Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All, i've searched this forum, & haven't been able to find this issue - if i've missed it my appoils, but from a land farming point of view, the larger the area an animal has the better it grows, i was wondering if this applies to fish - bigger area to swim = more muscle development more area for oxygen???? so this got me thinking about all the systems i've read about where IBC's have been linked thru taps to make bigger volume of water for fish tanks, but how about linking several IBC's together with say 4 X 200mm or 250mm flanges so fish could move between IBC's at different levels??? impracticle - daydreams or potential....cheers ST

Mine are linked together with 90mm Storm Water pipe. No good for when the fish get bigger but i think once they stop fitting through there that they will be table size anyway So yes it can be done. It did take me abit to get it to seal properly, but for the sake of 4 dollars of pipe and a tube of goop its not bad.

Not the best photo but you can see it here

Probably Daydreams to get the benefit of larger area for muscle development you just need a bigger tank. fish are not going to speed through the pipes from end to end As for oxygen up take you can only put so much oxygen in water
The benefit of multiple tanks you can have different size and kinds of fish in the same system.
atm i have big and small trout silvers goldfish and jade perch all in the same system

Hi SM & F&F, yes i see the better benefit being the multiple spieces aspect - being about 16 st and 6'2" b4 i became all old & bent over i felt a bit sorry for fish being in 1mX 1m X 1m tank - i'd have felt a bit couped up....
Scottie whats that top IBC in the pic - it looks like its longer than wider ? is there a few different types of IBC's?? or is it my eyesite from too much pc reading today?
F & F just had a trip to Perth & bought a bit of literature, very interested to read about ur system & garden - very inspirational - thanxs.
cheers ST

Socttie, im not criticizing here but what will you do when the silicone fails and the system starts leaking?? iv had a similar thing happen to me and had to uproot the whole system, lost my water and basically had to start again, this was all before i had fish and i know if this happened to me right now, i'd be completely devastated. you can get uniseals which work well and dont perish as easily as silicone, even then a 90mm hole is a big hole, i much rather use threads and Nuts to hold everything tight now. 2 x 50mm would be just as effective and much safer. also gives the benefit of being able to put a couple of end caps on and isolate tanks easily if anything go's wrong.

like i said mate not having a shot at the idea, but speaking from my own experience.

This is basically a temporary setup to see if I like and enjoy aquaponics. I anticipate getting a new tank down the road.

However with that said.. The silicone shouldn't fail and even if it does the leak is very slow. I know this because I filled it without any silicone to start with and test it. The pipe is so tight in the hole that its not funny ( the faces I pulled gettting in there on the other hand were.) It did spring a leak due to poor sealing in the beginning as the pipe moved around in the IBC plastic but now its all settled it seems peachy. As I check my system at least twice a day I would have to be gone for several days for it to drain right out. Even if it were to completely drain to below the pipe there is still enough water to pump into the grow beds and not run the pump dry so there was a method to my madness

ST I think it is just your eyesite. Its the top off 2 normal IBCs

It does not matter if you like it or not...this stuff is like crack, once you try it you can't stop....except for me, I can quit anytime I want.