Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The ST will actually be located behind the FT. This is located on a south facing wall, where my raised beds are currently...when I get the camera out, I'll post pics...

fish: tilapia...I can get these at the harbor...right next to the boat dock, they are plentiful...(the harbor is located on a river that comes from Mauna Kea, fresh water river empties into the ocean)

plants: all kine vegetables...

when I get the rest of the materials, I'll post the specs on how big (or small) the tanks will be, etc...

shoots...

I am trying to figure out how the SLO drain works...as far as I can tell, in order to get the drain started, the water level has to be higher than the drain pipe. The 't' provides an overflow protection, and prevents the tank from draining 100%...what about the height of the drain pipe in relation to the FT water? Are the diagrams just a rough idea, or can the drain actually just be a straight tube?

I'm picking up all the form woods that I need to build the tanks and beds tonite...I was looking through the forum looking for info on concrete fish tanks, and was not really getting anywhere as far as the sealing is concerned. I was thinking about just putting a liner in the tank after the pour, but then I figured I would just see if the thing actually leaked water before forkin' out the $11 per linear foot. Not quite sure how to proceed...

mahalos

/edit/ The FT is going to be 200gal (757L)...the ST I figured could be 100gal (378L)...and this would support two 4'x3' GBs... You guys will have to forgive me of my inherited ignorance of the metric system...I am learning, slowly...but will get there at some point.../edit/

Hi there, in regards to SLO, from memory I believe the "recommended" is to have your drain height at least 10cm lower than the SLO outlet. Your SLO outlet will also need to be relatively big since the water is flowing via gravity. If it is a small system, I would say about 50mm pipe would be alright. But generally, a 90mm pipe or larger is recommended.

The T piece does not provide overflow protection if your SLO outlet pipe is not sized big enough. If your SLO outlet pipe cannot balance the inlet flow, then your tank will overflow regardless of whether the T piece is there... and generally if your SLO outlet pipe is big enough, then your fish tank will not overflow...

I "borrowed" this from TCLynx... and yes, generally people setup the system to SLO into the growbeds so that the solids (fish crap) from the fish tank is deposited in the growbeds and filtered before the water is returned back to the sump.

In your setup, you are returning fish crap back to the sump and then pumped out to the growbeds, so your pump needs to be able to handle solids and have the capacity to suck them out...

hmmm...a little redesign is in order...i was hoping to have the GB above the FT and ST just so they could sit on the ground...but having solids inside a pump seems illogical, as does moving solids from one tank to the other...I might be able to do a high-walled FT, with the GB slightly lower, and the ST buried in the ground...we have pretty hard lava in the yard thats why I was hoping to avoid that, but seems to make the most sense...

i got the materials for forms today...haven't made any cuts yet so I can still modify...I'm at work now so can't do any drawings, but will try to get pics together tomorrow...

I decided to just go with the concrete with no liner or sealant...I plan to have a VERY smooth surface, well vibed wall system, so there should be no need for any further work...

Why not go for a simple growbed above fish tank style of system then, no sense in over complicating things with a sump....

Mindev, I probably should clarify what I said... in most cases, where people don't have a sump, they use pumps capable of handling and moving solids from the fish tank to the growbeds... This arrangement is pretty common and there are pumps to serve this purpose...

In my statement above, I would merely adding that you will need to consider having a pump in the sump that can handle solids as it is possible with the drawing from TCLynx to use a pump that don't need to handle solids... possibly cheaper...

But yes, I would consider what EB has mentioned...

got some work done on tha tank today...decided that concrete was not going to make tha cut...tha main reason I'm not going use it is because it is non-portable...and more or less permanent...

all tha lumber I used for my raised beds and now my beloved AP system is Recycled pine...I work in tha receiving department at tha local Cheapo-Home-Depot, and we get choke 2x4s and luan (sometimes even 3/4 ply-board)...tha stuff either gets tossed or sent back to tha mainland, so I have been able to get my hands on quite a bit of lumber tha last few months...might as well go this way then...

you guys will have to forgive tha so-called 'standard' measurements, as I can't buy pipes in the mm range, and if you tell a contractor you like 200m2 concrete slab, they will look at you like a cow looking at a new gate...so I will try to make the conversions as I post...

so far tha FT tank will hold 174gal = (659L)...I think that I need around a 100gal = (379L) ST...the GBs and ST will be connected to this FT in tha pics...gonna be two GB to start...4'x4' each, 12" deep with cinders...



k...finally got some pics...

MORE PICTURES...

damn they all stay backwards...oh well..

this is my raised beds...far corner is cucumber...

closest bed is tha green onions, my round onions never came up, gotta re-plant...

tha three little ones on tha right are lettuce, carrots and more onions...

tha long bed is tha tomato bed, just haven't got around to replanting them...tha bed on tha end is for my salvia plants...'tha protectors' of my garden, and my soul...

just made these not too long ago, the ground kept getting flooded during heavy rains, so had to make raised beds, first go at 'em...so far so good...but then I discovered AP...and all but turned my FULL attentions to it... shoulda stayed away...now I can't turn back...

oh yeah, that's my son in tha pics...Kohoku...we call him Hoku...

Nice work... consider making a step for yourself as well to get to the top of the fish tank...

* I thought I was seeing double (just woke up)... but there are two dogs in the last photo... *

"two dogs"... there's a joke in there somewhere...

good idea...didn't cross my mind...but may have at some point when I realized that I couldn't reach into it very far!!!

ACTION!!! I have water in tha FT!!! And a pump...just to keep tha water moving for now...will be finishing tha ST tomorrow...had UFC tonight...BJ PENN fights for Hawaii tonite...he lost...then a Hoolaulea...so just posting now...but *frack* excited...even more than when I first started...

some more...