Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,

Just starting to lay down ideas for my system.

I'm thinking of cutting down an IBC into 2 grow beds and 1 tank.

Thinking of using scoria topped up with clay balls for the media.

Will get the pipe and fitting from Bunning's, bell siphon, fill and drain on a timer every hour.

Silver perch and murry cod would be good fish.

Also thinking of placing another tank on the side with yabbies?

Any suggestions?

Also thought about freshwater mussels, only because I thought they would taste great

I am then going to clad the outside of the grow bed and tank with recycle hardwood fence palings for looks, make a lid for the fish tank ad tidy the whole thing up.

That is the loose plan.

Any suggestions/plans, good things bad things, what works what doesn't, etc, would be good.

Anyway, as I'm just getting into things and it is coming into winter, I think that I'll collect all my equipment and have my system up and going in spring, rather than trying to get it going over winter here in Canberra.

Will keep everyone posted.

Ben

Hi Ben - welcome aboard


not sure how you get two GB's and a FT from one IBC - most folk cut the top off and fit it over the bottom..



That would work, but maintenance would be more of a problem..
I think that I would just use the clay balls.


you do have to think of cleaning the fish tank of wastes, and running for a short time, just won't work properly.
you do need to think of the basics and the tried and proven, is to turn over the fish tank volume per hour - again a timer wont likely do that


Gunna tried Murray Cod, and I don't think he did all that well with them..
Starting off, I think I would be a little more controlled and just go with the Silvers


Yabbies are a TOTAL waster of time.. Just a source of amusement and interest


Fresh Water Mussels - two types.. as I understand it..
River Mussels and pond Mussels ( I have Pond ones in my house aquarium ) Booooooooooooring
River Mussels NEED flowing water (so it is claimed) and they breed by their lavae acting parasitically on the fish.. I don't think that would be a great idea..
I am told, they are terrible eating - both of them..


good idea, but also add insulation, behind the timber.. Temperature stability seems to be a good thing..


I would get two IBC's and cutting in the same way, I would have a generous sump and fish tank and two beds on top.. You can then use the sump for the yabbies and have a constant flow..


Canberra - VERY cold - Insulation will be a must..
You are close to Jindabyne.. Think TROUT
Canberra - VERY HOT in summer - Insulation is sounding even better..
I would be building now, and trying to get it cycling ASAP, even over winter..
..

Not much to add to the good advice above... but just wanting to underline...

silver perch are an ideal beginner's fish with excellent temperature range... and taste great. Trout are suited to Canberra but I'm told a bit trickier in that they need high oxygen levels and very clean water. I believe that murray cod are also probably best done after one of the easier fishes are under your belt.

There are a few posts about freshwater mussels on this forum... some of them recent. I've just ordered some native freshwater mussels (velusunio ambiguus) - these apparently live in still or slow flowing water. Most advice is that these do well in aquaponics - good "water polishers" but that they taste like cockatoos... ie boil them with water and a stone for an hour then eat the stone.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info guys.

This is what I was thinking, but now might have a sump instead of 2 fishtanks. Any good plans?



Also, insulation is a must. Any good ideas about insulation?

If I run a sump then I'll add yabbies to it. Just for a little taste of yummmmmm


Great idea to get the set up going now and then add fish later in Spring.

My setup seems to work OK and is:
Fish tank water level at highest point of system
SLO out of fish tank
Gravity flow to growbeds
Bell Syphon (or continuous flow) to sump tank
Pump in sump sends water back to fish tank

My sump is also a fish tank containing eel tailed catfish.

But I only have it that way because of space constraints so that my fish tank has to be around the corner. There's no reason why the setup in your original drawing won't work.

A couple of other comments... based on my experience/mistakes.

Suggest stocking to the size of your growbeds. If in doubt, increase growbed volume (biological and mechanical filtration) rather than volume in your tanks. Suggest aim for at least 1:1 but you could have even more growbed volume than this. Doesn't take many fish to grow lots of plants and too many fish can cause problems with fish waste and ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.

I have some notes suggesting SP will start to die below about 6 C - but also a vague memory that people in chilly parts of Victoria keep them without heating or much insulation. But they won't eat much below 16 - 18 in my experience so insulation is good regardless. Silver perch live in Burrunjuck Dam just down the road from you (at least I used to catch them there when I was a kid) but I'm guessing the huge thermal mass means the water temp never gets as low as your system will in Canberra winters. I think you have some good advice regarding what to do for insulation in your other post.

