Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'd have the flow in the biofilter going up - pipe in at the bottom, pipe out at the top - because then you can have the filter wool/foam bit at the top where you can easily check it and remove it for cleaning.

Swirl or radial flow for the solids filter? Stuff I've read (documents posted here by other members, mostly) says radial flow is more effective.

Mel your idea makes much more sense that way i am flooding the filter, good eye

That should allow me to place the swirl filter in the ground and bio filter on the top, a bit of juggling would be needed to check the swirl filter for poo or to make sure its cleaned out 100%

This is all new to me so i will have to look into radial filters i don't know what they are or how they work

I just watched a video on Youtube of a DIY radial filter i can see why its much more efficient at removing waste because the bucket at the top of the barrel doesn't give the poo a good chance of flowing out the exit pipe with gravity

I will continue to look into the radial filter i think it will be a much better filter for me than the swirl filter because its like chalk and cheese to the swirl but a lot more effort goes into making one, mine will be 60L the one i just watched looked like 200L, 60L of water wastage i think i can bearable but not 200L once or twice a week

Couple things:

- you'll need to put both filters at about the same height - the outlet in the RFF will set the water height in there, and the outlet in the biofilter will need to be lower than that so that the water can flow properly under gravity. I'll draw you a diagram later today!

- you don't need to drain the whole RFF to get the solids out of it. The simplest way to clean it out is just to use a narrow siphon and 'vacuum' the bottom, that won't take out much water at all, and then you can let it settle in a bucket and pour the clear water back into your system. You can also put a drain in the bottom with a tap on it to do the same thing.

Hopefully this will be a) readable and b) understandable...

Mel s got it sorted.

Very easy to read Mel thanks heaps for drawing this up for me, u rock

Do u know what size pipe i should use between the RFF and BF? i will order the uni seals today and pickup the PVC piping, barrels will be picked up tomorrow

I found 60L barrels for $8 each bargain but they have had shampoo inside of the drums in bags, do u think these will still be ok to use?

Pipe size depends on what flow rate you're pumping at. Ace posted this link a little while back, it's awesome (though you will need to convert gallons to litres):

http://aquaponicsnation.com/forums/topi ... pipe-size/

Best to find the pipe size that corresponds to what you're pumping, and then go up one. That way any loss of flow due to corners friction etc will be handled.

As long as the barrels are made of a safe/stable plastic, that sounds fine! If the shampoo was in bags it won't have come in contact with the barrels.

I was thinking of using 50mm PVC pipe because it's readily available and a 3000LPH pump

You're using an IBC for your fishtank, right? That pump's going to be a bit overpowered for that amount of water - the usual rule of thumb is that you should be turning over your fishtank volume once an hour. So a 1000LPH pump (plus a little to account for head) would be plenty. Either way, 50mm pipe will work fine.

Yeah correct i'm using the IBC container, i will look for a smaller pump

Cheers

Awesome! I look forward to seeing your progress, hope it all goes well.

[Mel] You're using an IBC for your fishtank, right? That pump's going to be a bit overpowered for that amount of water - the usual rule of thumb is that you should be turning over your fishtank volume once an hour. So a 1000LPH pump (plus a little to account for head) would be plenty. Either way, 50mm pipe will work fine.

[Barra] I was thinking of using 50mm PVC pipe because it's readily available and a 3000LPH pump

I presume we are talking here about the product pump rating (ie. a Pondmax 3000 or something that says 3000 LPH in its name). These are zero head flows at best and low watt pumps drop pretty quick with a bit of head.
eg. something like those the Cheidys shop shows http://backyardaquaponicsshop.com/produ ... nts/pumps/

If above is case, I would stay with the 3000LPH pump (or at least something in the 2000-3000 range). In which case you will be dealing with a low wattage pump and my experience is that 2000 series pumps just do an IBC + grow bed. A 3000 LPH will probably only deliver about half of the theroetical rate in most AP's anyway and if you find a bit excess you can just put an inline return direct to the FT as aeration for the excecss (which is a real plus for the FT DO levels). Theory is great but the low end fountain pumps <2000LPH generally struggle to deliver decent flow and mostly have too small outlet pipe/tube fittings - you want 19mm at least.

you will need a decent amout of pump flow rate (diameter + low velocity, rather than pressure velocity) to service a larger diameter distribution pipe network and filters.


great schematic Mel.

Will this be a ok pump http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/re ... cable.html it's a bit pricey for a chinese made pump

Barra, Ive built the two stage filtration a couple times as Mel has illustrated so I can give you some feedback on different methods.

The first one I built was for an overwintering project for Catfish. Used dual 20L buckets, basically pumped water from aquarium => into bottom of first bucket filled with shade cloth in the bottom then a foam filter pad on top to filter small material then this exited the top => into bottom of second bucket full of K1 with an aerator for bio-filtration then return via the top to aquarium. This was essentially small scale RAS.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15964&hilit=project






The second was a bit larger for my DWC extension to my old AP system using 2 x 60L bins. But as I didn't require biofiltration as it was connected to my AP I only needed pre-filtering. This was a pretty standard FT =>RFF =>POLISHER => DWC. First bin was a standard RFF which then flowed into the bottom of the second bin that was full of 30% shade cloth then onto the DWC. Unlike Mels illustration both my bins were level and outlets were level but the DWC obviously was lower to allow ease of flow.








In all honesty the shade cloth was a royal PITA. There are much better designs getting around now that allows backwashing and ease of maintenance. Trust me, pulling out lengths of shade cloth and trying to hose out all the gunk a few times a week gets very old. Have a good look at systems using MT tanks and alike like Dasboot. He's trailed many different designs and he seems to be on a maintenance friendly design.