Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

dam here's the pic

here the actually set up.

if i had to guess i would say i got about 2000 + gall

Fish wont overflow dont the hill ?

more pics the taler is the slump tank the other is the bio filter

this was my first concern so i put in a 3/4 overflow in the main pond useing pvc

bio filter useing soft drink bottle covers

The short can (bio fillter) is filled with the corks, the taller can is covered with shade-cloth to keep the leaves out.

The clips are pvc 3/4 pipe cut the long ways first then in 1 inch intervals. to hold the cloth to the can.

Varying the sizes of these clips allows them to do many jobs

I like the clips. Great idea.

Hi CB
I like the bottle cap idea, they wont have much surface area though so hopefully you have loads of them in there

I use plastic pan scrubbers in my aquarium filters and they last for years..the colours fade a bit over time though.

I couldn`t find a reference for bottle caps but as a comparison: 0.5" river gravel has 90 sqft surface area per cubic foot vs 370 sqft for pan scrubbers.
Only problem is you`ll need about 128 of them to make a cubic foot

Yup hex there are better ideas for bio filter media, but the caps are FREE and work great at trapping solids. Also there slightly buoyant/light weight and since they are no fish in the filter this property helps get rid of mosquito larvae. The caps also remind me of 'mini' flow-forms

I will soon be adding some shade cloth to increase surface area.

Is there a surface-area/gallon ratio????????

Synaptoman those clips can be used for any hing even cloths pins lol.

I will soon be adding some shade cloth to increase surface area.

as soon as i plan how to add the grow beds.....................

Was thinking flood and drain but now thinking nft because i could also keep small fish in the grow bed

Hi CG (why did i put CB last time? no clue lol)

Its the first time i`ve heard of bottle caps being used for filter media, i`m sure they`ll work fine and i give you 10 out of 10 for your ingenius recycling

Regarding flood/drain and NFT, i`ve been testing a makeshiift hybrid flood and drain/ NFT design to try to solve some of the drawbacks of both methods (clogging, low DO, buffering, weight, cost etc).

No results thus far but my light levels leave much to be desired, equally it could be that it just doesn`t work but I`m still optimistic

Neat idea with the bottle caps CG.

Didn't realise they were bouyant and that will be handy. Looks like one more thing to collect

Hey hex can you go in to detail or even show me a pic or 2??