Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am glad you labelled the sky, I was a bit puzzled with that bit

Hmm, well with the grow beds on the sump like that you are going to have troubles accessing the sump if you need to (hopefully you won't). I also noticed that the wood in one of the grow beds is getting wet because the 3/4 inch inflow pipe is very close to the side of the bed - you might want to shift the pipe away. If you're using siphons to drain the beds it should'nt matter much where you put the inlet. Thanks for the info on the bubble wrap. Look forward to seeing how you're doing.

ill post more pics later, but the pump is right on tha end in between tha two GBs...easy enough to access should there be any probs...which there was...as far as tha lumber, ill prolly shorten tha two pipes, but with tha amount of rain we get here, it really wont matter that they get wet...

all design flaws noted, though, and will be addressed in tha next design phase, which is almost pau...and i already want to get started on that

Good point about the rain. I was sitting here thinking about that and it occurred to me that you could get some of the cheap pvc gutter from THD and flip it upside down over the top rail on your grow beds to keep the rain off. It might help divert water away from the wood below as well.

yeah...that is actually a pretty good idea...i will look into that...was going to just make a top plate of treated lumber to go around tha rim, but tha pvc gutter idea would be nice...will let you know how that turns out...

waiting on tha tilapia............ should be any day now................

only have one lone a'holehole right now...

got tha tilapia in, still waiting for tha thing to cycle...tha quality is a bit off, but what tha hell, was tha cell phone...

Glad to hear you only intend this for a temporary system as I've done lumber and liner in termite territory and now I'm using stock tanks mostly.

Hey mindev I think your system looks cool. It's nice that you're using CHIFT PIST that's the way to go!

thanks...tha system ( CHIFT PIST ) seems to be working really well...autosiphons reliable...I finally got tha SLO all tha way on tha bottom without sucking up any fish...this morning tha tank was extremely clean...tha algae seems to be going away also...maybe cause been raining so much and little sun...

i have been designing my second system before tha first one was even finished...but it occurred to me I could tie tha new design in with tha first one, as proof of concept...(testing and all that)

tha end result would be 14 individual GBs tied together in two rows...


O O O O O O O O
O <--water in O<----auto-siphon
O O O O O O O O

something like that!

tha pipes are going to be 3", and tha height of each one will be roughly 12"...

my concerns are that tha auto-siphon will not operate properly, but, I don't see that as a problem...
as far as tha planting area is concerned, is 3" going to be enough for planting?

here is tha proof of concept design that I will be building...any suggestions or comments are welcome, of course....

Not if you go a bit deeper. I'd like to see 18" depth or even 20" - but of course the NEED depends on the plant and what it likes to do with its feet.
But also consider: With shallower GrowPipeBeds, you'll be adding almost as much water volume in the connecting plumbing between and under them. And connecting plumbing is just Not As Productive as GB volume, either for filtration or for root space. It's just water volume being added on, and that's what will limit your plans: the level fluctuation as the whole matrix fills and drains.

Other than that, I'd say Build It and let's see! Could be a great concept.

Rick

Oops, I mean "not a PROBLEM if you go a bit deeper."

I built tha test structure pictured above, with one modification. As you can see, instead of the autosiphon being inside tha T up and down, tha T is turned long ways and tha siphon has an elbow, and exits out tha side. This seemed to be tha best way to get almost all of tha water out when tha siphon is complete (not quite an inch of water left standing).

I was actually surprised that tha siphon works at that height. Tha tubes came out to 16" just because I ran out of pipe...but tha entire thing is going to be filled with lava rocks. Will have to see how tha growing goes. I predict it will work just fine...

the piece inside tha autosiphon is a 3" pipe cut in half, and pushed in, tha purpose being to make tha autosiphon stop at a lower level...before tha piece, 3" or more of water was left after complete siphon....

pics..

more visuals...

That is a work of art