Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok, so i guess technically i cant call it a "system" yet, but i now have 2 IBC's with the option for a 3rd so i am here to suck your brains of all there AP knowledge so i can have the most awesomest AP system on the face of the earth... or maybe just one that will grow some cool stuff i can eat...

im on a tight budget so my motivations all about minimal outlay and maximum outcome.

what im thinking i want to do is cut a hole on the top of one IBC for the FT and cut the 2nd one in 1/2 for 2 GB's. then at some stage later on down the track grab another IBC and use it for a marron tank with some sort of crates or something to make it a little marron high rise condo.

for bed material im not sure yet, i love scoria and its probably how ill go. its great for its surface area for bacteria but its hard on the hands apparently. for me that may not be such an issue caus i have hands like leather anyway. the other option is a more normal gravel. ill probably only decide once i go down to buy it.

run flood and drain for the benefits to bacteria, its ability to help supply o2 and it should help stop any dead spots in the bed. might even get a blue barrel to run as a sump. i have a few different size pumps here already i can trial to see the smallest pump im going to need to do the job to save on power. ive also just ordered a cheap chinese "wave maker" pump for inside the FT to circulate and oxygenate the water. 3000lph for $10 delivered. i already use them in my indoor aquariums and not had any issues with them.

does that all sound ridiculously crazy? have i gone wrong already? or do i understand what ive been reading on here and elsewhere and that sound like it might just work?



$33 IBC's each
$10 vibration pump
$76 Grand total so far

IBCs for $33.... maybe you should grab a couple more now - just in case....

Or even a couple of hundred, and resell them.

They usually go for $100 so an additional one covers your costs, 2 allows you to expand.

If your f&ding i dont think a blue barrel would suffice as a sump you would have 300-400l of water in those beds and if they drain at the same time.........

Cut an ibc in half and use half as sump other half as gb

A 300 litre bed filled with media will probably have between 100 and 150 litres of water in it.

You will need a sump large enough to cope with them all draining at the same time as well as filling at the same time, leaving enough water so your pump doesn't run dry.

Hey Dan I agree..
at $33 for an IBC..

get 2-3 more..

2 for Fish tanks - inter connected..
4 for grow-bed's..
Partially sink the FT in the ground.. run Constant Flood instead of flood and drain.. and have the grow-beds about 4" higher than the top of the water mark in the fish tank.. Hopefully leaving you with a small buffer in-case of power out..

Even if you went 1 FT 2 GB you would only have a drain of 8" in the FT if you filled both beds at the same time..

Juergen

Hi Dan. Good start.

I cut the IBC, for the growbeds, on the vertical plane so that I had a full frame for both beds. Also easy/cheaper to support.

With 20 mm river stone, my grow beds hold 110 litres of water each. That's a total of 640 kg per growbed, including the stone, when full.

I sealed the FT to minimize evaporation and also use sealed (except for breather holes) 200 L barrels, one each under grow beds. Pump is external to minimize heat transfer.

As like yourself, being a tight ass, I bought a very efficient (expensive) pump. It is rated at 3000Lph/40W and fills both growbeds in under 11 min. I have it on 25 times for 15 min per day. At the current rate of 25 cents per 1KW, that's approx $22.81 per year.
(I hope I got the maths right!!?)

I aerate the FT with a 4W air pump. Two air stones inside an 80 cm long, 50mm air lift tube to move water around 24/7.

Fish are currently being feed 50 gm of home made gel food + the odd worms, dry dog pellets and duckweed.

To save IBCs from UV, I covered the FT and GBs with black plastic sheets, the stuff they use in between pavers when carting them. Then placing SH shade-cloth over for nicer look.

I have heard that scoria breaks down after a while!!??

What fish are you thinking of using. Catch your own goldfish?

If you are going to cut an ibc in half to make growbeds they will by 500mm deep so you can put say 350mm of scoria and then top with 20mm pebbles which are much better for planting stuff.

thanks everyone for the helpful replys so far. gotta love this forum.
i found out about where to get them in the SA thread so just happy to point anyone looking for them in that direction

hmm yea i was thinking that one barrel may not be enough but wasnt sure how much water the beds would hold. could plumb 2 barrels together or like you said just get another cheap IBC and cut it open. ill think about this once i start plumbing i guess.

unfortunately im a little limited in how big i can go and where i can put it, and caus i rent i have no chance of sinking anything lower than the concrete its going to all be sitting on. so i think sticking with 2 tanks and 2 grow beds will be about the limit at least until i get this all set up and see if i can squeeze anything more in.

thanks again for the tip on where to get ibc's
now theres a good idea. will do that.
havnt worked out how to save mine from the sun yet but ill also have to make mine "dog proof" for the rest of my clan yet another thing im not to sure on but im thinking trout in the cooler times, maybe barra when its warm and i dont know how well it works, seems most people stick mostly to one species and dont go mixing fish but maybe some perch as well all year around? and i definitely want to give marron a try as well.

DunderOZ do you have more pics of your build and how you did things? i saw the one pic in your sig but its not very clear how you did it all. maybe you should make your own thread about your system (hint hint )

id also like to hear more about your food jell

im also planning on using a bug zapper which i already own over the tank to zap food at nite, making a DIY biopod type thingo like Amph made over here as well as the usual duckweed.

Check this link for more photos. Any questions, just ask
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=11633



Check this link for gelfood. Very easy to make and the fish like it. Its called gelfood because it uses gelatin to bind the ingredients.
http://thegab.org/Goldfish/gelfoodrecipes.html



Bug zapper is a great idea but... I would zap the bugs, collect the dead bugs, and place in the tank manually. I like to keep tank lid on to minimize evaporation. Also, less chance of fish injuring themselves jumping up at the falling bugs.

I made a biopod thing when I was raising trout and it worked very well. It also collected the flies so I was feeding live flies to the trout, in my aquarium. With the goldfish though, they have a lot of trouble digesting the grubs, so I have not bothered. The meat that I would use in the biopod, I place in the gel food instead.

wow i suck at searching through peoples posts sometimes. i did actually look in your profile but didnt catch your system link. will read through

Sorry Dan. I am new at this forum thing. I just changed my signature from photo to topic to try to make things easier.