Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK folks, time for a system update...

I'm now pumping water
Cycling with a few goldfish

Current setup
Fish tanks - 5 x 500L (common manifold)
Growbeds - 2 x 280L metal things
Sump - 1 x 300L "pickle bin"
Tank pump - Laguna MAX-FLO 3500
Sump pump - EasyPump 300AV

Tank pump works on a timer
Grow beds use standpipes
Sump pump with float switch
Water return to tanks via venturi aerators

Planned setup
3 x 500L growbeds
One pump for each GB, sequentially controlled with microprocessor.
Lots of fish and vegies!

more..

Gee that is no nice and clean. Pretty colours too! I like what you have done.

Dear Scott,
That Venturi intake is genius. How did you work out the length and internal diameter to get the necessary airflow? The noise would be less than with the floating two-pipe set up Joel had for his round tank 5 GB system.
cheers
Highlander [Andrew]

very pretty mate. Brilliant reco on those crappy ol gal tanks, bitta work gone in there, I remember the early pics. Do you have lots of tiny holes in ur water return pipes in the fishtanks? It seems to extend into the base of the tank. Is it capped there?
I have struggled a bit with venturis, am no plumber.
Have you gone with the extra pumps for a bit of redundancy? It seems most of ur fishtanks are joined at the base.

The venturi's are made from two x 25mm to 20mm reducing couplings.

I used "HR" brand reducing couplings as they have a nice taper inside, other brands are just a square step.

The black breather tube is an irrigation riser with some rubber tape to provide a seal. (EDITED Note taper cut on tube)

The feed extends to the bottom of the tank with an open 45 degree coupling at the bottom. No holes except for the venturi breather pipe

They are not a perfect venturi, but they are simple and effective!.
I played with other idea's but ended up following the KISS principle.

It's all a compromise between aeration, water flow, noise and complexity.

Noise was the main factor for me as the tanks sit in my outdoor eating area.

At the end of the main pump line, I added an open ended riser (see photo).
This cuts down any noise from air pockets in the main line, it also acts as a damper to stop water coming out of the venturi breather when the pump starts.

Well Done!!!!!

thanx so much

Hi Scott,

Looking very good!

Would you mind elaborating on your venturi setup? I can't quite follow how it works.

Also, what is the black flexible pipe you are using? How does it connect to pressure pipe? It looks very useful!

Keep up the good work!

Groovy!

Scott
The black hose is this
http://www.creativepumps.com.au/zpumps/ ... clamps.htm

It's connected to the PVC pipe with a faucet adapter
http://www.wetearth.com.au/Product/Prod ... ubCatID=33

and a hose tail
http://www.creativepumps.com.au/zpumps/ ... _tails.htm

and finally a hose clamp
http://www.creativepumps.com.au/zpumps/ ... clamps.htm
I don't thing the clamp is really necessary, once the hose goes over the barb fitting, it is very difficult to get off.

The venturi (white bit in photo)works by restricting the return flow from the the sump tank.
The restriction causes a low pressure and suck lots of air in through the breather pipe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venturi_effect

Not sure if this answer's your question ??

Very nice Scott.... yep I remember the growbed photos when you first started....

Lot of work gone in to things, glad it's all coming together for you.

One thing I notices the water level in the tank with the goldies seems very high.... maybe drop it down a little to provide a margin for error/overfow, and more particularly to prevent water loss through splash when you're feeding bugger fish

Time to report my first HSM
System has been running without a problem for two week with 10 small goldies.

Yesterday I bought another 10 to help with ammonia production.
All was going well with the new fishie's until late last night.

I found one tank nearly empty, others overflowing and half the fish missing.

It would appear that the shy new fish had decided that the manifold connecting the tanks would be a good place to sleep.

This restricted the flow between tanks and it all went bad.

After an hour of midnight messing with fish and pumps,I managed to clear most of the fish from the manifold.

Todays damage report
Lost about 200L of water
2 dead goldfish

Oh well, no big deal. All part of the leaning process.
The manifold intakes are now fitted with filters to stop shy fish entering.

Did a water test tonight.
Water temp 22.5 degrees
PH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate 0
Also added 1 cap of Seasol and Charlie carp to help the struggling plants

Should I be trying to lower the PH ?

perhaps just ease up on the feeding for a few days. This will give ur bio a chance to convert that nitrite. pH should come down in time. You will know u are getting nute lockout from high pH cause ur plants will just stop growing, (notwithstanding u only have a small fishload.) If u decide to add phosphoric acid etc to reduce pH, do it over a few days, this will reduce stress on the fish.

Depending on how well buffered your water is, it could take a fair while to get that ph down. I would put a bit of phosphoric acid in, esp whil you have just goldies in there. Otherwise you could waste a month with no plant growth like we did