Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have been spying this forum for a while now, and as current DIY projects end i have decided my next will be AP!

I actually bought a large framed childrens pool back in noveber which i stocked with barramundi, they have only had a small bio filter... but looking to add the growbeds shortly.

I will put up a picture of how i imagine the setup to be, suggestions or improvements would be great.



My 1st attempt at sketchup.. thank god for the premade items!

Basically i have a 6,500L pool nexto a paved area where i will place the growbeds.

I will put 5 - 6 IBC's with the tops cut and inverted for growbeds (30cm?) and placed above the remaining container which i will probably cut off another 10cm so i can have easy access below the growbed.

I was thinking of adding siphons to each bed, which will spray into the IBC below for aeration. All the IBC's will then be plumbed together and overflow yet again into the main pool via spraybar for even more aeration. (i should have lowered the pool in the picture, its not as high as it appears)

For stocking i will do Barra in summer / trout in winter in the main pool, and also stock the lower portions of the IBC's with say silver perch, yabbies, redfin, mussels? no idea. What else is available?

I guess the thought behind it would be to keep the system going during fish swap overs summer -> winter. And also maybe species i cant keep together for whatever reason.

So thats the plan.. i dont know what method to use yet, probably the system that performed the best in the trial post i saw somewhere..

PS I blame Ivan and MrOrange for giving me the bug

Hey matttttt:

I would say looks like you will have lots of water and not enough grow beds (if you were to fully stock the fish areas). You may want to plan for more of them to be beds rather than holding water.

I'm not too fussed about stocking super highly, maybe 100 fish total. What about filling an IBC with say hornwort aswell as duckweed instead of additional growbeds.

The more water the better: it will be more stable in terms of water temp and ph.

Just stock as many fish as your filtration can support.

Only downside I can see with a large volume of water is the size of the pump required to ensure it is turned over at least once per hour.

You probably don't have to worry too much about turning the whole volume over every hour if you have a much bigger tank only lightly stocked...

Hi,
I would go for gradual stocking,monitoring water condtion,especially ammonia that should show where your stocking to grow bed/filter ration is,on a new system its better to be proactive than reactive,with fish, reactive means there probably dead.The best thing you can own for a new system is a simple pond test kit,no more guessing.

nice looking idea matt
a few things i would do if i was you

1- turn some or allof your IBCs into GBs, that way there is no worries about filtration (OR get a biofilter). even as it, 300mm gbs will only give you 1800L of filtration, not enough for 100fish.
2- build dividers in the big tank for fish species, that way you can stock several sp in one spot, without then interfering with eachother.
3- if the top of your pool is above the level of the IBCs, go for a CHIFTPIST system, invest in some more IBCs as sumps, and run an indexing valve.

good luck with it all
cheers
ben

i probably wont divide up the main pool, i just made a crowding net for it! haha, i could fill an entire IBC with media or 2, thats also fine.

as for what a chiftpist = i have no idea or an indexing valve haha... more reading to do.

CHIFTPIST = constant height in fish tank pump in sump tank.

It is a single pump solution. The pump is located in the sump where the water is clean and returns water to the fish tank.

You install pipe through the wall of you fish tank to allow the water to overflow into your grow beds. This will mean the water level in your fish tank will need to be slightly higher than your grow beds. As your water in your Fish tank is now at a constant height your fish won't stress due to fluctuating water levels.

The larger the pipe through your fish tank the better with many people on this forum recommending 90mm pipe. You can reduce to 50mm once you are clear of the tank.

Your grow beds can be flood and drain, siphon, constant flow, raft etc.

From there your water is returned to your fish tank filtered ready to make the trip once again.

Make sure your sump is large enough for the amount of water your grow beds. It needs to be able to keep supplying water to your fish tank while your grow beds are being filled as well as being large enough to hold all the water when they drain.