Ditto to BuiDoi's comments about your timed pumping and potential water turnover issues (roughly total system volume per hour) - I think most who run with bell syphons pump continuously. Though Gunagulla's advice in your other post about reducing the flow to the beds overnight in winter is informed by lots of experience.

Change in design

Not sure if this would be better.

Does the FT have to be above the ST or can they both sit together on the ground and have the grow beds above the FT and ST.

Not sure about this.?????????????

Or am I better of going with the original design which basically uses both tanks and sumps.

Not sure???????????

Struggling to work out which design would work best.

Am now thinking that my original design with 2 tanks interlinked with pump in FT with SP should be better.

Any suggestions??????

Maybe the terminology is confusing. To my way of thinking, a sump tank can be a fish tank and vice versa.

The tanks you have fish in can sit above or below the growbeds. But, if above the GBs, you need a sump sitting below them.

I'm a bit confused about all the pipes in the drawing above. Can't see how you get the water up from the FT to the growbeds above. If your FT's water level was higher than the GBs, your setup would be essentially the same as mine. But, as I say, your original design will work too - although some will suggest that you should try not to pump fish tank water straight back to the fish or sump tank.

Hope all that makes sense... but if you have the capacity to have your FT under your GBs, consider starting with the KISS principle - with just one fish tank with a pump in it. You can easily add a second tank for yabbies once you have the basics mastered.

I like the KISS principle.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Think I'll go with this system:

Attachments:
Set up - System Design.png
Set up - System Design.png [ 29.27 KiB | Viewed 67 times ]

Having the two tanks connected and water going from the pump into grow beds as well as back to tanks for aeration. Will that work?

If not then I think I'll go for 1 tank and 2 grow beds. fish only no yabbies.

Do the investment to clay pebbles and you will be alright when it comes to cleaning it in 2 years time.

Fresh water mussels are just for polishing the water.

Silver perch or trout would be my choice.

Make sure you have a sump or a SLO and an RFF to remove solids.

Sorry. Picture now.

Do I need more aeration coming from the FT pump back into the fish tanks as well as into the GB's.

Do you have to have an RFF or SLO?

Can you just remove solids the old fashioned way with a piece of tubing sucking the solids and liquids through whilst dragging over the bottom of the tank. That is the way I used to do my old fish tanks.

Any thoughts?

Would there be to much water in the system above for my GB's? Meaning, insufficient nutrients?

If silver perch, you can get away without SLO and RFF for the first year.

If trout, you definitely need one. The weekly output from the RFF is the best fertilizer for fruit trees.

Hi Bunja77

I bet it's cold in Jerrabomberra today!

You can definitely vacuum the bottom of your tank to get the solids out. SLOs are easy to make and work well but not relevant to your latest design... ie water must be pumped out of your tank rather than flow by gravity.

you'll get a range of responses regarding the need for an RFF or other form of external filtration... I think it depends on how heavily you stock your tanks... I've got silver perch, have never had an RFF and have had no problems after two years - even though I've been heavily stocked for most of that time. You can also reduce the solids build up in your GBs with compost worms. You can always add one down the track if you think you need it.

Easier to comment on your water to grow bed proportion if you give some volumes - but insufficient nutrients isn't something I've seen discussed very often on here.. not many fish can grow heaps of plants.

But I suggest focus on fish stocking ratio to grow bed volume as the key issue. Rule of thumb is one fish that you plan to grow to plate size per 20 - 30 L of wet media. It's tempting to buy a lot more fingerlings - because they're so small - but they get hungry when the water warms up. I can say all that with confidence because I didn't listen to the same advice when I set my system up.

Then you try to get most or all of your system water circulated about once an hour.

Adding aeration to the tanks won't hurt... but, if your water turnover is sufficient, silver perch will probably do fine with your latest proposed setup... mine haven't had extra air for more than 18 months. As you suggest, it's possible to increase water oxygenation by having some of your pump's output diverted straight back to your FT or sump. But there's an argument that this is just circulating dirty water and you're better off having it go through your grow bed.

Your system will work... don't get too caught up on all the potential variations... there are a host of options and most of them seem to work well. If you haven't already, have a read of the IBC of aquaponics linked at the top of the page then go for it.