Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Did this system get any further ?

Yep; 2 x sites levelled, three double glazed green house purchased, 2 x 5000 litre and 1 x 2500litre FTs on site, 48 IBC's waiting to be modified, fail safe power supply built, (smart chargers, inverters and deep cycle AGM batteries), 500 trout (470 some now in dam) in a tank in a flow through system on the house dam and more. Trout and feed supplied via Rupes.

Basically the trout and dam system will grow out only 2000 a year using the dam as the biofilter. I am building a pontoon and the 5000 litre tanks will be suspended in the water with approx 300 freeboard. This means no head height for the water pump, temperature stability for year round trout, and easy harvesting.

But that's the old system. The new system(s) have morphed and, because it is commercial in confidence, I'm not telling anyone about the cool innovation. So here it is ..........

Nothing like KISS, so a modular DWC raft based system totally on IBC's was born. IBC's for fish filters and plants, no media, one pump per run, everything same height. All IBC's can be isolated and disconnected if required or by passed altogether.

Flexibility is the key. Any number/combination of IBCs can be a FT or a GB/raft tank or a filter tank, to suit species, filtration, aeration etcetera requirements. So if ever you have not enough filtration or FT or GB area, just add more IBC's or change an existing GB to a FT or filter or the other way round in any number required.

As every tank is identical, it is all too easy. Set up is a piece of cake as all that is required is a level site - no holes to dig or levels to play with, no heavy media to buy and move. Also every tank is self contained with base and frame, at a good working height and all the parts are interchangeable. The large volumes of recirculating water mean greater fish numbers and temp stability. The cost is not too bad either coming in at approx $140 per square metre of growing area ($100 for the IBC + raft + fittings), and the reuse of an existing item is a tick for the environment.

Butting all the tanks together means they can be wrapped in insulation as one unit for temp stability and UV protection. Being roughly 1m2 each means there is almost no restriction to layout configurations as you only need a level site. The extra walls of so many IBCs means more bacteria surface growing area. You have a leak in one IBC you isolate it, repair or replace the unit, without shutting down the whole system. Only one return pipe is required per run of IBCs. A run in my case is limited to 24 IBCs as my land is not flat.

Anyway the system prototype will be up and running in 4 weeks from today and will involve only 24 IBCs. My levelled sites will accommodate 192 IBCs and this is where the trial will stop. 220+m2 should grow enough of something to give a pretty good ROI - basil comes to mind but any leafy green suited to climate and market would do.

The fish will be sold whole live, smoked and or eaten. Trout for winter, Silvers for summer, and eel tailed cats year round for system stability. Not sure of the fish stocking densities yet. but I will have 24,000 litres per run to play with and it will depend on how much filtration and air I add. Eventually (within the year) I will have 8 x 24 IBC systems up and running, so will play with stocking densities, aeration, filtration and see how it goes. Guesstimate of total cost for all 192 IBC up and running? No change from $30K plus green house and shade structures. Still, that's pretty cheap for a 192,000 litre system and over 220m2 of growing area - well I think so

There are so many advantages to this modular approach, someone will commercialize it for sure. Once set up and running the IBCs can be wrapped in Bamboo or something that makes them aesthetically acceptable, but for commercial applications paint or some insulating material is the go.

Oh, and since I am technically challenged, and Gemmel has volunteered , photos will appear in the fullness of time.

Sounds interesting Mcfarm, but I think when compared with a liner and large channel style it will work out way cheaper to do a channel. By banging pegs in and boards around the outside, then lining a whole channel in one go, it's incredibly quick and easy. Plumbing individual IBCs is reasonably simple, but will take a long time to do, and a lot of fittings.

Please don't think I'm trying to bag what your doing, I'm just trying to get my head around what you're thinking and why you're thinking this way. I can see that by sticking a tap at each IBC you can make it modular and able to to remove IBC's etc. But then why would you want to? Is the reason why you might want it modular like this because of downfalls of using the IBC's in the first place?

I do like the idea of greater water volume certainly aids stability.

Yep the grow beds will be cheaper if done with a liner, plus excavation and or boards. However as a complete package of all components the IBC system is pretty good and running costs are as low as you can get 'em. And the working height means no bending over. Anyway, price up a system with 8 3000 litre FT's plus 200m2 of grow beds and all pumps pipes and fittings and see how it pans out. If you get change from $30K I'll be surprised. Also the simplicity appeals greatly. Apart from the IBC to IBC connections (50mm bulk head fittings at $16 each), the pumps and the rafts, every thing else is IBC.

