Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

10 1 2008 TO 21 2 2008

thanks Francios!

I am currently designing an aquaponics system I will be setting up at an orphanage in india, and am looking at all the different possibilities with a big emphasise on symplicity...less to go wrong! I like the idea of gravity fed from the tank as it means you have abit of room for short power problems if you make the sump big enough....

still don't quite understand your system though....the ball valve shuts of when the level in fish tank drops....but does it stay shut until the water level reaches full level again? otherwise you just have a constant level in grow beds...? and also the pump in the sump tank...does that run 24hrs or does that turn itself on and off to drain the sump ?

also like your construction of the grow beds!!


thanks mate...and more info would be greatly appreciated!! and any ideas on a system suited to a developing country...things you would do differently on yours etc?

cheers

also...in your style of system would you recomend a round tank? to create current to remove solids that accumulate in the center...?

fabulous pictures francois, those veggies look euphoric, how are the fish doing?

i_ngsi, wonderful to see you here, a lot of your questions vary with the kind of system and the size of the system that you use, but advice and information for them all is available on the forum. I suggest you start out with deciding how much produce you want out of the system, then extrapolate from there to get your system size and take it from there.

You'll have a very different set of issues to deal with working in India, availability of things may be quite an issue, it certainly is for me in Pakistan, but where theres a will theres a way. My proof of concept system should be up and running in 6 days, just waiting on grow medium, and once thats up I should be able to help with sub continent specific stuff

HI i_ngsi

WHEN IT COMES TO DESIGN /THE SIMPLER THE BETTER

OPTION 1 24 HR. CYCLE CONSTAND FLOW

KEEP WATER IN DAM TO KEEP BALL VALVE OPEN ALWAYS
GROW TRAYS FLOWWING AND RESTARTING PUMP CYCLE WITHOUT BALL VALVE CLOSING
THE VALVE USED FOR SAFETY FOR POWER BREAK/

OPTION 2 FLOOD DRAIN CYCLE

WATER LEVEL MUST BE MAINTAINED IN DAM
OUTFLOW CYCLE 10 MIN
PUMP CYCLE 18 MINS(750 LITERS WATER BACK INTO DAM)

THE SYSTEM SEQ. WILL BE

1 PUMP STOPPED / DAM FULL / BALL VALVE OPEN
2 PUMP OFF / WATER LEVEL IN DAM DROPS / WATER RUNNING INTO GROW TRAYS
3 PUMP OFF / WATER LEVEL DROPS AND / BALL VALVE CLOSES IN DAM
4 PUMP OFF / VALVE CLOSED IN DAM / THE WATER VOLUME IN MY GROWTRAYS THEN RUN TO
MY DUCKWEED / PUMP SUMP
5 RISING LEVELS IN MY PUMP SUMP START THE PUMPING (CYCLE) BACK INTO DAM
6 PUMP PUMPING / DAM FULLING / VALVE CLOSED
7 PUMP PUMPING / DAM FULLING / BALL VALVE OPENS
8 PUMP STOPPED / DAM FULL / BALL VALVE OPEN
9 PUMP OFF / WATER LEVEL IN DAM DROPS / WATER RUNNING INTO GROW TRAYS
..............
HOPE THIS EXPLAINS WORKS WELL AND EASY TO RUN AND MAINTAIN

ROUND DAM WITH CENTER OUTLET I BELIEVE IS THE WAY TO GO
MY DAM NEVER NEEDS CLEANING
LIKE YOU SAY CURRENT SELF CLEANING
MY SUMP BASICLY SAVE MY WATER WITH POWER BREAKS

HI abdul

WATER VERY COLD FISH NOT EATTING MUCH
BUT FISH ARE FINE

things i would do differently

yes there is a few

1 move my pump next to my dam/have my duckweed sump running in lenth / look at my layout
2 my surface/floor too flat/very small drop/will increase
3 i will add a worm/solid removel type filter/i run directly into grow trays
it becomes a problem with high feedding rates/remove solids but process and add back into system
4 i have a meduim size worm farm and that is a must for the system you are putting up/
if you have worms you have won most of your battels
worms/aquaponics go hand in hand
5 no plastic tunnel/structure now but very important/temp/control
6 my system scale completely wrong/out of scale/my grow area needs to increase for my type of stocking and feedding rates
7 .............................................................................................................................i will add as i remember

my aim is to run with max.fish/max feed/min water/no water change/only topping up/
what i am able to manage and feel comfortable with.
thats where i am going on a bigger scale
i am now buzy with my apprenticeship/teaching myself as i go along
getting there slowly/making notes / taking photos / making stuff ups / but always trying / learning as i go along / trying to improve my system
i want to/my aim is to be able to take my system and place it anywhere and the system must run/min main/min water/green elec.
my system as there has paid for itself/selling fingerlings and worms and bigger fish to farmers for their dams
the food has mostly gone to my worms/i needed food for them/i was growwing my worm farm at the time
very little cost/not a perfect system but yes/it works/and can work better with minor changes

Hi Abdul!

Thanks alot!

What system design have you gone with in pakistan? How big?

Yeah...at the moment i am in contact with a lot of companies in india, figuring out what materials to go with, most cost efective...etc...and yes...there is a lot of organisation in sourcing the things needed:)

basically I am looking at setting up a system that is capable of feeding at least 100 orphans with enough to sell excess as a source of income needed for other things at the orphanage. At the moment I am looking into a system of total 50 000L of FT, built in 4 stages of about 12 500L each.

Cheers mate!

Hi Francios

ok...understand now! Yeah that was the main question, if the pump is also 24hr cycle or if it turns on and off to allow for flood and drain....I like your setup!

Also like the things you would change...sump along side with the pump near the dam to decrease distance water needs to be pumped...save power...

worm farm will definitely be a big part of the system...also with solids removal into worm farm....what sort of solids removal did you have in mind?...just a settling tank that get diverted into a worm farm occasionally or an actual worm filter?

I also want to incorporate poultry etc into the system.

Would you recommend making the grow beds similar to what you have done...or different? And also the depth of gravel is only about 150mm, do you find it is sufficient to retain enough moisture in very hot climate?

Thanks mate!!

Hi i_ngsi
this my 80% complete design for my bigger system
can be done in stages and all my volumes, growspace, filter sizes, are based on dr james rockysy system

you can look at it and ask questions if you have
contact me privately and i can mail you a set of drawing in pdf format

Francois... what are the narrow "raceways" along the side of each greenhouse arch?....

And how are you going to access the inner beds for planting and harvesting??

HI i_ngsi
7 .............................................................................................................................i will add as i remember
7 using plastic as i did works well/cheap/durable/easy to make and you can even make deeper if you want to
add better support on sides
8 .............................................................................................................................i will add as i remember

hi RupertofOZ
i want to flow out of my dams into a sump/wormfilter/.....into my raised growbed......into my duckweed sump/.......into pump sump(round 200l plastic drum sunk into lowest lever next to dam
those 2 trays are for growwing duckweed for the fish/worms to eat and a
final filter to remove solids that past through my growbeds
on the way back to dam / i find this works very well with water quality going back into dam for fish
specialy with high feedding rates/
duckweed is one of the better water treatment options
from the duckweed you produce heigh protein food for fish/compost/worms
i want to produce a lot of duckweed and with this they help clean my water

me thinking again

hi RupertofOZ

the inner beds are
all floating rafts/drifting down to end were they will be taken out and replaced in beginning with new plants
load beginning/offload end

in this system i want to grow lettice/beetroot/beans/spanach ................ .......
low growwing vegy's..........
me thinking

Ok, thanks Francois... I'm with you now...