Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The one thing I've really learnt from my first system is:

The bigger the sump, the more robust your system will be.

...depends on the setup, I was thinking of:
pump stops...GBs full...GBs empty while pump is stopped
sump tank not sufficient capacity to hold all the water from GB...sump over flows

OK lets assume that the GBs drain through a standpipe or bell siphon.

The water would have to get to a certain level before these "trigger"?
The only time there would be a problem would be when the siphons trigger and the pump dies soon after.

Knowing old Murphy I reckon that is when the pump will die

Got some ideas about the system I hope to put in in Feb so just thinking out loud mainly

I have a new HdPE 220L wheelie bin which I will use for the sump. The sump pump would have outpaced any inflow from the grow bed (flood and drain via standpipe), but this will give some breathing space in event of a failure. Main problem now is digging hole for wheelie bin in a bit of a confined space. Hope to get this done between christmas and new year.

The setup will be bacteria seeded via my 4ft cichlid setup inside by the way of water, some gravel and a small 2nd filter I have which will be moved to the ibc along with some feeder goldies to get me going.

also having problems sourcing 25-20mm coupling reducer to fit the 40mm draing holes in my bath for the standpipe. Local tradelink, rheese and B all out. I found 1 at a local hware but it has a flat edge around the reduction point instead of the tapered one shown in the "how to make a standpipe" thread.

with you on that Sky, last time I went looking for reducers they were changing from the tapered type to what you described , in my case it didn't matter...look at it from a different angle and see if it will work by having a small length of 20mm pipe protruding from the bath to then fit the reducer over it, then connect onto the 25mm stand pipe...or have I got the pipe sizes the wrong way round

thanks will give it a go

on the shape of the couplers as they are in a low pressure situation you could probably use a lathe to machine one to a taper

or at a pinch put a ring or silliocne around it let it set a fair bit ( set a skin) then gently push it into place, that should seal it good enough no?

Cheers

I was going to use one of these as my sump, but then I noticed it said "not for storing drinking water" on it. Hrrm. Anyone know what these suckers are made of and if they'd be OK for our purposes? I reckon it's just a disclaimer "just in case".

Hi Gemmell

This question was posed by Scott some time back

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... php?t=2011

At the time we had a PM discussion on the issue, and generla toxicity issues.

Scott found the Italian manufacturers web site which made no reference to the use of any recycled materials. He also sent an email request to the manufacturer, but I do not know if he received a reply.

Bottom line is that I have three of these ganged together for my SP, so I hope they are OK.

gg

I think this is part of the "don't drink tank water" mentality that society is infected with.

Ah yes, right here:
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... c&start=37
thanks for that GG (and Scottt)!

Jaymie, I see your point.

I guess in the end we should just put it in perspective. Eating plants and vegetables grown in it can't possibly any worse than something like smoking. You probably get people who are pack a day smokers who won't drink tank water because of the long term health effects.....

There's also tons of preservatives, additives and pest sprays in/on shop food which we don't know long term effects for. So really it's safe by those standards anyway.

Not to mention all the crap they put in our water to make sure it's safe to pump for so long, and let sit in pipes and HW tanks... I much prefer tank water, I do however acknowledge that in the city rainwater will be nastier than in the country, because of the smog and smoke and other crap that settles on our roofs. But a basic filter package gets most of those out.

Here is an article from a NZ newspaper regarding a woman who was concerned that the health of her babe would be affected by the noise from roadworks...we really are strange creatures...so logical, yet so blind in many respects.

ROFL