Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yep we have a bunch of charcoal left over from the fire pit on the deck during the warm months. The charcoal is spread out over the grass near the deck. I was planning on using the nested coffee can method in the fire pit this year to make some small amounts.

In the old days the "colliers" would make a big pile of wood and burn them from the center out over days, a very specialized job. What did people do before Google?

(Sorry for the off-topic JohnnyH)

G'Day Gang,
Just came across the discussion on making charcoal. My father use to run his tractor and lighting plant on wood gas so he had to collect charcoal or make it. He had a pit dug into the ground about 3m x 2m x 1m deep. (the size may not be accurate. Small things seem big to a young fella.) The size of the pit can be made to suit your own needs. The pit was loaded with timber and set on fire. When the whole stack of wood is well alight and starting to form coals we would drop sheets of iron (made from old oil drums cut open and flattened out.) over the pit and make it air tight by shovelling sand over the gaps. This then let the fire use all the available oxygen inside the pit and put the fire out hopefully leaving only charcoal. You may get some bits of timber left in amongst the coal but with practice you should get minimal hard bits.

Cheers
Dennis

Johnny, I assume you have a concrete plant near by.. Call then and see if they have lightweight clay aggregate. A friend of mine was able to buy this stuff for this hydroponic beds. Its much lighter than gravel. Its a bit sharp, but it cost him $50 per yard. Its basically the same thing as LECA balls that are sold in bags, only its very irregular in shape.

As to making charcoal, just fill a metal drum with wood, clamp the lid on, punch a small hole in the or take out the small bung, and burn in fire till no more smoke comes out. Also watch out for what coming out as it can contain carbon monoxide and is very flamable once the water is driven off.

Dan , none have it. only clay type , is this small filler i keep talking about and its at commercial fertilizer plant @ 53 dollar per ton

i added a ton of big flat hard stones to GB's yesterday to take up some space.

and ill need much smaller pump than i was thinking i would after all. i have a ancient danner magdrive that had a filter on one end.

i removed the filter box and ran a line from sump position to FT and put little pump in 5 gallon bucket and it pushed the water from bucket to FT quite nicely

so its a 100 dollar pump ill need instead of a 300 dollars super pump (for now anyway)

hope fully i can find a waterfall type pump thats low watts usage.

im getting closer to having an AP system

I have a pump rated 1200 gallons per hour or 800 at 6 foot lift. It uses 40 watts. So there are efficient water fall/pond type pumps out there.

One thing to keep in mind about the size of rock you put in the grow bed is that the larger the stones the less surface area to volume you will have. So if in the future your ammonia level does not stay down it might be because this. Its noting to worry about, just something to keep in mind when deciding how many fish you will raise.

what pump brand/model did you choose brother dan?

yours is PIST correct?

i do plan on using proper rocks for top 2/3 of my GB so hopefully ill be ok on surface area

Yes, you system is chift pist. The small efficient pump is only used for my indoor bio filter. Its a Danner Supreme Mag Drive Pump. Pretty pricey for a small pump.. I made a mistake on the wattage, its 110watt.

thats the same brand as the little pump i have now. danner magdrive from petland i think. this one is quite elderly and has always had poor conditions to work in, but it still runs. i removed the 1 ft. x 1 ft. filter box , just to see if it would push the distance im running and surprisingly it did.

i have 2 of those plastic mesh pots and im thinking about zip tie them together and place this little pump inside to protect it from all the evil leaves i get in my FT and ST
i might even support pump on plastic milk crate so its up off the very bottom of ST.

i must get some net covering for both tanks asap.
these leaves are making me miserable with their onslaught.


not much progress yesterday i ran out of T's
and on way home i stopped by my friends lawnmower shop. came home with a coleman powermate 1850 generator. tiny but im hoping it will keep my little 4 cu. ft.
freezer running during upcoming hurricane season.

never having had genset before i know i went about it worng. i should have looked at
data plate on freezer before getting it.

but even a small one is far superior to none
and if it wont run freezer . im sure it will run a fan and small light and my tiny icom ham radio during emergency time.

my woman being chronic pain patient and on meds gets too warm when we use oil lamps especially when the 3 furry children i mean dogs get freaked out from close thunder and all climb up in her lap. a fan is a big ticket item during h-cane time.

i got my T's so im off to butcher innocent pvc again

have a great day all

this one
how much??

200 dollars on easy time payments

but this one is red in color

he also has a 3000 gph gas powered water pump down there and is asking 150 for it. used once to drain swimming pool.

looks new to me and even has original box. with my land being sloped it might just be what i need for large in ground ST down in the bottom and cascading terraced GB's

this AP addiciton is fierce. i have not even gotten this one running and already thinking larger. geez i gotz it bad. help me doctor!


"fill 2 GB's and call me in the morning"

if i only had some money please adopt me oprah!

ROFPMSLMAO
I have a very similar one...
it did run my system for 17hrs while the power was out..
also the house water pump or computer & fridge n tele

Most freezer only pull 300 watts running. Its the cranking that gets most generators, but I bet your will work as long as it is in good working shape.

Before buying any pumps for AP, make sure they are fish safe, as in no seals or oil that can leak and avoid any metals that are in contact with the AP water being anything other than stainless steel.

I had a cheaper Sump pump installed in my one grow bed and it failed in 4 months, I think the warranty on it was only 3 months.

well im almost done with tote GB bracing to keep them from swelling so badly.

and finished the big shallow wooden GB's , even if i did drill my thumb while putting holes into the drain shroud.

if there is ever a next time ill be making a jig for pvc cuts. i am the bologna cut king! small pipe is easy but big pipe sure can get lopsided when a blind swine is butchering it.

some of this 3/4" must have something wrong with it as it seems really really hard. i broke my pvc shears on the first cuts i made. ok with hacksaw but the shears were no go

TCL - i understand what you are telling me about pumps. right now ill run the little danner magdrive.

off AP topics but i need to ask, who on BYAP is a good auto mechanic? my toyota is losing coolant but no leaks visable, no milk
in oil, when warm it will slowly leak pressure
down on tester, it will also stumble when first started cold and then smooth out.

im guessing but i think its either leaking freeze plug, bad heater core but with the rough running im thinking head gasket leaking water into a cylinder?

i need this truck to haul medium so if anyone can advise. also had anyone ever used block sealer? toyota wants 2300 dollars to replace HG and timing chain they say should also be done

Wouldn't you be seeing that in the oil though Johnny???

Have you pressure tested the cooling system... particularly the thermostat... and the radiator cap itself??