Backyard Aquaponics
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New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
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Author:  ZeroOne [ Jul 14th, '13, 02:17 ]
Post subject:  New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Hello Everybody on Backyard Aquaponics. :wave1:

My name is Steve, I'm from Johannesburg in Sunny South Africa.
It is my pleasure to become a part of this community, I hope to share and learn lots of stuff here.

I recently built my very own first Aquaponics system from an IBC.

It consists of:
1000L IBC tank
Clay balls growing media.
Radial Flow Filter
Mechanical Filter with Bio balls at the bottom.
10 Mozambique tilapia in the tank already.
1200L Submersible pump
4 Solar Powered light to see at night.
2 Air stones.
300W Heater.


Here are a few pictures of it.
Full system.
Image

Front View
Image

Radial Flow Filter and Mechanical/Bio Filter
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This is my first try at Aquaponics and its been a learning experience so far. Looking forward to continuing with it and building bigger and better systems one day.

As you can see its not perfect yet, I had a few problems along the way.

My most recent problem is the green water caused by the Algae, is there any way to get rid of this?
I've been considering making my own UV filter to try clear the water, will this work?

Also my plants haven't been growing to happily, I don't know why.
I thought it might be the water quality so I built the two filters to help clear up the water and grow bed of any solid sediments .

Any help would be appreciated.

Looking forward to learning more about Aquaponics.

Steve a.k.a ZeroOne
Author:  earthbound [ Jul 14th, '13, 11:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Nice one Steve..... :wave1:

Looks like you've studied up a lot before building.... :thumbright:
Author:  Charlie [ Jul 14th, '13, 16:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Yea, look great. Welcome to the forum.
Author:  ZeroOne [ Jul 14th, '13, 20:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Hi earthbound and Charlie, thank you for the welcome :)

Yes, I did a lot of research before I built my system. I'm still learning new stuff everyday and hope to learn some more on this forum.

I built my very own DIY UV Filter today, here are some pics. I do hope it works.

I used:
1 45L Silver plastic Container
1 15W UVC Bulb
1 Ballast with wiring and switch.
And plumbing fittings.

Componenets
Image

Fitted together
Image

Radial Flow filter, UV Filter, Bio Filter
Image

Light in and ready to clear the green water :)
Image

I added filter mesh and kitchen scrubs to the bio filter for more surface area.[/img]
Image

[b]Complete system
Image

So all in all it the water gets gravity feed from the tank to the radial flow filter then it goes to the UV filter switch has a nice little swirl in it also.

I figured that the water should stay and slow down a little while in the silver container before it goes to the bio filter and then gets pumped up to the grow bed.
Author:  Charlie [ Jul 14th, '13, 20:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
If you black out your FT using shade cloth or similar you will get rid of the 'pea soup' in a few weeks. No real need for the UV filter eventually.
Author:  Oosie [ Jul 15th, '13, 05:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Hi Steve,

Could you point me to where you bought the clay balls from? And possibly how much you paid?

I have 13mm gravel in my system but I'm looking to use the clay for the next one.
Author:  ZeroOne [ Jul 15th, '13, 16:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Thanks for the Tip Charlie, I will cover my fish tank to prevent the Algae from growing any more.

On the bright side its been 1 day and the water already seems to be clearing up by using my DIY UV Filter.

Hi Oosie

I bought the grow media from here:
Garden and Lifestyle Centre - cnr Beyers Naude and Jim Fouche, Randpark Ridge

I cant remember exactly how much it was but I think it was like R200 for 50L of medi, It was quite pricey.
I still have yet to find a place in Gauteng that stocks it for cheap.
Author:  Ron De Reuck [ Jul 22nd, '13, 19:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Hi Steve

Had the same prob in the beginning, covered with 80% shadenet and prob solved. The plantgrowth was bad in the beginning (2 months) but some iron solved that. I must say that some wormtea once a week helped as my fish to plant in growbeds was low.
Author:  eboo [ Sep 2nd, '16, 23:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: New Member From South Africa, building an IBC system.
Hi Steve

I am also from JHB in south Africa. I am interested in putting together a DIY system in my backyard. Im still researching it though. I would love to get hold of you. Could you perhaps message me so that we can get in touch.
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