Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The only problem I found not cutting the IBC tank was that I liked to get in there to clean it with a broom and some sort of bio cleaner, then let it sit in the elements for a week. just to make sure there is nothing inside your tank can kill your fish. Since you are using it for a sump tank an are just putting a submersible pump in you shouldn't have to many problems.

Regards
Matt

Glad he came through for you.

I also explained what I needed them for, but after a 2 week delay and being delivered damaged and thin wire IBC's when I asked for the thick cages.....I would think twice about using Simon again.

My main concern was that he explained the delay to making sure the IBC were clean and would pick the nice ones...if he is dishonest with something so visual, then I would be careful of him saving a water based chemical was in them previously.

I am planning to wash them out thouroughly to be on the safe side.

I think I will be cutting maybe a third out of the top of the IBC so I can clean it well after hearing vlt's troubles from the same IBC source as mine. I don't trust what was in them and once buried I would have major works to pull it out again to clean.
Thanks for your comments.

I see more IBCs on ebay for $80 from Sommerville, if anyone needs more.

Dale

Well all you need to do is to remove just the top. Cut it just a few cms away from the curve corners so that the curve corners remaining still give the IBC some rigidity at the top... In short, look at the IBC from the top and remove the flat part of the top... this would give you enough opening to high pressure spray the shit of out it...

Thankyou ivansng,
this is what I wanted to know!
I thought leaving the curved bit intact would keep the ridity intact but wasn't sure.
cheers
Dale

Yep. Will pay to be extra careful given our requirements.

Well if you are concerned about the previous contents, once you have taken enough off the top, you can tip the IBC on its side, crawl inside and give the surfaces a good scrub with some detergent or something... before hitting it with a high pressure washer... sounds like a lot of work but you don't want to keep thinking later whether the previous contents could be causing problems...

Well I think I have found the layout for my system in the available space I have.
Comments welcome please.
This is birds eye view.

I am trying to keep the grow beds under a cover, a white canvas which should let ample light thru but keep out the debris from the Grevillea Robusta that overhangs.
When the tree flowers it drops masses of sticky nectar, I know it will do the system harm as it also drips onto my shed roof and the water run off into my water tank smells rank in Summer because of it.

The fish tanks will be covered of course so its not a problem for them to be exposed.
I will be insulating them and covering well.
Ground level view.


I thought the clothes line would make an excellent frame work not only for holding the sump pipe to the fish tanks but for training tomatoes and etc upwards.


So now I will need to find out what size and sort of pump I will be needing?

What size and type of pipework I shall require?

What sort of syphons for the grow beds?

And should I go with continuos flow or 15 mins on 45mins off?

I like the Venturi overflow system to the grow beds.

look forward to your comments and advice please.
Dale

IMO, a good target is to turnover an entire fish tank volume every hour. Since you have two fish tanks of 1000L, you need to move at least 2000L of water every hour. Although your filtration is not really a 1:1 ratio hence limiting your stocking level and some could point out that you do not need to follow this, but IMO by sticking to this target, you will eliminate doubts down the road on whether you turn over the water sufficiently.

You could use a smaller pump if you choose to use continuous flow and siphons, but if you are using a timer (15mins on 45mins), then you need to choose a pump that would move 8000L of water every hour since you need to move the entire volume in 15mins...

The head height of the pump is also an issue, by running the pipe up to the clothes line and down again, your pump will need to push water up to the clothes line frame height... an 8000L/hr pump will move 8000L/hr of water at zero head height... so in reality, assuming your head height (from the sump water surface to the clothes line frame) is 1m, you will need to find a pump that would pump your required flowrate (2000L/hr or 8000L/hr) at 1m head height... the bottom of this webpage might give you an idea of what I mean... the higher head you have, the lesser the flowrate... Often you will need to get a bigger pump to meet the requirements.
http://www.creativepumps.com.au/zpumps/laguna/laguna_maxflo_pumps.htm

Also you would probably want to make sure that your fish tank overflow pipe to the growbeds is at least 90mm in size... too small pipe would limit the flow... and I think the recommended height between the tank outlet and the growbed is about 10cm so that there will be good flow...

Hi Dale

Is it your intention to join the two IBC fish tanks together? If so then you might run into some problems exchanging enough water between them to keep them both clean.

I guess if you are pumping water into one of them but have your SLO in the other that would be good but you would probably still need a good sized pipe between to get the poo to travel next door

Pipe sizing? My pump currently turns over 2000 litres of water per hours through a 40mil SLO and piping that branches into 3x25 mil outlet. No blockages and the tank is spotless.

Meant to add:

I think that 2000 litres per hour is just about the maximum that a 40mil SLO will take. Mine works at capacity which is good because it draws very well and sucks the crap up very well however any more water and I definitely need it to be bigger.

Hi dale i run my system a bit different but heres a way to connect your 2 ibc/s
In mine water flows back from the beds into the fish tanks one small trout the other LARGE trout then by chift pist [chop] through a 90 mm pipe to the sump where its pumped to the grow beds

Haha, now I understand how it works

Thankyou all for your advice it is most welcome,

So I don't have enough grow beds for the 2 fish tanks!? (2,000 L FTs and 1,500 L GBs).
Okay so I will just get 1 fish tank on line now and work on the other before March when trout stocking time comes round.

I don't need to connect the 2 fish tanks to each other, but when they both come on line I can have the pipe from the sump split above them and send the water tumbling into each evenly.

Have an SLO in each FT and have them joining in a sufficient sized pipe and then go on to water the grow beds.
Does that sound reasonable?

Dale

sounds reasnable