Xtro - Home Project 1.0

Xtro

scotty435 wrote:

It sounds like you really want to go commercial rather than just do this for your own use and that's fine but I think working a small system to learn the ropes makes a lot of sense if you haven't done this before.

Yes, I have future plans with aquaponics, and not just for own use. I designed a system, which will be modular, so I can start small, and just add more modules one by one. I know I still have to learn a lot with this, but hopefully this won`t take long.

scotty435 wrote:

I think the amount of labor to clean these filters if they are setup correctly is insignificant compared to labor for harvest and distribution. Basically you open a valve and drain the solids. You also have to think of the space utilized and the media that has to be moved.

Maybe it is a minor thing in a BYAP, but in a commercial setup, the RFF cleaning will take a lot of time every week. You know better than me, that there can be difficulties and problems with a solid collecting barrel and all the pipes connected to it. It is also another weak point where the system can fail ( leak for example ). Planting, harvesting, delivery and others are significantly more labour, but every little counts

The good thing with this media filter is that I can make it bigger, that`s not too expensive, and as I expand the media bed, I can grow more tomatoes and cucumbers

scotty435

You may feel differently after hauling a few tons of media :wink:

. The filters for a DWC don't have to be expensive or complicated. Dasboot made his from blue barrels and used recycled bottle caps in the Static Upflow Filters - The RFF doesn't need any media at all so really not terribly much to have troubles with but you do have to do some upkeep. As long as you leave yourself some space you can add these later if you want to hedge your bet.

Cheers

Xtro

scotty435 wrote:

You may feel differently after hauling a few tons of media :wink:

.

John Deere 304K :headbang:

scotty435 wrote:

The filters for a DWC don't have to be expensive or complicated. Dasboot made his from blue barrels and used recycled bottle caps in the Static Upflow Filters - The RFF doesn't need any media at all so really not terribly much to have troubles with but you do have to do some upkeep. As long as you leave yourself some space you can add these later if you want to hedge your bet.

Cheers

As the plan is now, I will have media bed area same as FT size. It should be enough filtration, but I can add RFF it it`s not.

scotty435

I could have used one of those tractors a few times around here. Would have the whole place Terraformed in about a half a day :lol:

Xtro

All right guys, another problem here. My builder giving me a hard time with the greenhouse, so I have to shrink down the system a bit. Which means that I will loose some filter space, so I will need some boost here.
What about if I add a nice big biofilter ( 2 X 2000L ) after the FT and scale down the media bed to about half the size ( around 4 sqm down from about 9 sqm ).

So it would go like: 10000L FT -> 4000L Biofilter -> 4 sqm ( 20cm deep ) CF gravel filter -> 12 sqm ( 50cm deep ) DWC -> 1000L sump -> back to FT

Pump will be a 12000 lph from sump to FT.

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Xtro - Home Project 1.0

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics