Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Welshdragon - a fair number of us are also considering commercial ventures with AP. I for one would love to hear all the little fiddly details you think of and change to get it to work, so I can learn from your experience. All those you care to share, of course.

Hi Swanberg - good to speak to you.
We were advised that aquaculture people do not use solvent weld cement to stick their pipes together and that there was nothing else would do the job ,which seemed mighty strange to us so a quick search on the web found loads of adhesive silicone that will hold pipework together AND is safe with fish.
Moral of the story - listen to the experts then expand your knowledge.
It is what makes this project so exciting always learning practical things.
Just come in from getting all the lighting on line and socket outlets, so we can work in there 24 hours a day.
WD

Right on WD, silicone sealants are used in aquarium building and just about all of us have used a variant of the basic silicone sealant in out systems....just needs a decent time for the stuff to cure thoroughly before use

Thanks Elkay
We plan to run the system for a week to ten days to iron out any problems,de-chlorinate the water etc before any fish are introduced. There will be hiccups but that is how we learn.WD

Why WD? Gravity feed from GB back to fish tanks sounds so marvellously easy. What is the benefit of using a sump? I guess I should ask what a sump is too! Assumed it was another storage tank on way back to fish tank.

it's generally the lowest tank which is gravity fed from the return line, I have one for my system only because I am lazy and didn't want to dig (I go around OBO's for that ) But I'm running two pumps. Now I think about it, I really should of dug the fish tank at least 1/2 meter down, I could of eliminated the sump and 2nd pump.
The only real plus I find is the aeration.

Hi folks

Sorry about the delay in replying. We have made some progress and got the grow beds on their stands, clays balls in and we are in the process of setting up the feed pipes. This first set up has eight grow beds draining into one large round fish tank and the return water will be by gravity so the issue of a sump tank will not apply. Actually building the system gives great opportunity to devise different set ups so the next set up may be different.
Each grow bed holds ten 50 litre bags of Hydroton clay balls and lugging them down to the barn has knackered us however it has been educational.. plus trying to wash out the dust . Those who have done it know what I am talking about and the water still comes out all gritty. As we do not intend introducing the fish for another 8 - 10 weeks we should be able to get the water a lot clearer. A couple of pictures to give some idea of the seeming chaos in there. Since these pictures were taken we have added black plastic liners to the growbeds to smooth out the ridges.
Will keep you posted
WD and
OH

Chuck a 90 degree elbow on the return line to the sump at the bottom of the photo, this will let the water swirl around the tank and make the fish happy

Why line the beds? Are they not foodsafe? Ridges wouldnt have mattered

I was wondering if you plan to cycle the beds before the fish arrive, 8-10 weeks could give you a reasonable headstart.
It seems that one of the very few companies (Lausco Services) that carry a safe ammonia for fishless cycling (9.5% ammonia, 90.5% distilled water) is based in Wales.
The product name is "Enzo Household Ammonia".

...either that or add doses of humonia TCL style

In order to make the most of all the rain that we get in this part of the country - we have managed to buy a neat water collector called *Hercules* . It can be used to store water underground also if required- but in this instance -we want to utilise the water coming off the building! it can hold 1600 litres.
Our mains water is heavily chlorinated which isn`t very good for fish.

Inside - the work of setting up progresses slowly.
WD

First set up trialled !
This will take time to settle in and leaks etc sorted.
We will overcome!
There are eight grow beds around the fish tank.
Very difficult to get a good photo!
OH stuck up a ladder balancing with camera!

Starting to take shape and look like a working AP system WD...now for the fish and plants

looks good WD well done

Thanks lads and lasses.
Not rushing with the fish until early September which will give us time to get the beds working well. Then we should hit the long cool days of autumn for growing salads and pak choi,mizuna,minutina etc.
We are still ironing out some design faults like return pipes but we are confident we will get it right and learn for the next set up.We have most of the materials for that so hopefully it will go a bit smoother.
WD