Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They cant be that different put up a photo please

viewtopic.php?p=235708#p235708

In this post you will see the 4 IBC's I ordered from the same guy.

As you can see, of the 4 IBC's there are 3 different types.

2 round tube cages, 1 sqaure tube cages and 1 4mm wire cage.

The history is:
Placed order day 1 and explained what they were for and would appreciate if they are the thick cages and had been cleaned. Also confirmed that previous content was water soluble paint for a printing company.

Scheduled for day 5 delivery

Day 5 get called to say delay until day 9 as he wants to thouroughly clean them and handpick them for me.

Day 9 get called again delay to day 12 with similar reason of cleaning them thouroughly.

Day 12 again get a call....delayed to day 15 with similar excuse.

When I went back to my parents place to look the 4 IBC's I found:
3 Types of IBCs
Damaged cages (needed a hammer to fix)
Missing crossbar on the top of 2 IBCs
Extremely dirty with residue much worse than Dale's as shown.
The content stickers rubbed off (as in no identifying items) detailing what the previous contents were

All this has made me uneasy to use them currently.

Sorry for the hyjack Dale. Since we bought it from the same source, it would be remiss of me not to warn you. Having said that, yours actually dont have the same issues as mine.

Hi vlt,
this fiasco is certainly getting big. Don't apologise for the hijack it is all on the same subject. And a very important discussion too.
Re my IBCs I have 4 and they are of 3 different kinds.
But only with small differences really. One has a different grade of plastic for the liner, not so transparent and rougher feeling under my fingers. That was the sump I scraped out, the bars were rounded also.
1 has less cage straps, only 5 horizontal bars/straps and the other 2 have 6.
One has a dent in it but otherwise are pretty good.
The labels have all been scraped off, so that is suspect I suppose. He told me a feed supplement for animals was the previous use for mine.
Maybe he gets them from various sources.
I am still going to go ahead with mine, they don't smell of anything unatural, I can scrub them all, if the fish die I will be concerned but I have them and will go with them.
I wish you luck in what ever course you choose though.
Dale

I believe someone told me previously that trout is use as a "canary" in the aquatic world... I have two IBCs I recently bought as well, and was a bit concern about it after I bought it, washed them, and in one of them (as I am still moving gravel), I had a lone trout in there for about a week now... I put in a powerhead filter to help with filtration and aeration... still surviving and eating...

mmm might look at doing that....

that way I can salvage the IBC's

Hi Dale, I called the Ballarat Trout farm a couple of weeks back. They have 8 inch trout for $1.43 each. 15 to a bag with a $2.20 bagging fee.

I am no where near ready for trout, I hope I am ready next March.
I should be, will try for some silver perch B4 Xmas is the plan so far.
Dale

Dale, I think vlt was going down the path of using them as "canary"... put them in the IBCs and see they survive... trout is actually cheaper than goldfish and better at "detecting" toxicity as they are more sensitive to water quality...

That way you can have a bit of confidence that your efforts might not be wasted if the IBCs leaches toxins... IMO although the effects of temperature may hinder/cause leaching of the toxins... so if it is good in winter, it might not be good in summer... but at least you get an idea...

So using trout would only work as a canary in the coal mine in winter time?
It might not work if any toxins appear due to higher summer water temps the trout would have already been harvested by that time and if not would have died from higher water temp! So we wouldn't know the diff?

My system is not ready for any fish yet, its still in bits.
Dale

Guys,
Novaris gave me a contact for a IBC supplier in the mornington area.
I was very happy with the IBC, gave them a wash out with Bio food greaser, left them in the sun for a week and so far so good. Pretty sure bundybear picked some up as well, so that makes 3 of us. Around $120 each.
PM if you want his number..

regards

Matt

Hey vlt,
I was just reading on a wicking bed forum that some one is using IBCs as wicking beds. Could be an alternate use for yours?
http://www.easygrowvegetables.com/html/forum.html
here is the link if you are interested.
Dale

Thanks Dale....I'll try the canary first...then see what happens

Something I hadn't thought of before please.
I cut 1 IBC in half for the grow beds. I left the metal tray on the bottom of the bottom one, do you put the drain on the side of this one?
It would be hard to cut thru the metal to put it at the bottom. Or do people take the metal bit off?

Leave the metal on and just cut a hole

cut a hole in the plastic on the side or thru the metal on the bottom?