Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

thanks dave and today im sorta wishing you did have my tanks brother. tired of digging

i dug the sump down another foot deeper. removed 1 set of cc blocks and the timber from underneath the tote GB run and i still do not know if i can get enough fall for this to work right? im closer but not sure of it.

i decided im not messing with trying to raise the FT again even if i have to run a second pump.

the only large pipe i have is the 3 inch as main drain to sump tank for now and im out of funds again. argh!

i will bring the top of the SLO into the main drain back to sump. thats a big ticket item i had also forgotten about. i dont wanna hurt anymore of my fish and im still uptight about stressing my big koi to where she commited koiicide so im not going to bother the big tank anymore

i guess ill try to lower the shallow set of GB this afternoon
thats a max lift as they are framed with 1.5 oak stringers.

im going in...

update: i lowered all GB in the GH to get more fall for my water/

now the water inlet is at 27 inches , the tops of the poly tote GB run is at 23 inches and the shallow GB are at 14 inches.

by digging the sump in deeper i now have 1 ft. drop in 20 feet of drain line run

so all should flow pretty well now.

today ill get the material to finish the drain line runs. i decided to go ahead and plumb the drain for 3rd run of GB's as i do have some huge 50 gallon poly totes and also found some 2x1x5 poly tubs locally that will make fine GB but they are 80 dollars each

im sorry i got frustrated yesterday, i realized being in constant pain makes me get surly and easily overwhelmed lately.

losing my oldest and favorite koi really bummed me out and now i know i should have relocated all my fish before ever starting any work. my fault for being dumb

in reality im doing just fine with my AP considering all thats fighting me in R/L
including health and vision.

all is back on track

Hang in there. You are still making progress.

At some point I think you will want to install larger SLO drain plumbing but you may wish to wait until you know what your pump will be and what size pipe it will use.

im not gluing any pipe except the pressure side of things so i can take it all back apart when i need to do so.

i do need asap to build some sort of tank covers both the keep fish in and leaves out.

we have been under tornado watch for last several days and have had higher than normal winds and all my tanks are now full of dead leaves again

i got the 3rd set of GB laid out and leveled , today im building frames for them and tomarrow ill start trying to plumb all of the inside supply lines then the drains

im still guessing about my drain pipe sizing
and must investigate this far more before i plumb the GB drains

Bird netting (like people use to keep the birds from eating the fruit off their trees, shrubs and strawberries. This might be the quickest/cheapest way. Just use rope or string to tie the netting down around under the rim of the tanks. Can easily cut holes where needed for plumbing to get through. Problem with the cheap quick covers is that they might be a pain to move out of the way when needed and don't block light to keep algae down.

Shade cloth is often used to make covers for tanks and it still allows air to pass. Just make sure the shade cloth is not coated with any anti mold or anti fungal treatments as those chemicals could be bad for your fish/system.

To make getting at the tank easier, you might cover part of the tank simply with tied down shade cloth and then make a hinged framed area with wood so you can flip the cover open for feeding and such.

Over my tanks I have used fencing material to make the hinged support for my covers which I can lock shut and then over the fencing I secured netting or fabric to keep leaves and light out of the tanks. Over other parts of one tank I have simply used some old bits of wire shelving to make a cage over the tank to keep fish in and critters out though it isn't as good at keep leaves out.

Some people have all sorts of other things as hats for their tanks. The important thing is to make it manageable for yourself to access when needed.

a few things this morning before i go out and work on meh AP

im thinking now about trying to raise some crickets for fish food. they seem to be pretty easy , if you keep things clean and temps to their liking. any downside to feeding crickets/live food to AP fish?


second thing is im going to try to plumb a GB today. i will use the uniseals i got of course but im still sorta lost on how to plumb the GB

i will try to bring the uniseal into tote at very bottoms but can they exit (for drains) from the side of the tote? i know it will leave a bit of water in tote but next cycle should keep that bit ok right?

our AP brother posted this pic in CHIFT PIST
thread trying to guide this blind pig


as best as i can see its a slip type coupling that has been sliced so it can easily rotate to adjust flow yes?

so if i use uniseal, i would stub up a bare ended pipe thru tote and just slide the split coupling to it and then on the bottom of pvc stub just use hose clamp and hose routed to main drain line. then add the outer protecttive large dioameter standpipe.(something large enough i can get my hand into so i can adjust the inside pipe)

am i close?

