Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here's a drawing of the vertical tube system I designed, and a photo of the newly-completed real thing with the tubes rotated into the planting position.
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I changed a few details since I posted the original design Here. The most notable change is that each tube now rests in a plastic funnel so that any overflow will run down the tube and into the funnel, then through slots cut around the edge of the end caps:
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I just finished building it today and it seems to be running fine. So far there's no evidence of any leakage around any of the grow holes but I feel a lot safer having the funnels in place to catch any "accidents". I'm going to run it for a week or so to leach out any residues etc. then change all the water and run it for another week before adding fish.

That's pretty darn cool, Jay!

Closest I have seen a system end up to the drawing yet. Impressive work Jay congrats!

Awesome. Such neat work you do. Nothing like my hacked-up PVC.

Terrific looking set up Jay, welcome. Look fwd to seeing some fishies and plants.

Good work JM!! Interesting take on the inward shaped grow spaces.
Mostly I have seen the ones that convex rather than concave.
C1

Great stuff. Just watch out for spillage over the lips as plant roots grow and slow the flows thru the pipes.

How tall are your pipes? The holes look pretty close together, what are you going to plant there? What medium have you used in them? I like the way you've used the funnels, very simple (and cheep)

Dandy! What size are the pipes, what kind of pump and is it continous flow or flood and drain?

TX

Thanks for the comments. The tubes are 4" diameter and about 57" long, each with 12 grow holes spaced 4" apart vertically and 7.75" between centers of the pipes. The holes go more inward than outward because that's what the plastic wanted to do once I got it hot with a heat gun. At first I used a gloved hand to hold them open as they cooled but that got painful so I made a tapered wooden plug to jamb in each hole while I heated the next one:



Even though the plastic is pushed inward at the top it seems to wet the pea gravel pretty well across each hole:



The tubes weigh just over 40 pounds each when filled with wet pea gravel. I can remove each tube if necessary just by lifting a few inches and swinging the bottom toward me. I expect it will be necessary to wash the gravel after growing a crop or two, and this way I can clean one tube at a time so I'll only lose 20% of the bio filter.

The pump is a basic $60 pond pump with a relatively high head capacity (7 foot lift). It's continuous flow and I adjusted it for the optimum flow rate using the LAR method (looks about right). I also put a diverter valve on the right so that I can water the house plants with the old fish water through a hose when it's time to do a partial water change.

I'm planning to add about a dozen baby tilapia in a couple of weeks. I'm fortunate to be able to get them locally in Milwaukee so it's economical to get a small quantity. As for plants, we're planning on trying spinach, lettuce and various herbs to see what works and what doesn't.

Jay, I don't know much about the vertical systems, but you have inspired me. Why does the water not flow out the bottom plant holes as the tube fills. I know nothing of physics obviously!!
I have a north facing wall screaming for a couple dozen vertical towers. (North facing in our part of the world is good.) Assuming i can put a sump tank in to regulate my fish tank volume, i could comfortably instal these as a stage2 to my new system and add a few more fish for nutes.

You are obviously a craftsman, which i most assuredly am not. As your pics and explanations are quite clear, think i will give it a crack and see how i go.

You should investigate whether or not you can patent that set-up. It looks modular, simple and you could make a mint selling them i reckon.

TT, tower systems have been used by several others here in the forum and are widely used troughout the world for hydroponic growing.. mainly strawberries... Israelis and South Africans utilise them extensively

they are beautiful! They're much neater than mine My strawberry runners arrive next weekend planting time

Sorry Rup, been living under a rock hehe.

TT, here are some recent pix of mine