Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks!!

I have a number of ideas/plans for the extra space... Likely a small raft, some strawberry towers and some dwarf trees as well as the barrelponics system that has been out in the cold. (I can use it as a hospital tank or separate fish nursery or something. Also, a good teaching aid for small classes, etc.. Hope to have some schools visit, etc.) Biggest thing right now is to get the base set-up operational.

The timer does have a battery backup. It is laying on my desk right now functioning as a watch/clock.

One minor set back last night. I went in the GH late to shut off the water filling the FT. I heard a little trickle of water, so I investigated and found the seal around the drain pipe valve was not tight enough. It did not leak with a tiny bit of pressure on it, but had a pretty good trickle once the tank was filled and it was 1.5m deep.

I tinkered with it and predictably made it worse. I ran inside and got my eldest out of bed to come help me. I carefully coached him on what I wanted him to do with the pipe wrench and then climbed into the tank. I IMMEDIATELY jumped back out!! WOW!! 38ºF water will flat take your breath away!!!

We played with it some more, before I took a deep breath with a new plan and got back in the tank... Within 30 seconds my head was pounding with 'brain freeze', so I again exited. Basically, it was a failure and by this morning most of the water int eh fishtank had found its way across my yard into the future blueberry patch.... Better have that valve fail now than after I get fish in the tank... so, tomorrow will be spent solving the problem with a better manner of sealing that hole!! (LOTS of silicone... LOL!!)

CB

Continuing to move along!! Just need gravel now and have a plan for that early this week!

I finished the plumbing and (re)filling of the FT. Yesterday I cycled the water a couple times while trying to make minor balancing adjustments. n Still have to do a little fine tuning to get the beds to fill equally. They are not draining quite fast enough, so I will increase the drain holes slightly...

Also have move the barrelponics system that started all this into the GH. It, too, is cycling, though I may change its location in the GH. Easy enough to pump all the water into the main sump, move and refill.

A few pics follow....







More in next thread...

And, a couple more pics...





Eventually, as I add modules to the system, I hope to route some of that excess water into other GBs, raft and NFT systems... Also, note the 2x4s across the ST. Those will support a 6 or 7 channel NFT that drains back into the ST. I hate to leave all the space above the ST underutilized.

CB

Just be sure to arrange those nft pipes so that you can still get access to the sump and pump in case. Either make them easily moved out of the way, or place them high enough that you can get under them fairly easy.

Countryboy; Can you give some more detail about that little 'flow set-up' on the barrel system involving the water bottle. That looks interesting. OR tell me where it's already posted? Thanks.

http://www.fastonline.org/content/view/15/29
It is where a lot of us skeptical kind first proved to ourselves this works.
It has lots of hangups though!

It is a barrel ponics system. You can actually download the barrelponics manual for free. They make fairly good learning systems to wet your hands at doing some of the plumbing and learn about cycling. I'm currently having an issue with the flapper on my toilet flush valve in mine not sealing properly and the systems has been running kinda a constant trickle though for a while now but the plants seem to be fine with it.
The Barrel Ponics manual is the second download in the list.
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29

Thanks all.

Tman, looks like Bill and TC answered you on that... It can be a little fiddly, but quick and cheap to build. I think I have less than $100 in mine. Built the whole thing in a long afternoon once I understood the info in the free online manual. Worked very well for the latter part of last year until it got cold. It is a good system to easily explain the overarching picture to a curious person... The one part I learned that I do NOT like is the pump being able to completely drain the FT... Almost lost a couple goldies when things went wrong... Convinced me of the importance of a CHIFT PIST setup.

TC, I plan the NFTs to be gutter downspouts that can easily be disconnected from system and moved. Likely will use a small separate pump in the sump with drain back into the sump.