so there are really three piping. 1.water input from FT 2.main drain for GB 3. overflow for GB be it a extra hole in side of GB or no-hole overflow ala TCL

as always thanks so much for your guidance. john

1-The water input can simply be water falling into top of grow bed at the top so requires no holes in the grow bed only the hole through the fish tank.
2-the main drain for grow bed can either be through the bottom of the bed or out the side near the bottom, works either way, especially when the beds are kinda deep.
3-the overflow. If you are doing timed pumping and slow drain, then the overflow can simply be the top of the stand pipe set so that if the bed floods too deep, the water will just flow in the top of the pipe set at an appropriate level to keep the top of the gravel dry. The bottom of that stand pipe has the hole or slit where you can adjust the amount of water flowing out so you can get the flood and drain.
Other overflow option would be another hole in the grow bed where you run a pipe up to the appropriate height in the grow bed (and this can be in the side or bottom anywhere so long as it is below your intended high water mark.) This separate overflow is probably the best option since it easily allows you to convert to auto siphons without having to add another overflow later.
I don't really recommend the no holes overflow for anything but a container you really don't want to cut holes in. I only use them for the glass aquarium since I don't want to buy the proper tools for cutting holes in glass. The no holes overflows are relatively prone to failure and need to be checked constantly.

thank you TCL

making some forward movement

i got the water inlet pipes ran to all 3 rows of GB and sorta placed in right spot so i can locate the drains properly OR as closely as i know how hehe

and all totes drilled to accept the uniseals. that dont sound like much but its taking shape.

my woman is anxious for me to make progress and get something growing asap

speaking of drains: the way im running them is thru uniseal directly into main drain that runs back to sump.

the totes are 15" tall so im cutting standpipes to 14" and using a slip type elbow for their reciever. the other other runs out into the main drain,

i got some of that black plastic drainfield pipe that already has slots cut into it, hopefully that will save me a bunch of drilling
compared to using a large pvc which i dont have enough of and what i do have is schd. 80 4" and 6"

on the standpipes i have question now how many holes should i drill in them to start with? i know we want slow drain and its sure easier to add holes than remove them

they are 30 gallon totes and standpipes are 3/4 in small totes and 1" in larger ones

i know its small but its all i have for now

The black corrugated drainage pipe works for stand pipe protection, but you do have to drill more holes in it to get enough flow through them, if they only have the little slits in them. That said they are kind of narrow to get your hands into to pull the stand pipe out, I've scraped up knuckles doing that before.

I think people usually have two small holes for the stand pipe slow drainage, start with one or two and work up the size maybe until it is right for your flow.

It is OK if there is a little bit of water left in the bed because you have a side drain, with typical AP cycle times...

HTH!

yes brother dave that helps a lot and gets me back working again.

as always much much thanks...

The corrugated/perferated drain pipe might be ok with the little slits for slow drain. They definitely don't have enough holes to allow for siphon action though. Add some extra holes closer to the bottom in any case. If the drainage pipe doesn't really suit you, there is a screen type pipe available from AES that I've found to be very good for standpipe protection in siphon grow beds as well as other purposes.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/1611/Mesh-Tubes-Plastic/RT144/0


It is a bit more costly of course but avoids having to drill millions of holes in the drainage pipe to make the flow good enough for siphons.

that is cool screen pipe. very neat , but ill drill the drain field pipe .

i got 10 beds plumbed today and on the very last one i finally figured out why uniseals fought me so hard.

the new pipe i purchased from hardware store must have been left out in the yard or something becuase its rough compared to some small drop pieces i also had. using rubbing alcohol and the smoother pipe was a breeze.

i swear a remote station in the outback might have more access to goods than this backwoods hellhole im in.

nobody will do anything that even remotely resembles right. call them on phone and if they do happen to answer it, if you ask "do you have any 1/2" sniglets? NO! they will say. what about the poly wufframs? NO!

and they do have them. just too lazy to get up and go look and see.

anyway 10 beds done, 1 round tub and the 2 big shallow GB to go

ima very happy swine today

Yay
Just imagine how proud you will feel once you manage to wash some gravel!!!!!!

Way to go! Its good when a plan starts to come together

As to washing gravel...
I just moved several tons of it.. Good luck..