Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I just thought I'd share my no tech rain collection system.

Ok, Maybe not "No Tech" seeing as another term for Stagehand is "Tech" so I suppose I'm the "Tech" in the system. That would be me pouring the buckets of water into the big barrel with the screen on to to keep the skeeters out.

my rain water barrel fills from the gaping hole in the gutter, I also had to put a mesh over using the same method as you to keep the birds out of the goldfish I put in to eat the mozzie larvae. Now i have to feed the fish because the mozzies can't get in

I have another tank without a metal ring and I use pegs for this one. The water just goes straight through the mesh. mesh is flyscreen.

cool, may be low tec, but better then nothing

nice barrell

mine collects from one side of the shed. hopefully one day all roof area can collect

i have screen also but still get mass amounts of skeeters. i was thinking maybe add a few of the skeeter eating minnows to my barrell??

the man is putting them into stagnant pools in foreclosed homes and they are gungry little guys and do very well from what im hearing

i hate skeeters and now they are much more prone to carrying encephilitis

Yep, some cheap goldfish or minnows can help keep the rain barrel from growing skeeters but then you need to avoid emptying the barrel all the way or you loose you skeeter eaters.

The screen over mine is two layers of window screen and that barrel hasn't bred any skeeters. Pretty much empty at the moment as it hasn't rained in a while.

I have used mosquito dunks before. They do not seem to hurt fish or frogs as I have witnessed both fish and frogs doing fine in a system heavily contaminated by mosquito dunks so I'm not too afraid of any of the ingredients in those anymore.

I run down spouts from gutters to IBC's. Attached to each fill opening on top of IBC is a paint strainer bag held in place with a bungee to catch debrie from the roof. Each IBC is elevated a foot or more to give gavity head to the dirt garden beds. The IBC outlet is reduced down to 3/4 inch and a garden hose is attached to drain to plants.
After our first rain in three months, all five are full. That gives me 1500 gal. irrigation water I dont have to pump from the well and thru the pressure pump. To store it for any length of time I treat with 1 cup of bleach per IBC to keep down algae. For emergency domestic use I could pass it thru a charcol filter in to a bucket.

Such a different climate we live in.
Here in Florida we get lots of rain for several months of the year and during the rest of the year we get very limited rain usually.
In any case, I'm not likely to go to the trouble to drink water off our roof (asphalt shingles don't really seem like a good thing to drink off of in my mind.) Currently we don't have any gutters either though I should probably make that investment. I need to replace a post in front by the garage because the bottom has rotted from the splashing of rain up on it.

i would like to upgrade my water catchment rig a lot someday and scavenge all of my roof areas. yes it rains a lot in some months and then not at all (especially when you might need it)

to get a drink when power is off i have this deep well ram pump but i shudder to think about trying to water a crop with it only

its deep, water is heavy and im getting older but it will deliver cold clean water if you have enough arm to work it.

Cool looking old fashioned well pump JohnnyH, Did you dig/drill the well yourself?

hi there BRB , no i not dig it. its at 147' deep.along with the 2hp electric pump that uses the holding tank pictured.

i finally located a welldriller locally that was not trying to rip me off and dig a second bore hole for the ram pump.

i knew it could be done as my dad was a cast iron and steel plumber
and his fishing buddy was hard core well driller.

they will tell you it wont work. just so they can bore another hole

if i lived in an area with some wind i would have a windmill to operate the big green beast. for now its just me when the power is off. and thats quite frequently

make me know ill need backup power for any AP i do manage to get set up.

my best freind lives on the sabine river on big lake rd. do you know ehere that is in lake charles?

he is supposed to bring me some mud bugs

Big lake Rd on the Sabine river, I spent a few months in Lake Charles working in the Citgo Refinery installing a big recip compressor, then went back and redone the concrete/grout foundation under another. I also fished the Sabine River and Toledo Bend Reservoir. Its probably the only clear fresh water in Louisiana. It's early for mud bugs, he must be a close friend cause they are probably expensive right now, but they will be tender! I am redoing my greenhouse after the last storm and am planing an AP crawfish experiment in there. I also lost all my fish so I am planning a fairly large battery backup system to be charged by alternative energy. Good luck with your system,
Bill

im not sure yet if i like eating fish or not but i know i like dem mudbugs sure would be nice to have them happily making little offspring in my yard.

please post all you want when you start with them as i sure will be following it closely.

thanks brother, johnny