Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks for the complement Jessy, and for the ideas sminfiddle. I take it that by "aesthetics not being a problem" to mean it is looking nice so thanks. I checked out the post and came up with this idea. Instead of the central sleeved standpipe would this work: take the outlet down and through the floor and then up the side to a T connector and then out. This would be neater than the central arrangement and make it easier to net fish and secure the pipe.

It's been windy as hell today so I climbed onto the roof to tie the owl box down with some rope for safety and snapped this pic. Cute!

Instead of having a flat floor, you have the opportunity to slope it to the centre; if you direct the incoming water flow in one direction, the swirl and gravity will do their bits to send as much of the solids as possible out the centre drain for subsequent processing/filtration.

Something like:




Scott

[edit] With the pipe embedded in the floor, I take it you have some plan for cleaning, removing any blockages etc?

My SLO pipe in my round tank comes down to the bottom near the side of the tank, it is still picking up the solids out of my tank quite well and I can pop the entire bit off for cleaning or fish harvest if I need it out of the way. Just make sure it is secure enough that the fish won't knock it all loose.

I probably wouldn't go installing it in the concrete bottom of the tank as if there are blockages, you can't easily access them for cleaning. (gravel knocked into a tank like that would just sit in the pipe and tend to reduce flow.) Also, make sure the overflow level isn't too close to the top edge of the tank, if the pipe is not big enough, the water will rise a bit above the pipe level until it build up enough pressure to push the water through the pipe. If the overflow is too small and too close to the top edge, you will have to reduce the flow into the fish tank or it will overflow.

Use plenty big pipe for the SLO drains. I'm using 3" pipe and it is only just big enough.

Anyway, looking very good.

Thanks Bunson and TCL. How about this idea: Conical floor with the pipe not set into the concrete for easier maintinance but with the pipe running to the centre of the tank. Blockages where a concern of mine I thought I could blast it clean with compressed air, but keeping the pipes out of the concrete would make it more repairable if the pipes should possibly get broken or hopelessly clogged or something. 3 inch pipes! Yikes that is big. Its a good thing you said so as I was initially going to go with a 32 mm pipe. When you guys talk inches are you refering to the sq area of the pipe. In SA we talk about the diameter of the pipe. Is a 3 inch pipe a 50mm pipe? That has a sq area of +- 3 inches. The more I think about it the more I think putting the pipe in the concrete is a bad Idea especially with naughty kids chucking stuff in there and with all the sandy dust we have about. It needs to be able to be cleaned easily.

Yowee, good adaptation. I'd be worried about servicing buried pipe too.
Yes, inches is diameter. Yes, the size of drain pipe you need is always bigger than the size of drain pipe you THINK you need.
I think that's an Aquaponics Law by now...

And yes, your aesthetics are definitely getting complimented. U'r doin it right. I'm over here getting inspirations of the brickly kind.


Rick

Further developments to the SLO. Take the pipe out at the bottom to incorporate the tank drain valve at the bottom. Also then the tank height can be altered by changing the length of the opright which you cannot do if the pipe is inside the tank and exits at the top. I was thinking of some kind of adjustable level device like some sort of sleeve with clamps

Finally it stopped raining. We got 90mm. Got the tank walls plastered inside and out and the 50mm drain pipe set in place. 50mm was the biggest stuff I could find locally with T's and L's and all so I hope it will be big enough.

A 50mm outlet by gravity (?) will restrict you to around 4000 lph of flow. If that tyes in with your plans, then all is good

Ok. I am going to put in another 50mm drain pipe. Double barrel! I put in two growbed foundations today. Tomorrow I will do the tanks floor.

Hey Brian, How does this grab you for a brick and mortar design? I forget whose system this is (one of Synaptoman's projetcts?), but I think it was somewhere out your way in SA.

Very nice and compact for a small space. Looks great too. The major advantage with a round FT from a brick and mortar point of view is the economy of it. The round shape supports itself better than flat walls and this means you can build a big brick tank with only a single course of bricks. Notice how thick that square FT wall is? Lots of bricks, mortar and money. For a small space square would probably win but I have plenty of space. I have been knocking some ideas around in my head on how to incorporate an aquaponics setup into a very modern architectural home where the tank and beds become an intergral part of the living area and take the home beyond just purely living and make it a food producing entity. That pic is inspiring from that point of view. I suppose The whole backyard aquaponics thig is precicely that concept but it would be fantastic if it was incorporated into the actual architecture in a really stylish way. Just me dreaming away.... I would love to know which system that is to see the building process.

Very nice looking system, it's the first time I've seen your thread, so I have to ask: Owl Box? What for? Fun? Conservation? Accidental acquisition of eggs? They are super cute.

KundaPukat. We have a major league field mouse problem here. We have a very large reclaimed wood storage yard here and the mice just love it. The owls eat about 2000 mice a year each so we try to encourage them to be around. After a breeding season the box is about 3 inches thick with regurgitated mouse balls! The box is about 3 foot by 2 foot so it's a lot of mice that would otherwise be living on my chicken food Beats using poison.

I got the concrete floor into the FT with its expansion joint. Today we did the first growbed... built and plastered in one day. I have not put the drains in and need to make some decisions as to where the inlets and draind are going to be. The 50mm pvc pipe I built into the FT did not stay put at all I slid it out and it left a neat 50mm hole on the tank wall. I think I may need to epoxy them in place or use the sealing bitumen stuff. I am a bit concerned about this aspect. Any ideas? Also I am wondering whether I should flood from the back by the wall of the proposed Green house and then drain down the central corridor to the sump or the other way round or some other configuration entirely.

I am thinking to put the Slo outlets at the 'back' of the tank because if they are at the front it becomes an obstacle to cross when approaching the tank from the grow bed side which would not be too nice and the pipes may get damaged by people tripping over, standing on them etc. The plumbing and pump part of this thing is a little vague in my head still and I would love some help from more expierienced members out there What size pipes to use and how to direct them. I was thinking to use stand pipes with adjustable flow rates for the draining part and not auto syphons. How big should the hole in the bottom of the stand pipe be? How many flood and drain cycles do I need in a period. How much water do I need to move for 4000 litres of growbed ie size of pump needed? So far I have the two 50mm SLO coming from the tank to the gb's so I can move 8000lph from the tank. Then I will need some type of adjustable restriction on each bed inlet to get them to fill at the same speed. Is there a simple cost effective way to do this? How big should my stand pipe be.. 50mm? I had in mind using a socket and drilling through the socket and pipe with say 3 15mm holes radially and then by twisting it you could control the outflow. How big should the drain pipes from the GB's be to the sump... can they be smaller say 32mm?