Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK. Time for a system thread.

I’ve skimmed over a lot of other peoples systems and it’s hard not to get excited and maybe a little ahead of yourself (sometimes way ahead).

I settled on a site for the system just outside the yard and pushed some dirt around till it was the shape I was after. I’ve got a bit of a terrace set up so I just needed to build a retaining wall and backfill to tidy up the site. I have an 8 tonne removable tank off a flat bed Bedford tipper for a fish tank. I needed to fix some rust in the tailgate and ultimately I sprayed 4 litres of paint to the inside to, maybe, stop it from rusting. Time will be the only way to settle the argument in my own head about whether the sheet metal tank will last.

A bit of crusher dust to try and control the weeds a bit, and keeps the ground better when it gets wet.

Shovel, Scoop and Screed... Can I borrow your workers? They look eager enough...

Why does this thread seem familiar? Did you already post some of this in another thread? Or is there another set up out there so very similar?

Same thought...
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=6404&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=rust

I run a pipe back into the yard so the pump is nearer to the power, then run the water to the raised area where it is separated to pairs of APA (Tilkey) 500L grow beds. Two pairs, so far, four pairs soon and maybe even six. The pump looks like a Grunfos CH2-40. Should move 50L or more per minute at the head I have (a few metres, max). I used 50mm PVC for most of the run, simply because that was the size I had laying around. The pipe drops to 40mm when it gets to the GBs and the riser for each GB pair is 25mm poly, grommeted into the PVC. The return is via a tank fitting in each GB, standpipe style, which feed 25mm poly running under the GBs and grommeted into a 50mm PVC manifold running back to the FT.

The return manifold. I think you have to be pretty careful not to make these too small. There is no pressure to make a flow and turbulance can hold things up.

Definitely, any gravity plumbing needs to be far larger than you might expect.

I built one GB stand out of steel and have made two using permapine. The steel one cost about double the wood one, but has side support and looks very tidy. I will have to build at least one more and I’m inclined to make it out of steel. The wood ones are half recycled stuff. The legs are just broken trellis posts (I have several thousand. You might notice the retaining wall too), buried in the ground and cut down to height. The cross bearers are 100mm gluts from something (packs of steel posts or wire), and the top deck is chopped up bits of pallet. I had to buy 4x 145mm beams and all the brackets and screws.

So closer in price than I guessed. Looks like steel is the winner if you can't find recycled timber. I could make the steel stand out of 1.6mm instead of 2mm and the price drops again.

This is my stand pipe. Drill a 1/4 hole straight accross a 25mm tank fitting, and I put another perpendicular to it and a little higher. The brass collar can then be screwed right down for off, then wound up to adjust drain flow, and right up to expose all 4 holes drains in a matter of minutes. The extension is threaded high density poly, and can be wound up or down to adjust flood depth within 25mm or so.

Looking good. Nice adjustable standpipe.

Looking awsome! You have some covers over part of the FT. What are they? Might be a nice place for solar panels to power the system...

The FT cover is 18mm form ply, 2400x1200 sheets. There are 3 sitting on 4x100m C section on its flat. The C section helps hold the sides from bowing. I'm half way though cutting each sheet into about thirds (900/600/900) and I'll screw the centre 3 peices and piano hinge the 6 outside peices to make flip lids. Should be done...... christmas maybe
My wife said I wasn't to put any water in anything unless I could keep the kids out.

Nice work DK, you've certainly put a lot of effort into your system.

I read briefly on the other thread you were thinking about upgrading your pump, how many L/h is the pump you have there, it looks like a reasonable size.