Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

the magical wonderful 3600lph pump I got for free is a noisy piece of s&%&

Ive just installed both that and the old 1550 one inthe sump , the top gb fills within the 15minute timer spot , but the overflow into the bottom gb is too slow and it doesnt fill completely

pumps too noisy , drain holes ( one plugged ) arent big enough now , fill time too slow ....

BYAP shop no answer on the phone today , this thing WILL be running by tonight , Im off to the aquarium shot to see how much pump I can get for 150 bucks

Im thinking a 4800L ReSun king4 will push another 1200lph ino the top , it'll fill slower once I open up the second drain hole , but if its pushing that much then theoretically the overflow into the 2dn gb will be fast enough to get them both flooded in the smallest increment on the timer ( 15 minutes )

I really only want the one pump in the sump , so blowing more cash on this crazy scheme is going to help me sleep better .

its for my sanity , right ? Its worth the extra cash to get sleep and not stay awake thinkign about it ? yeah ?

Mate, the tornado pumps from the BYAP shop are the best value in the world, 3 year warranty, under $200. (4500lph)

nah , I got a good deal from a mate that owns an aquarium shop - 6000lph worth 170 for 100 bucks ..

problem is , its TOO powerful - my timers only got 15 minute increments but it only takes 5 minutes to fill the top AND bottom GB ( two holes in the top standpipe , one hole in the bottom GB's standpipe , so the outflow through the drain holes in the top one fill the bottom one

I had to T the pipe going into the top GB as it was blasting water in , overflowing in a couple minutes , getting 3cm OVER the overflow pipe / standpipe , flooding down and overflowing the tank itself ( despite there being a 30mm overflow pipe that fills the 2nd GB from the tank ( CHIFT PIST )
I was amazed that the pump was overflowing the whole system that quickly , If I'd not tee'd it off the pump probably would have run dry in the 15 minute on time

I suppose its time to invest in an electronic timer so I can set smaller incrememnts ( unless anyone knows of somewhere that sells non-digital timers with smaller increments )

the bottom growbed still takes quite a while to drain , about 1 1/2 - 2 hours . I cant get the standpipe out to add another hole so I'll just have to space the "on" times further apart

anyone see a problem with a 5 minute fill/flood , 10 minute constant flow through ( sump -> top GB -> tank -> 2nd GB -> sump ) , then a half hour drain time on the top and a 1 - 2 hour drain on the bottom

I suppose the bottom growbed being flooded so long is my main concern , it HAS to fully drain every cycle as far as Im concerned , I'd be too worried about the wrong type of bacteria growing in there despite there being constant ( albeit slow ) water movenment through it while slowly draining

oh , the pump is a ReSun King-5 . its awesome and quiet , the only noise is it rubbing against the side of the sump cause Ive got it positioned wrong

at this point it pumps from the sump up 1.8 metres to a T where half goes into the growbed ( with an adjustable tap ) and half of it loops around the whole system and goes straight back into the sump . I suppose I could just send it to both growbeds but I think the second ( lower ) growbed might just end up being way too drenched for way too long

Can you put a tophat grommet in the bottom bed to make it drain quicker?

Could you send some of that extra flow from the pump into the fish tank to give them some extra circulation and aeration?

Boris,

I have a pump that is also much big for my humble 2 bath tubs. I just put a T at the exit of the fish tank then a valve to control how much is returned to he fish tank and jhow much goes on the the GB's. This works well for me and provides a bit of extra aeration, and you can control exactly how much water is going to growbeds. I have pump on 15 mins off 60min. GB's take 5 mins to fully flood, then the remaining 10 mins of the pump cycle just overflow down standpipe. GB's take approx 30 mins to drain with 1 x 6mm hole in standpipe. With this setup I turn over approx 90% of my fishtank water through the GB's in 1 pump cycle.

In summer I intent to go back to 15mins on 45 mins off pumping.

glood idea OBO , I'll look at putting an extra drain tap into the bottom GB ( the hard part is going to be getting to it through the decking

TCLynx - I tried that ( the extra flow from the 'T' now returns past the top GB , around the system and back to the sump ) , when I tried putting the extra flow into the fishtabk itself , the whole thing overflowed - it was pushing so much water through there that not enough couls escape through the overflow on the 'out' pipe to the existing ( lower ) GB , theres anothe 4 - 5 cm above that to the top of the tank and it just kept filling up - too much flow

the pumps just too powerful , like skygazers

skygazer - I tried that initially , had a 'T' in the sump close to the pump and the pipe coming 'off' the T I had a tap to regulate how much water went up the pipe to the GB . the problem with that was that the T was too close to the pump and was causing problems , making it noisy and sound like it was working harder ( I think its called cavitation ) . So the T is up the top above the whole system.

