Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I came across these guys that are doing some pretty cool things in urban Kansas City. They have a pretty cool AP set up, but they are predominately focusing on aquaculture. Here's a video they put together as a tutorial for making a swirl filter cheap and easy.




the biggest problem they came across is flattening out the bottom of the barrel. I believe blue barrels are flat on the bottom, and would probably hinder algae growth by being more opaque. Am I wrong on this? It's to dark her to go outside and look at a barrel.

Here's a link to their website, If you find this video useful, you can do is toss them a couple bucks, or a little love to support their cause.

http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/

I Believe most Australian Blue drums are the same, Generally Plastic drums are made by the Blow molding procces, This causes the ridge along the bottom of the drum which makes it hard to fit bulk head fitting to the bottom of drums, this is why the urbanfarming guys went to so much trouble to flatten!

Cool info though!

These guys are kinda funny.

Good info too.

Nice video, I agree white drums will get bad algae.
Yes the Blue drums are the same, some dont have quite the bump on the floor. I used floor drains and lots of sealant and have just one small leak from 3 drums. Ive seen another which drains through side of drum with inverted elbow to near drum floor which could be even easier and let the drums sit on the floor.
The flat floor (without the cone) works quite well and saves heaps of work, dirt only builds to 20mm then sucks out,
The cement would add to pH Id guess, not sure why he trims elbows, they work OK without this.
If I was doing it again, Id use the 80mm pipes as he has done 50mm creates a bit of headloss
With the fish load and flow he would be running this filter will work very hard.
I used K1 media for filter and biofilter which is dead simple

http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/show ... new-system

Also 1000 fish between those 8 IBC's is 125 fish per IBC. Sure there is enough filtration but growth would be restricted due to over crowding IMHO. I could only imagine how 125 trout would behave all crammed into one IBC like that.

I wouldnt bet theres enough filtration or adequate biofiltration for that feed load.
Interested to see how it went.

plates??? one word ..........sikaflex..........

More then likely its Tilapia which seem to love it!



Thats why he's using a vortex filter and additional Bio filtering before it gets the gravel beds!
you would be supprised how much nutrient is removed from the system just with the vortex filter alone!

yea, thats more beleivable wolve - I have trout on the brain lately

Makes a good point that species is something to take into mind.

The end point is that it really comes down to feed going in which determines the load going out..... but thats something Im not quite prepared to go into right now....

Im tired....bed time

come on stay up and debate!..........

I'm hoping that they'll be posting some new video updates now that spring is here in the states, hopefully the tornadoes that have been rocking the midwest haven't been knocking on their door. They also have a very interesting biodigester I'm looking forward to seeing how it's going.

Lol! Lube with wd40....other then that snaps!

Does anybody know of places that sell ready made swirl filters? I've been searching and all I can find is Koi filters that are quite massive for about 400 bucks. There is a spin mold manufacturer where I live, and I'm thinking about starting a business making ready made vortex kits, at a competitive price, with custom colors. I'll have to do some patent checks and market research, but It may be worth it if there is a good market. Even if I started with barrels and made a plastic welded inset funnel, it may be fairly cheap to manufacture and scale. I definitely wouldn't do this set up, as the concrete weight would add to shipping costs immensely.

Here's the one I found

http://www.amazon.com/Clear-V-105-Vortex-Filter-Matala/dp/B0056CREZ6

Expensive.

I really dont think you need a cone shape on the bottom.

Think of a blue barrel set up so the water incoming creates the swirl the same they have done in the first vid you posted. A nice sized outlet in the centre at the bottom will still catch most of the solids as they swirl and drop to the bottom. A cone shape will direct solids better but you would still get most of it with a flat bottom.

Depends how much load you are running.


For example - I have an extra pump in my FT that swirls the water, there is moulding ripples on the bottom of the FT so its not a smooth flat surface. All the solids still end up in the centre. The floor diameter is about 1.8m across. Big area for the solids to move. A nice slow swirling motion.

A home made set up could really do a very similar job.

Food for thought.