That is my summary on CHIFTPIST if you search this forum you will finds more information including images of how it works. The other thing you will need is a SLO in your tank. SLO stands for Solids Lifting Overflow. It is a 'pipe design' to help remove solids which may settle on the bottom of the fish tank and deposit them into the grow beds where wires can break them down into something more usable by the plants.

The Sequencing valve will allow you to have more grow beds than your sump can cope with. It let's you fill a number of grow beds one by one. Ask Rup for mor info - I would be surprised if he doesnt ask you to pm him or post something here regarding them.

If your going to use a tethered float sump pump be aware that they can be very power hungry. There are a fair few to choose from but check the power ratings Watts and stuff.
I had a similar config system to start with but did not really look into CHFT design. My config was an accident waiting to happen with no SLO lifter but a pump.
I have since lifted all GB and gone with gravity feed back to FT. I am very happy with the new config. very simple. Planning to add 2 more GB to make my system become as Rupe put it.
THE HOLY GRAIL, I think.
1 Low wattage pump working constantly, therefore 27/7 airation to FT via Venturi airator backpressue / divert pipe to FT and 15 45 flood and drain for the 4 GBs. Water FT to GB via Rupe Indexing Valve.
The only thing I need to work out is the solenoid thingy to briefly check water pressure to set off valve indexer.
Anyhoo, I jumped and bumped and hijacked all over your post enough and left asking a question

If your planning on filling whole IBCs with gravel, good luck. Unles youhave a bobcat and dont want to wash it much.
300mm is fine. How deep (high) is your FT water, this will give an indication of how high to lift and the off cuts may be used as stand as I did with my tanks.
See Pump it up , Members system.
I know it sounds like I am blowing my own horn but just telling of my experiance as a newby setting up.

So many questions, answers and more

Definately want a SLO.. i have already done a couple of siphons to remove muck since filling the pool. I'll have a search on some designs.

sequencing valve definately sounds like a great way to go will have to find some more info on those too.

As for the pump i already have an existing one i can use, its a dirty water pump rated to 10,000L/hr (i assume at 0 head height, so it probably runs at 6-7,000 if i pump upto GB height from the bottom of the pool) This pump runs at 125w

i like the idea of the sequencer, lets the pump be on 24/7 and still run 15/45 or whatever is seen to be the best..

As for filling a few more IBC's with media, media doesnt always have to be gravel or clay etc. adding shadecloth will have the same effect for housing denitrifying bacteria. It may clog up easier but a simple closing off of the IBC in/out water, rinsing out in the IBC and dumping the water on the garden is not much of a big deal.

Also is it best to shade the growbeds? I saw some pics of the comparison systems and they seemed to do alright.

If you have SLO, not sure if a seq. valve will work as I was under the impression they were pump activated but I could be wrong.
Hopefully someone will be able to give us some finer details.
Are you actually going to fill those IBC with gravel, I would at least cut them in half, 300mm is the standard depth of GB. If you look at OBO setup in Kal. he has full IBC of gravel but filled them with a bobcat and dont think he washed the gravel.
As for shade cloth some do some dont, I have 30% UV shadecloth over my plants and 50% over the FT. I found that the 30% over GB stop my media (bluemetal 16-20mm) from heating up as much as it used to without it. My lettuces were getting smashed by the sun and GB heat before I put cloth up.
If you havnt been to BYAP in Jandicot get on down there. The guys and gals are really friendly and knowlegable, there is heaps of liturature to purchase and hardware. All the bits, info and inspiration as they have lots of working systems rocking along.

Picked up some IBC's the other day, Is there a post somewhere on here i can see the best way to cut and fix the growbeds properly? or maybe different IBC designs i can look at

Hi Mattt

Your welcome to look at our system - we have 6500 litres of FTs and use 2 different IBC set-ups.

... you could also check out the 'calling all IBC and tote users' thread as it has quite a few IBC system owners/designers in it... so its probably an easy spot to start from... BTW check out IanK's design if you want to see a really nice IBC modification...

Hope that helps... cheers