Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Okay it's my first post as i have been lurking for awhile, but i really like these big scale ideas, help me refine and assess my own plans which are slowly coming to fruition.

But i have some questions and suggestions about this massive set up

1) how exactly does the overflow water from the pond green house get to the grow beds? is their in enough vertical height difference between the two to get a decent flow.

2) i assume that the sump will 'empty' during a water cycle 1 phase, so 49000L or so of water will be added to the ponds, so 49000 L of water will overflow into the GB's, which are roughly 18000 L, theirs a small disparity in water volume here, why not just go direct to the sump in this case?

3) which leads to my next query/concern, if you plot out the cycling times you always end up at a point where the sump-pond pump and the GB pumps are on, big power draw, in fact when i did a dirty power calc your average power worked out at around 720 Whrs, and your using a 600W wind turbine, if you rejig the cycles so they don't over lap you can end up with a lower peak and a power figure thats closer to the 600W the turbine can supply (at max so i'd actual be aiming for around 450-500W average but i'm a conservative)

4) why have the sump in the green house?, if you moved the sump outside you'd have more GB space, true you may lose some thermal mass in the green house and you may already have set it up concreted in place, but with a sealed or closed sump outside you may have less humidity concerns in the green house as well.

But all it all i think its a great system and project, mine will be much smaller (to start with....) oh and those poor springboks, (my wife is a Rhodesian (note Rhodesian, not Zimbawean her terms) and has taken on SA as a defacto now her land of birth no longer exists and gives me heaps when ever the wallabies play SA)

...and a great game it was...
now for the ABs.

Yes, the water level (1000mm) is higher than the top of the GB's (700mm). When the pump starts the level rises to about 1100mm providing even more pressure. attached an image to give you a better idea. At this site however, I an toying with the idea of pumping water from the sump in 3 directions (ponds, GB's and strawberry towers) all running back into the sump.



I always plumb in a bypass and send some of the water (as much as is needed) back into the sump, but as mentioned above, I might change the flow patterns.



We'll also be using solar panels. I am working towards a power budget of under IKW for the pumps(s) and aerators. I am currently researching propeller pumps to save on power.



The system is in a cattle paddock and even if covered I've got cows wandering around tripping over piping, pumps, sump cover etc. I feel safer with it inside of the greenhouse. I have bought a factory reject fibreglass swimming pool shell as the sump.



don't mention the rugby, I'm still fuming.

How many people do you reckon can have their vegie supplies from this sized system?

There are 24 x 6m GB's. If we're talking African village scenarios here, probably 24 extended families of 6-10 people, say a village of 150 to 250 people. And then there's the FISH !!

Thats a lot of food

Hi synaptoman,

I love this setup and an thinking using something similar with fibreglass pipes as growbeds. How close together are you poles for cross supporting the growbeds?

thanks

I use 4 supports per 6m length so that's one at each end and then every 2m.

I have decided to use a reject swimming pool of about 25000L as a sump and we spent the week digging a suitable hole. I met the pool guy and guided him down the torturous pass and up the other side with the pool on the back of a trailer. I had to drive ahead with my hazard lights on and warn oncoming motorists of a wide load. This road, in places, is hardly wide enough for two cars so a 3.6m wide swimming pool might just present a problem.

Attached some shots of the pool arriving.

Sweeeeeet synapto!
a bit of a mission but worth the effort!

great!!!

goodness

Now that's a sump!

Can you send them guys over to dig my sump?

The ground looks the same OB