bulkheads. hm

It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Wednesday as well. I'm feeling a bit sulky but it'll pass.

Humanfly when the fellow who cuts the hole in your tank does the Job see if you can get a photo of his holesaw and his process. I have a 150 gallon former salt water tank that has a 2" overflow thru the bottom into a 40 gallon biofilter tank underneith in the cabnet. But I have several other tanks That I would like to use in ap if they had the holes. I have a 75, 55, 2@29 and 2@10 gallon tanks. I can buy tanks cheaper than I can get our local glass place to cut holes for me. Thanks in advance. Bill.

BatonRouge, I'll definitely do that. I've posted an updated sketch here http://humanefly.blogspot.com/
where the growbed goes above the barrels. The barrels are connected to each other from a tap at the bottom going to a port near the top of the next barrel, so each barrel overflows into the next.

I think blogger won't let me put images but I'll try again anyway

This works in my preview but you might not see it.

I've put up some netting to keep the raccoons out. I put a minnow in one of the cleaned barrels and he survived the night. I'm going to clean the rest of the barrels today. I threw a few handfuls of hydroton in the tank and put a pump on, it's circulating some of the floating hydroton so I guess it's acting as a mini filter and will help get my bacteria cycling up.

I updated the blog with some photos of the growbed in position. Can anyone tell me if the taps that came on the barrels are acceptable in a recirculating system? There's a close up photo. I'm going to try to get the plumbing parts today, and mock up a loop siphon from the growbed.

I understand that you're using the barrels as a sump Humanfly... but don't understand the plumbing...

You appear to have a single outlet from the growbed emptying into one barrel... which presumably fills and overflows into the next barrel and so on...

But you have a pump in the same barrel... I presume that this pump will be operated by a timer... and drain down the first barrel and pump back to the fish tank....

But how are the other barrels going to drain back to the first barrel when you pump it down... with an outlet at the top of the other barrels???...

To my mind the other barrels will either eventually overflow... or the water will stagnate....

Wouldn't you be better off inter-connecting the barrels via plumbing them all from the bottom tap outlets...

So that when the growbed empties... water flows, and equalises to all barrels... and when the pump starts drains down from all barrels... thus intermixing the water??

That's somewhat what I had in mind, but I think I simplified the sketch too much. Although that's what I drew, I didn't mean for the bed to drain into the same barrel as the pump.

I was thinking the pump would have a float thingy attached, no timer, so as long as there's water in the barrel it's pumping water to the fish tank, and overflowing to the grow bed.

The grow bed would have a loop siphon back into another barrel. The barrel should overflow from the tap at the bottom to a fitting on the top of the next barrel. I wanted to try keeping the flow from the bottom of barrels to keep sediment from settling at the bottom. As you say I'm not sure if this will flow very well. There's a tap at the bottom of each barrel, and a fitting at the top of each barrel. so like you said I can connect them directly together tap to tap and drain to drain, and that will work. It's also possible I'll end up with four barrels plumbed together in some fashion, and all of them overflowing into a fifth barrel containing the sump pump (not shown).

I've posted another attempt at a sketch, and also a sketch better showing the PVC piping over the grow bed from a top down view, just showing elbow and T connectors.

I've got the 2 inch bulkhead here and some piping, and some stuff on order for Monday.

The plumbing store guys were acting like I was trying to build a rocket ship, I had no idea quite how unusual this request was, I think.

I tried resizing this image and uploading.

Sorry... but I still can't see how the water is going to flow from the top taps back to the other barrels and the sump pump... other than when the growbed is draining

Once the sump pump kicks in... it will lower the level in the sump.... but the water level in the other barrels wont be above the level of the top tap inflow... so how are they going to drain back to the sump tank/pump... until the growbed itself starts to drain...

You will then be limited to just how much water you can pump down from your sump to the growbed... before it begins draining and overflowing the barrels and back to the sump....

Your maximum... even if you drained right down - dry, and assuming no return flow... would be 200L.... How big are your growbeds, and are you using an overflow standpipe arrangement??

I'm worried that the amount of flow, which will be intermittant... overflowing into each barrel when the growbed drains... wont be enough to oxygenate the barrels... and/or the fish tank... and that the water in the barrels might not get sufficient mixing and stagnate...

Interconnect through the bottom taps... fill, equalise, drain.... no problems...

OK, I'll just plumb them all together at the bottom then.

The growbed is 100 US gallon = 378.541 litres
barrels are 55 US gallon each

I think what I had in mind is called an overflow standpipe, I was going to make something by cutting a piece of PVC with screened slots around the top and an open top and place it over the drain fitting to keep gravel and sludge out of the sump, like a screened overflow box that I could take apart and clean periodically.

I'm also thinking about starting with continuous flow, and maybe trying flood and drain on a timer later.

I'm going to have to start measuring water parameters. The south side and top of the tank are covered with coconut fibre cloth and aluminum foil, and even so it bloomed green in days; I started it with a spoon of indoor fish tank sludge and a few gallons of fish water. I mean to take some used filter medium and add that when I have the growbeds and sump hooked up. Tank temp/daily temp has kept the tank in the 80's I think.
I noticed the grey barrels got really very hot in the sun. I've got some ideas for insulating them and covering them cosmetically once it's all set up.

The pit bull next door who is normally fairly predictable managed to get hold of some netting and pull it through the fence. I found him just as he discovered this ability, and managed to get the netting back from him before he pulled it all down. He naturally thought we were in a game of tug and war, so it's lucky I was able to get it back on my side pretty quickly. However he thought this was an invitation to come over the fence.

Once the bull was penned back in, I spent most of the day building a makeshift fence out of rope, doors, and wooden futons. It looks like a bit of a junkyard but should keep the Hound of the Baskervilles moreso on his side of the fence. It's only temporary, we'll put up a proper divider later.