Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK I am getting the plans ready to lobby the wife. First here is pic of the where the system will go. It needs to tuck in down the side of the house, but yet still get sun:


And here it is googlesketchup-ed:


And here with out the house/fence. I would be looking at continuous pumping with auto-syphon flood and drain:


So it uses two blue barrels for grow beds. You good people tell me they about 900hx600d. From my reckoning that about 250L per barrel? So 500L of grow bed shown here. Another option is to use a nice flat square one like murray's glass ones. The attractrion of the barrels here is the two levels to make the most of winter sun. I could lift two of them more for a stair effect. I can put taller plants like tomatos at the back, and they would get morning sun from over the fence.

The tank I am looking at is from Tankwest. I think it's the stumpy looking one on the foreground here:

It would need to top hole extended, probably cutting that hole width to the other side, maintaining the curved lip for strength. This tank is 0.87h 0.92w 1.78L holding 1200L. Does anyone know of any other suitable tanks (ie. long and thin 1m max width)?

Tank $605 (actual price)
Pump $200-300 (prices from murray's site again)
Wood and fixings $100
Piping $100
Gravel ?

Total $1000 ish (With no fish yet)

Any comments on the setup, price guestamates

Hey that's really nice.

The drums hold 200 litres and some have 220, both blue...

I found on my ones the external length was 950mm
And the cross section width of a half, I thought would be 600, was 540. However, this barrel has a lip that needs removing to fit squarely in the frame at 540. I thought this may pose a problem but there is a good thick bead of plastic directly behind the lip, making it a fairly simple and safe on the integrity of the barrel, operation.

An IBC is 1m x 1m x 1m and cheaper but not so pleasing on the eye. You could remove it from the cage and 2/3rd bury it to give the water better thermal stability and the ground will 'frame' the weight of water in the IBC instead of the cage.

How are you going to drain them to the siphon, drain coil, standpipe?

I want to use a standpipe but the curved surface has me wondering about the wisdom of this.

Nice one Gav, not much room in behind there, hope your gunna be able to go and have a look at your fish.. How wide is your gap?

If half barrels are a little bit hard to get passed the "cheese n kisses" then I noticed that B has some square plastic ponds that are 1m x 1m x 30cm, you could nicely substitute them for the barrels for better aesthetics, though increased price...

Are they fibreglass tanks? WIll you chop some of the top off it so that you can get access?

AA, probably drain coil. Although I am considering timing the pump with a small PLC instead. I need a sprinkler controller anyway, so a small PLC that could could run the pump on for 30m off for 15m , and a RTC for controlling sprays to my dirt garden might be the go. Royale mentioned the AB Picos which I had a look at yesterday and would be suitable.

I have 1.6m between the fence and house, with 1m exactly from the existing path to fence.
Burying an IBC might just work. How much do you get these for Joel?
Who is B, and how much are these ponds?

IBC's I got were $50 each.. You can get almost new, single use ones (used only once) for $150, I can give you the name and number of the guy if you like. Keep in mind that the actual size of the IBC's are I think 1.1 x 1.1 or possibly even 1.2 x 1.2.. I can go measure mine if you like but I think they may vary slightly as well, depending on the brand..

"B" is that hardware store that I hate to see mentioned over and over throughout the threads, commonly known as B now a days... They have a plastic pond section in the store down on Stock road, a few different shapes and sizes of suitable small growbeds that you might like to check out. I think the 1m square ones were $85..

Measuring the IBC would be good thanks. I am stuffed if it's over 1m, as this rules out a bury, which then means all my beds need higher for gravity return.

You're right Gav, 1.0m x 1.2m....

Even I know what B means (they don't exist in the USA)

Find out if tankwest sell seconds/damaged stock, you might save $100-200

Good call KingE, and B2B you can tap into that downpipe with a water diverter to collect rainwater for the system. They are pretty cheap and easy to DIY.