Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

35 gallon (132 liter) barrel fish tank. Continuous pump to a flood tank with adjustable autosiphon cascading to 4 @ 1/2 barrel GB's. All will be housed in a 7ft. x 12 ft. (2m x 3.5m) greenhouse. The first set of 2 GB's are equalized and autosiphon to the next 2 set of equalized GB's and then autosiphon to the fish tank. Pump rate set to flood once per hour. This should minimize the draw down on the fish tank.

My concern is that the first GB will act like a clarifier and trap too many of the solids. But I am hoping that the system will equalize itself.

Any thoughts? You are a wonderful group to share your expertise in this forum.

the solids make their way through pretty easy

welcome

worms will take care of the solids. i dropped some compost worms in my beds and they happily took care of business.

Thanks Outback. That eases my mind. Timmy- I have about 100,000 red worms here. How many worms would you recommend in a 132 liter BG?

I will have pictures by the end of the week.

Would anyone be interested in a report about water testing the startup of the biofilter? If so, will do.

Welcome Fern Guy--100000 reds eh
Decent, well only a hanfull or 2 to start for 132ltrs.
Should be ample!

Thanks creative. I will add them to the system.

Does anyone know how to get a signature working? I can't get mine to work. In the meantime:

_____________________
I'm older than dirt so I think I'll use gravel.

in your profile section, click the Always attach my signature bit. To add the signature, click on the Edit Signature, a bit further up the page.

Fern Guy - No doubt you will have an answer soon!

Thanks Jaymie. I'm finishing up a materials list and then I'm off to get the last (maybe) fittings I need.

It is Sunday March 9 at 7am here. What time is it in the Outback

J, that was quick!

Well it is 9.13pm in Kalgoorlie WA
The rest of the 'outback' is about 2 hours later...

Creative- in about three hours can you give the lotto numbers. We can split the winnings.

I think most people's worries about cascading grow beds and auto siphons is that it could be tricky to get everything happening like clock work in the first place and then keeping it such as the system matures and builds up some bio-slime.

I do hope you try out the idea and share your findings with everyone about what works, what doesn't and what kind of special tinkering it required.

As to the worms, when you first start up the system, there isn't likely to be much food for them so there probably isn't any rush to add them before you have fish and plants going strong.

I think your system thread in the forum is a great place to keep record of your water testing results throughout your system setup and cycling. That way if you have any problems, people can look and see where you are in your cycling and what kind of water you are dealing with and better understand to give advice. It is also handy as a record for yourself.

Sage words TCL. Thanks. When I get bogged down in the planning of my system, y'all give me inspiration. BTW, the plural of y' all is "all y' all.

Does anyone recommend sterilizing a system before start up- say with bleach or peroxide?