CB

My sentiments exactly! I added a tank overflow to a sump and pumped from there this past summer. still a tiny piece of leaf litter or bioslime will clog the little bottle orifice and without loop or bell siphons in the growbeds the plants suffer when the flapper is continiously held open by the clogged full bottle. A few improvements can make it pretty reliable. Straight from the manual and you will have many HSM's!!! The one or 2 IBC's make a better first experience.

Yeah,

My routine last Summer was to check the system daily and, near daily, remove the cap on the bottle to insure it was clean. About once a week I would take the bottle off the hanger and add a fist full of rock and a little water before a good shake to dislodge growing algae. More often than not, that would be the offender slowing the bottle drain.... Likely, I will rework it a little to make it more dependable but it has been an excellent tool in teaching my boys how to keep an eye on the system and what to look for...

I considered a tethered float inside the tank that would open that valve when the water level reached a certain level. Haven't tried it yet, but I think the valve needs a sharp little sudden jerk to break the seal and a slow rising float may not offer that unless the 'waves' from the upper tank stand tube offer enough of a bobbing action. The downside is a concern over the line getting in the way of the flapper seal... Maybe tethered top and bottom to limit movement up and down to a 3" window?

I'll tinker with it later.

CB

I think the barrel ponics systems are pretty great except for the fish tank. A barrel on it's side fish tank is for some odd reason nearly impossible for me to see into easily. But the manual is really good for teaching someone new the basics of putting it together.

CB, I like your fish tank, I seen some at the new tractor supply near my house. I think better than my original idea of using an IBC for the increased size of my greenhouse.

That size 1500 gal. tank can be purchased through ebay for about $500. I think you can pick them up yourself in South Georgia and maybe central TX... I forgot. Did all the research seven months ago, then had a friend offer that he had three of these big ones less than 30 miles from my house that he'd sell for $200 each!! Only got one, but sure I can get the other two in the near future if need be.

Here's an ebay link.

Here's a guy with multiple size tanks in TX.

Fishing for info may locate a dealer closer to you or a way to cut out the middle guy and deal directly with the factory in GA, but I can't remember the contact info right now. If you can't find it, let me know as I may have the info in my bookmarks at home. I can look it up for you.

CB

Well... spent most of the day washing Stalite gravel!! Brought in 3.5 tonnes a couple days ago, but only got back to work today... Outside temp was cool, and so was the water, but managed to wash and place about 2.5 tonnes of the gravel. That is two and 3/4 GB worth...





Eight hours of washing gravel will flat take it out of ya! Hands are sore... Back and legs not so much. Glad this stuff is a little lighter than straight gravel... Still, it was a lot of work. Couple of my boys helped after they finished school, so that was a blessing late in the day.

Hopefully will finish the GBs on Saturday.

Wife and boys also planted a bunch of seeds in some starter medium. Will rinse the roots when moving to the AP system, but for now just trying to take advantage of the warmth in the GH to get a little jump on Spring.

CB

No pics today... just too tired at the end of the day.

Besides riding 50 miles early on my bike, we (my boys helped a good bit today) finished the last GB and a half. We also planted some blueberries in a prepared area in the yard as well as a couple grape vines.

We also moved several more barrels into the GH and filled them with water for thermal mass... Not sure how important that will be as the weather warms up and the sides of the Gh get rolled up, but they are where they will sit in the Fall when we have our first full Winter with the system.

Another thing we did was put the system on the timer and try tuning it. Seems to be pretty good right now with a few VERY minor adjustments in the next few days. Currently, it takes 8 minutes to fill the beds and 50 or so to drain. I may try to set it up to drain a little faster, but that remains to be seen. Also the timer is set to run cycles on the hour from 6 a.m. through 7 p.m. then a cycle at 10 p.m., 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. All subject to change...

From an electric standpoint, it is nice to have the pump OFF for 52 minutes an hour!!

Now we cycle and I am add a few of the HUGE goldies in my water garden. Need to order an airpump and air stones as well as a few minor things before we are fish ready, but that is in the near future!!

CB