The isolation potential was a bonus of the IBC configuration and would probably only be used if the fish got sick and needed to be isolated for treatment. But being all same size, a modular modular system has advantages. Need a fingerling tank? It's ready to go. Want to run omnivores and carnivores of different sizes in the same system? Easy.

Can't see any down sides yet, but no doubt they will be revealed in a few weeks time if they exist.............

I love IBCs. Since I won't be running gravel bed AP, I'll be cutting a few dozen in half to make wicking beds for the things that rafts don't grow so well (rooting crops and the like). I'll tap water out of the Ap system for the wicking beds which should help fertility and growth. The bonus is that small amounts of fresh water will go into the AP from time to time which won't do any harm either.

I'm afraid that I just can't see it as KISS though, because every IBC you put in there is another 2 points of possible failure.. I dunno, very hard to comment much without actually seeing more of a design and layout, so are you using IBCs as fish tanks as well or are you using 3000L tanks, I'm confused?

I can't wait to see it all up n running...

Here's the new 3D IBC model if you're thinking of drawing stuff up in sketchup:

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/Travis/IBC.skp

My fish tanks are all IBC, I was after a std FT and channel raft price comparison.

The points of failure are the penetrations points of the bulkhead fittings. I've tested all the the existing taps and they are OK, but even if they fail the have screw on caps. The reason for the bulkhead fittings was the ability to tighten them on the thin wall of the IBC and in combination with aquarium silicone should never leak. But if placed high on the IBC, if they leak, it won't be a disaster with a top up float valve - and the wet spot would show.

Me and sketchup? You must be joking! I can't wait for it either, cause if it works as well as I think it will it will be the simplest of systems out there. Hopefully Simon will take lots of photos in a few weeks and all will be revealed.

hahahaha, only if you include labour costs in yours?

Was only after a materials cost comparison as i would think the labour cost would be similar. I could work it out but thought it would be easier to do an A - B with the commercial system you built as you would have the figures on hand. You'd just have to scale it up a bit

Yeah but you have to show that yours can be built, and more importantly that it works... Otherwise it's comparing apples and oranges...

Fair enough, we shall see ..............

I'm a bit confused as to the filtration aspect...

I take it as something like... FT IBC(s)>Filtration IBC(s)>Raft IBC(s)....

But how exactly are you going to filter the FT wastes... with what filter media... and presumably, with a single pump specified... all by overflow from one IBC to the next in the chain... :don't know:

And given the oxygenation requirment for fish in FT... oxygenation for filtration/nitrification... and oxygenation for floating raft growth... wont you have to aerate each IBC...

And won't you have to regularly clean out all the settled out solids in the first "filtration IBC... in particular???

The sequence is right and it depends on the stocking density for the filter types. I'll start by using and under over baffle system and then pass through 2 sheets of MEO foam of progressively small cell size say MEO15 to 30 (cells to the inch) and lastly through a bag filter of non woven poly prop cloth attached to the screw thread of the cut off top opening. This bag filter may clog quickly as it's pretty fine, but worse case it will overflow and pass some fines into the first GB tank and I'll have to siphon it out.

Filtering is the only issue I have doubts about and it remains to be seen if this idea works, and how often I'll need to hose the filters clean, but I should be able to fit it all in one IBC no problems. Thought about bird netting, and whilst cheap to do, cleaning must be a pretty awful job. Still might do it though if I start pushing one of the systems.

Might have to aerate each IBC - don't know yet. Have the blowers ready, but am hoping friendlies experience with their low fish density systems means I won't need them. They switch their blowers and pumps off for 8 hours a night but they report no drop in production or fatalities, so we shall see.

If you plan on using trout your going to have to aerate overnight for sure.


Why would you do this??? Surely a cage would be a better and easier option.

Wow, I'll stick to my gravel style system

Whats the cost of the aeration in ratio to the cost of the livestock in that tank? I am very big on ensuring that at no point can aeration get to a bad point, especially when going commercial.

I tinkered with shutting pumps down etc - but that was with $500 worth of fish. Not $5000.