Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Quite right tony, we also have national park behind us, and about 6k from town, no mains, we're glad no chemical nasties.
Also no possums,cats,cows,roos,cars etc as have been extracted from the big town dam (10mile brook) that feeds town ppl.

Also no chlorine or fluoride to taint the water for us and our fishies.
Tony

you must have terrible teeth :evilsmile: LOL

:Shockhorror: not that evil!

I think Steve meant ....

you must have terrible teeth :gappedtoothsmile:

Better than a perfect smile with no brain, as a naturopath suggested once!
Refering to the floride content of water.

Set up the pump and started it up for the trial run with the RSG filter:

Problem 1.
Filter didn't like all the water pouring straight down its throat and started washing sand out of the pipe - fixed

Problem 2.
Bell siphon wouldn't break on drain - tried a modification in cutting a "VEE" at the base of the outer pipe to act as an air intake - DID NOT WORK
fixed, put in a normal air tube

Lots of air bubbles rising from the sand/charcoal mix as the water flowed through initially but soon stopped (must have run out of air , moved the pump inflow so no water going into filter - water drains away slowly, so not much going through filter (sand may be too fine ).

Will leave as is and let it all cycle and settle down, then start logging water quality

The water does move very slowly through my RSG filters, too. When I stop water flow, it takes quite a while for the pool of water on the top to sink through the sand.

So is the water you are using pre-nitrated? Or do you have fish in the system? How about plants?

I have 2 sump tanks hooked up via a siphon which supplies the water to the main tank, I have put in a 2,000lph pump into one of the sump tanks to pump the water to the filter. While the bacteria stuff is colonising the new gravel I will continue feeding the nitrate water from the main system and keep an eye on the nitrates.

Will give it a couple of weeks then disconnect the siphon and see how the nitrate levels change - no plants in the small GB as yet, may just leave them out for the time being.

Good to hear your water flow is similar to mine - will leave as is then.

Been putting together all the bits for the electronic water level sensor so haven't taken any pics as yet - best I do that tomorrow so that ppl can understand a little better

Hi les i pulled all the bits of a electronic water level sensor out of a beer chilling m/c if you dont have luck with that one i will see if i can find this one

Is there anything you don't have F&F?

F&F, it is the light activated switch kit that Dick Smith put out and modified to AP use - TimC put me on to it.

I have wired up a box to take 3 circuit boards and have run most of the wiring - just gotta heat up the soldering iron and do a few "welds"

Have done a test with one board jerry rigged (worked fine), so going the next step and connecting it up for a "field run" (hopefully this week)

Thanks for the offer tho

This is how I am setting up the RSG filter and testing it

Pic 1 shows a sieve over the pipe, this just softens the water flow into the pipe so the sand is not disrupted - as can be seen by the wet gravel, water overflows the pipe

Pic 2 is one of the sump tanks, this has been used as a duckweed pond before I put a pump in there...too much agitation now so removed the duckweed to another water body to grow.

Piece of shade cloth wrapped around the exhaust outlet of the bell siphon (muffler ), too much splashing if left uncovered.

Pieces of 90mm pipe tossed in tank, found 2 small fish ( I think baby comets from my goldfish) swimming in the tank so put the pipe in for somewhere for them to hide in - hopefully they will survive and become fish food for the forth coming barra

Once the new GB is cycled I'll disconnect the pipe coupling the 2 sump tanks and run this as a separate system to see how the RSG filter goes, at present it is receiving the nitrates from the main tank

That is the stuff on the RSG filter, now the electronic water level sensors

Why am I doing this - well the floating bottle was working okay but I was using a cheap hinge from "B" and they needed to be lubricated occasionally, didn't want those sort of contaminants near to the fish

This is the kit as recommended by TimC . Light Activated Switch Kit

On the bottom of the 2nd page is the cct diagram of the Light activated switch kit supplied by Dick Smith Electronics . Circuit Diagram

Modifications required:
I have readily available 12v dc, which is being used for the door actuators to operate my water level sensor so a couple of minor changes needed to be made

Firstly, the original relay must have been a 6v dc one, hence R3 be rated at 120 ohms - they now supply a 9v dc relay 225ohm coil resistance.

R3 needs to be changed to 82ohms for 12v dc working

LDR1 is not used - this is where the probes for the water sensor is connected

RV1 I have not used, instead replacing it with a 3K3 resistor, this means that if a direct short is placed across the probes (LDR1) then the max voltage on the base of TR1 will not exceed 5v (max Vbe for BC548 transistors)

Another mod that could be done is to put a 33K resistor in parallel with the probes - this will not allow the transistors to switch on but it increases the resistance required from the probes from 20K to 53K before operating the relay.

I have also put the distance between my probes to 20mm (3/4"), had a piece of perspex with holes that far away so used them with a couple of S/S bolts :shrug:

The sensor is very quick, once the water touches both probes, the door actuators activate...the relay on the LAS kit is held closed for <1 second, that's how long it takes for the water level to drop and break contact with the water

Will report on how the new sensor works but TimC has vouched for them and preliminary tests are proving him correct