Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yay, I finally finished the dirt garden on Saturday. It's child, dog and duckproof so I had some time to invest in my AP system. The only spot we could put it that didn't get some kind of shade during the day was the north-north-east facing end of the house. I began by clearing a space. (insert pics here)

The CHIFT PIST system consists of one 1000L IBC purchased for $150 through e-bay. Was used for storing water only I'm advised.
GBs are 5 x 160L tubs from B. The wall height is about 40cm but I'll only fill it to about 30cm so GB volume will be about 600L.
Water flows from the FT via a 50mm PVC pipe.
Has anyone spotted what is missing?
The sumps!
Picking up 2 more tubs from B tomorrow to act as sumps and these will be placed directly below the GB's. 4 GB's will drain directly into the tubs so no plumbing required, except for the 5th tub which will need a short length of pipe or gutter to get the water into the sump.
Drains are plastic drains from B with the mesh bit removed...excellent tip I read in the forums was to use a reducer to fit into the drain and it fits perfectly...just clicks into place. Here's a photo of my randomly drilled standpipe and the riser (have I got those terms right?). I only have 1 hole drilled into the riser at the moment but will add holes to increase the drain rate if needed.

Good work. Coming along nice.

The drain in the FT comes up from the bottom and goes through the side. Crudely cut crenellations allow solids to exit with taking fish.

I am anticipating that the 2 sleepers in each section may sag a bit under the weight and will shore up later as needed.


And here a pic of the dirt garden. My wife and I are now competing to see who can grow the best foods, her in dirt (with unlimited supplies of horse and cow poo) and me in the AP.

I'm a little uncertain of the best way to ensure equal and adequate distribution of water to the GB's. Does water really have to be spread around the GB, I was going to pour it directly down from the pipe.
Plastic taps to control the flow cost a fortune...can anyone suggest the cheapest way to balance the flow to all 5 beds?
Tomorrow I get gravel and 10 goldfish to start. Any construction tips happily received.

I have started with 10 Goldfish and my system is smaller than yours. It is a bit slow and I have had to add nutrients. You may receive benifit from your higher temps.

Those sized tubs... not a problem....

Taps to balance the inflow are needed if you're using siphons... to get the siphon to break properly...

With a stock standard "standpipe" arrangement... no need for taps....

Just drill more holes if needed to balance the inflow....

If you want to use taps go to page 7 on my thread Alexmac go down the page until you see the black bodied red top tap. You get these at the likes of Plastic Plumbing much cheaper than B's.
I pour the water into the centre of the GB and have no problems. These were only around three of four $'s each. They are twenty five mm.
Good luck,
Alex

You wont be able to compete for 6 months - the Ap system will mature and woop the dirt garden

No - some use grids, I run it down one side of my GBs, vb puts it into the GBs with one pipe in


wash the gravel
enjoy the wonders of BYAP

Another weekend gone and more progress made. It got too dark for photos unfortunately.

I picked up 10 goldfish today to get things started and when i returned home I noticed a small drip,drip,drip at the bottom of my IBC. To put up with a slow drip or fix it? Dammit, I better do it right. First off I crowded the fish into my daughters small 10L fish tank and went to seal the leak. Because the gutter is right next to the tank I was able to pump most of the water back into my water tank instead of losing it.

Just about to patch the leak when I read that my roof and gutter silicone isn't mean't to be used underwater so it was off to B to get some aquarium grade sealant. Unfortunately, that takes 7 days to fully cure so a few modifications later, the fish are living in the sump until the big tank is ready next week.
I've got 3 of the 5 GB's online so the bacteria can start growing. 1 has a leak that I need to fix once it's dried out and the other has no gravel as I suspect I was short changed at the landscape yard. Will fill that up later.

One tip I can provide is if using the drain fittings for your GB's, keep the plugs handy rather than throw them out. If you need to lower the water level in your sumps for a few minutes, just bung the plugs into the GB's. This came in handy today when I realised I had to move my full sumps about 15cm to the left.

Here's a question for the more experienced APers here. I am/will be running a CHIFT PIST system on a 15min on, 45min off cycle. I have a valve inline with the pump to control the rate of flow of water up. I control the rate of fill by drilling more holes in the pipe going into the beds and the rate of drain by drilling more holes in the drain pipe.

Presently, the GB reaches overflow at about the 13 minute mark and once the pump shuts off it only just manages to drain in th 45 minutes before the pump turns on again. I have a feeling my filling time is about right but I should make it drain much faster. What are your thoughts, should I adjust things to make it drain faster?

If you are able to make it drain faster - do it.

Dont be too scared of the silicone

Dammit, the lid on the ibc still leaks. I've applied half a small tube of aquarium silicon on there. I really think the lid is just past it...does anyone know where I can pick up a replacement IBC lid? If it was really slow I'd live with it but when the ibc is full it's a dribble, not a drip. I'd just replace the seal but had to destroy the top lid to get it off and suspect the bottom lid will be the same and will need to be completely replaced.

Interesting, I tried to search for "ibc parts" and it came up with nothing, even "ibc" came up with nothing but IBC's came up with plenty...why would ibc not come up with hits in a search?

Oh dear, I made a mistake, I'm probably not the first to do this but a warning to those that might not have learnt this one yet. If you fill a tank with a hose, make sure you take the hose out when you are finished and not just turn it off at the tap....because you wife may come along and unplug that other end of the hose so she can use the tap and then you'll siphon out 1,000 liters of water overnight.
Fish are still living in the sump fortunately so no major losses...and we've had so much rain the big tanks are all overflowing so no worries about the water either but it could have been a catastrophe!

Regarding the IBC lid, my brother in law works in the plastics industry and is going to see if he can find a cap for the IBC. If not, he's going to weld a piece of plastic into the hole to seal it, yes, he can weld plastic.

hehe, been there done that with the hose - but I caught her in the act

Any New Photos on your Setup?

thats a funny change. most people just forget about the hose, over flow the tank and kill the fish with chlorine...........