Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ditto.... nice job Mick...

Thanks everyone. Had very productive days off now its back to work tomorrow to rest!

Got a question regarding bell syphons. Are they very noisey when the syphon breaks? On the little system you can hear the syphon sucking away every now and then which makes a bit of noise. Im wondering if 4 bell syphons will make a racket as the beds are outside a bedroom and quite close to the neighbours. The other option is to just have a simple standpipe drain on timer.

Hey Mick, is there a gap between the beds? We initially thought 600mm was okay but when you get prolific growth the foliage can actually touch in the middle. Just need to allow access to the beds. Looking forward to seeing the progress
Faye

Siphons can make a little noise but then so will a pump turning on and off so you will just have to figure out which noise is less annoying.

I moved the beds a bit further apart to about 800mm, can't go much further. Got the tank delivered and had a mission getting it out the backyard. Had to roll it over the roof... was a bit heavier than I was imagining
Will get all the pipework done soon and then its gravel washing time!

Having trouble deciding what is the best option for the SLO/venturi drain. I was thinking of drilling a hole in the side and doing the standpipe in the middle but I noticed the outlet in the bottom of the tank. After reading a few threads I found KudaPucat's (thanks Kuda! ) drawing of an external variable height SLO. This would save me drilling holes in the side of the tank but I was wondering what others think of this option?

I use this method exactly as described, but I use it as my overflow as opposed to my regular pumping pipe. If I hadn't broken my gallery2 installation and stuffed all my photos, I could show you a photo. Nice tank BTW.

I'm a little worried about the brass fitting there. Might want to do what you can to minimize the amount of contact it has with the fish water since most metals are not good for AP systems.

I put my hole in the side of my CHIFT set up much higher up the side of my tank. that way, if there is some catastrophic plumbing failure right after the fish tank, I will still have half the water in the fish tank to keep my fish alive.

Another thing to note is the size of the plumbing out of a CHIFT set up. Needs to be really big. In mine, the outlet of the fish tank is (3 inches) twice the size of the pipe feeding into the tank (1 1/2 inches) and I'm not feeding in under very much pressure.

I'm not sure the size of that brass fitting but my initial reaction is you might want a larger outlet from the tank.

Ok all the plumbing is done and ready to go! I just went with simple timer and standpipe drain to avoid the syphon failing when im not around
Ended up going with 50mm pipe out of the side of the tank. It works perfectly.
TCLynx I covered the brass fitting with silicone before filling it to avoid contact with the water so hopefully that will stop any nasties leaching into the water.
Ended up putting the lid of the tank back on and cutting the top to make a hatch which works quite well! Very happy with the tank.
Will put photos up this weekend when I have all the gravel washed and put in.

On a separate note has anyone seen this site Ausyfish for ordering fingerlings? I was thinking of having a crack at jade perch for something different.

Very good on the silicone!

They'd end up expensive fish by the time they got them to WA... and they may not be prepared/allowed to send them to you anyway...

You also need essentially the same temperatures as Barramundi to grow them out...

On the freight page it looks like they ship everywhere and for the price of fingerlings at under $2 it seems like a good deal. Having a quick squiz at the other threads about getting fingerlings in Perth they seem to only be available at $4 plus. Ill have to shoot them an email and find out the cost of shipping over here.

They are not allowed to be shipped here afaik.

And thats if you can contact them!! I've been trying here in QLD to order some Jades for us and they won't return phone messages, won't reply to e-mails, don't answer the Mobile nuber and can't return a FAX.

I've just about had it with them!

Cheers IanK

And even if you could get them into WA... they would have to have a health certification...

Which may have already been done by the hatchery... however WA has an expiry time on certification... that effectively means any stock that enters wouldn't be much bigger than 40mm...