Just went out and looked at it after 3 cycles and all looks fine , no dead fish ( that Ican see ) no mysterious noises , and while I was out there another cycle started and the pump seems to have settled in - its gotten even quieter

mine is the King- 4 (from Monya). They certainly can throw some water around, my T is about 1m from the pump so I suppose that helps a bit. It seems to vibrate the tank a bit causing a bit of a hum but I think its too close to the side of the IBC so may not be completely level on the bottom. I was a retrofit install and I was in a bit of a rush to get the GB back inline, water was also 13C so can only plung in for so long to get it all aligned with the exit hole as quick as possible.

PS: I pinched your idea if using wood to cover/conceal the IBC (thanks).

I was on my way to the fish shop intending to get the King-4 , but the King-5 was there and looked like it was more than up to the job , he gave it to me for 100 bucks so I went for it . OVerkill it looks like

The wood decking on the IBC certainly makes em look better !

I'm sure you will find a use for the extra pump capacity anyway, a little overkill is always better than not enough pump capacity.

The new Growbed on this system is working great now . Ive Tee'd off the extra flow from the pump , it now loops back around into the sump ( which now get amazing flow in it when the pump is on . maybe I'll put a couple fish in there . DO would be low in that part though )

Hydroton kept somehow creeping under the outer standpipe and blocking the two lower drain holes , I think Ive fixed that by jiggling the outer pipe around while the bed was flooded , it sems to not get clogged anymore . Im sick of standing on top of my system and messing with it at night with a torch and a piece of wire, the neighbours wonder what Im doing

Turnips in the first GB are going berserk , spring onions & celery too . Broad beans and tomatoes are doing Nowhere near as good as in the dirt garden . ( the other tomatoes are in black pots , its not tomato season but theyre ten times the size of the AP plants )

Fish have started eating again and are getting fatter .
I transplanted into the new GB :
One strawberry ( didnt wilt at all )
4 Parsley ( starting to come back from transplant )
1 snow pea ( looks like it'll die )
1 2 foot passionfruit vine ( dropping leaves still . its agrafted variety so it should be pretty tough . I might drop the flood times , I think I read somewhere that passsionfruit are prone to root rot

once it stops raining today Im gonna dump a load of different seeds in the new GB and see what grows

you need to get a light that fits on a hat instead, it would make that job much easier

Update on this system :

the mystery vegetable/herb is doing great ( pics of it are in my other thread , dont know why I posted them there )

Rocket is going to seed but tastes awesome
tomato's starting to pick up , onions , spring onions & garlic are all doing good

The top growbed has now got parsnip and turnip seeds in , coriander and snow peas
Some peas have sprouted and theres about 40 onions in there that are all doing great . The passionfruit I transplanted hasnt died or grown , I suspect its still too cold

My only majod dissapointment is that NONE of my Black / Purple wonder capsicum seeds I saved from the plant I got from the Chiili festival have sprouted ( yet ?) , Ive managed to keep the plant alive over winter , so it doesnt really matter

Planted a TON of different Chilli and Capsicum seeds to see what takes off

Im overfeeding the remaining 17 trout ( and boy are they stacking it on ) b, but I think Im about to pay for it :

Water tests this week
3in the afternoon - 13 degrees
Specific Gravity ( is that the right one ? ) - 1.005 , from the salt I suppose
Ammonia ....
between 0.50 and 1 , and on its way up ..
Nitrite - possibly a TINY bit above 0.25
Nitrate - 40+ wooohoo , eat that you little onions !

Is it possible Im going through a SECOND cycling due to the second Growbed being added ? Or am I just clutching at straws to try and talk myself out of having to do a water change ?

maybe I should stop feeding for a day or two and see in the Ammonia goes down

Or maybe I should feed more ..
fish..
to me !
ehehheheeheh

When you added the second grow bed, did you use straight tap water or aged water?

Capsicum - maybe too cold for the seeds yet?

Give the trout a day off food - dont kill them this late in the season. The ammonia may not kill them now - but they will be damaged by prolonged exposure, and die later.