Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

FF I agree, I still have to turn my water over at the same rate and would have had more fish if my first batch didn't cark it, I will add more when weather warms up, almost below 0 here ATM, I want silvers so will wait til september, but still a ratio of 20-25 fish to a 500lt GB seems to work fine

I am exhausted!
Just been digging a hole to put my sump tank into. Must have dug out 1 metre of clay. Past the grey clay then the yellow/white and now reddish layer, must have some iron in it?
Chopping out a couple of tree roots, that was hard work for an overweight, unfit, 5 foot tall, 50 year old woman!
Here is a picture of my hole.

Oh that doesn't sound good!
This was a slightly earlier shot, I have dug it down further still. You can see in the back ground my first system I put together in May.
It is going well, I have added a tall pot I bought from the Hydroponics shop in Ringwood, it has an artichoke in it, I heard they go well in AP and I had to dig it up to make way for the sump anyway.

So the sump tank will sit 76cm below to bottoms of the FTs.
With 1 IBC cut in half and made into 2 grow beds. The 76cm is enough room to slip the grow beds in between the FT overflow and the top of the sump tank, yes?
In this second photo taken from the other side of the hole you can make out the area where the system will sit.
Note the string line, the 2 FTs will run in a line along the string and the sump on the end in the hole.
The grow beds will be somewhere near to the fishtanks and the sump

I will have the system under my old clothes line which has a cover on it to keep the rain out. It gets sunshine all year round.

Another question please.
This screw holds the IBC top and bottom together as you are all aware.
What tool do I need to undo them?
I have tried Allen keys and they almost do it but not.

I was going to undo the bottom section from the cage and place it in my hole to get a good fit, pull it out refit it to IBC and put the whole thing in. Rather than try to get the whole thing in and find the hole needs tweeking. Anyone else done this?

cheers
Dale

Hi Dale,

Nice to see your progress. I dont know the exact name of the screwhead you have there but I remember it being part as multi screw head pack I got from Supercheap Auto.

Dale:

You need a 'Posi-drive' bit. Show the pic to your local Hardware store and they will have one to fit a normal driver chuck.
And yes, I have taken an IBC apart completely and re-assembled to work on it. Have a look at the thread viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7450&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=d

Cheers IanK

Hi Ian and everyone,
I went to Bunnings and picked up the 'Posi-drive' bit, the fellow assured me it would fit.
I had to buy a rechargable cordless screwdriver as my old drill doesn't do reverse. (Kmart special $45 in 1985).
So off we went home and guess what, its too small! This always happens to me!
So we made do with the wider flat head bit that was in with the screwdriver and that worked but only on 1 bolt, the slightly loose one.
The screwdriver is not strong enough to undo the others. But we do think it is a valuable addition to our lifestyle!

So I took the bit to the shed pulled out my old, slightly rusty socket set and cobbled together a selection of sockets with the bit in the end and ratchet on the other and proceeded to get some others undone.
The bunnings guy said that there was no other way to undo those bolts, no ratchet attachment, no lever, nothing. Just goes to show, a bit of outside the square thinking. We also found a large flat screwdriver works just as well.

Anyway we got the liner out and tomorrow will fit the cage into the hole for a fitting.

I went to look at pumps also.
I haven't a clue yet which one to buy but will look into that when the time is right, can only fit so much in my head at once.
Looked at air stones and found they need to be attached to a little motor, didn't know that.
Bought a hole drill set for when the time is right.

See my purchases. Note the ratchet with the screwdriver attachment in it, works well!

This Aquaponics is certainly all consuming and all learning.
I am such a novice when it comes to the fish.
My background is plants, I have grown vegies since my mid 20s.
Dale

its not posidrive, its a torx or star head. they come in multiple sizes, so it can be difficult to get the right one. most of the cheap sets of bits that bunnings or your local hardware carry will have a number of different sizes in them. Posidrive are a modified phillips head with a small square section on the end to stop them rounding off. favoured by cabinet makers and shopfitters.

Allen heads will more often than not strip them completely, making life even harder. as you mentioned, sometimes a flat screwdriver will work, as long as its exactly the right size.

Okay clever people,
I have my liner out of its cage and am ready to cut the top off. This IBC will be my sump tank.

Can you advise as to how much I should take off please?

Is it more stable to do it inside the cage or outside?

cheers
Dale


When I bury it the outlet will no longer be accessible, but this doesn't matter does it?

I will put a bag over it so it doesn't get full of dirt.

are you planning on using the cut off bit as a growbed? if so you need about 300mm for the growbed, so whatever is left becomes the sump.

if you dont need a growbed, I wouldn't cut it at all.

So do I feed the pump down through the existing hole where the lid was and have the pipework going in and out of there?

Just don't forget to shut the outlet (ie. close the valve) before burying it...

Not sure if you have consider this, but the backfill of earth will push the IBC walls inwards...
And everytime you compress the top earth near the tank, it will push the walls further in again.
I hope you have thought about this... otherwise might be a good time to possibly think how to
stop the earth from pushing the IBC walls inwards...

Thanbkyou for your good advice, must remember to close the tap on my IBC sump tank and check it for a good seal before burying it.

I was thinking of slipping some old weather boards down the outside to keep the soil off.
I know they will rot but the clay here drys hard and solid. I am only burying it about halfway down.

The sides of the hole I dug have remained good even though we had 17mls of rain recently, it is a bit protected from a tree but that gives you an idea of the rigidity of the clay at that depth. I practically had to chisel the bottom 20cm out.
I thought of wrapping the exposed sides of the IBC in the silver foil stuff that is used in house walls as insulation. Silver on one side and blue on the other. Not sure which side the silver goes on though, in or out.
Then surrounding the rest of it with some bamboo trellis to make it look aesthetically pleasing.
And a lid to keep out the light.

Then I will start on the fish tanks and grow beds.
cheers
Dale

Hi Dale,

So envious of your IBC's. I think I bought them from the same people you did but mine are dirty and some damaged. Doesnt not seem like mine have been washed.

I have hooked them up to the stormwater now...so the recent rains have been good. Hope yours were clean.

Definitely better to have something surrounding the cage of a buried IBC, otherwise they can crumple in under the ground pressure.

Some cheap second hand marine ply or mdf tacked to the cage and them bury the whole lot is not a bad way to go. If you can find something (roof insulation) to pack between the ply and the cage as insulation all the better

Cutting a hole just big enough to get the pump in and out of a sump is not a bad option. I cut a section about 1 foot wide in mine and the IBC hasn't deformed.

3 of mine are very clean the other had some white powdery paint in it, but it hosed out quite well.
They came from Simon in Langwarran thru Gumtree.
I told his wife when I ordered them what I wanted them for and he said he picked out the best for me.
A friend of mine won one on ebay for $75 in Warranwood just 2 days ago. It was not advertised as an IBC and therefore it got missed by the masses, I only found it whilst looking for a book shelf (same seller).

Sorry yours were dirty, hope they come up well.


thankyou for the excellent tips.
Dale

Yeah, ripping open the IBC cage is/was a bugger.

Adapt - overcome - improvise!

Ended up using a locking adjustable multigrip and just managing 1/4 turns. 30mins work was better than a 2 hour detour via 'B' Warehouse!