Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

From one inexperienced APer to another, the aesthetically pleasing system you plan is indeed impressive. I truly believe the Tilapia will eat the anachris. It will be very interesting to see you give it a try. I might hit you up for a parts list on the bell siphon when I reach that point (although I am leaning torward constant flood). In light of the cold weather we have ben having, you may consider burying your pipes 18 to 24 inches with maybe a "cleanout" plug at the lowest level to drain the water lines. Or just take your chances.

I will have very little in the way of piping, and it will all be elevated. No chance of burial, but in Houston, 1/2" of cover would do it anyways.

I worked on my fish tank pond and have been building up the area around it. I will be landscaping around it and building up that area. I have a bunch of anacharis is the sump currently, and I will add it to the fish tank to hold it over while I get the grow beds up and running.

I went to San Antonio for a funeral, and on the way home, I stopped at a small town in Texas to pick up some fish. I picked up hybrid catfish, coppernose bluegils, and some mozambique Tilapia. The Tilapia are gonna live in a 10 gallon aquarium in my house until the water warms up.

24 inches here is almost a geothermal well...1 inch is enough for freeze protection.

This weekend, I spent a lot of time working on my system. I bought 40 retaining wall blocks and got the pond leveled out. I added the outlet for the CHIFT PIST outlet from my fish tank. I made the hole too low on the side, underestimating the ability of it to drain the tank. The tank nearly overflows. IN fact, it does overflow if I leave it alone. Also, the face the I had drilled the bulkhead fitting into in not vertical, its slightly sloped. This means the tubing in the fish tank is the high point. Not good. I'll probably have to spend another $8 and get another bulkhead and add it as a secondary.

My plan has been to have many smaller growbeds so that they all are filling and draining randomly and the level in my sump would stay more stable. My plan was to fill in the space in the center to allow the beds to span the shelf of the pond. I sunk milk crates into the pond and cut up that trash picked plastic grating to make a flat deck for it. It works well. I opted to go cheaper on my growbeds, as the original pot I used was a nice looking fiberglass piece from Lowe's that cost around $30. Too much for very many of them. I decided it would be my "Swirl Pot." Its going to be my turd settler and my manifold for my 8 or so outlets. I drilled it and added two outlets so far. I'll add another 6 tomorrow if I can. I put an overflow that will dump into the sump, just in case something goes wrong. The two black tubes drain it just fine. When I have another 6 added, it will provide a very slow flow to the 8 tubes.

interesting looking system, and i like the 'turd settler'/ swirl filter jobby
the milk crates will have the added bonus of more SA for nitrifying bacteria to grow . .

Dang, those pics uplodaed in the wrong order. The top of those 3 is the most recent. The others are going back in time now. heh heh..

I was disuaded by the cost of a pvc pipe cap in the 3 inch size. It was about $4 each and was very heavy. It would also have a 4" dia strainer around it and would take up a lot of room in each of the grow beds. I wanted to size a smaller version. I went with a 1/2" weatherproof conduit from lowes. Its about $4 for an assembly that can become two of them, so the cost is $2 each. I use about 3" of flexible PVC, but it could be regular hard pvc. then two fittings, a 1/2" socket by threaded, and a 1/2" x 1" reducer. The cost of each is only about $.40. Then I use about an 8" long piece of 2" pvc pipe (heavy) and a 2" pipe cap, about $1.50 or so. Then, a 3" dia strainer made from 3" light wall sewer and drain pipe. I wrap it in two layers of weedblocker. then zip tie them on.

I currently have two of them set up and have a tomato in each.

Where do the two types of helpful bacteria live ? Do they live in/on the surfaces and mud, with some suspended in the water ? Or rather, do they live on the massive surface area of the hydroton. IIRC, one needs air and one kind does not. I am hoping my tank cycles quickly since I have a bunch of old pond water and plants from my Koi pond that I moved when I shut it down.

The milk crates and plastic pallet look like they are working out very nicely for you. Did you have to trim the milk crates to height or did you get lucky? Take a couple of pics of your afnan bell siphon assembly if you don't mind.

Tonight, I cut 6 more holes into the turd swirler and fastened on the lines. The flowrates are very uneven, as the vessel doesn't yet sit totally level. I'll work on that. My affnan bell siphons worked with the flows presented to them, but its still a short term test. I'll work with them some more tomorrow.

Here are the most important parts of my small scale affnan bell. This 2" dia pipe gets a cap on the end opposite the holes.

The bacteria live on the surfaces of everything, pond liner, hydroton, pipes, etc. Some of them must be in the water as well or else they couldn't travel around to colonize new surfaces. The system will cycle faster with pond water or media from an already cycled system.

I did a bunch of work today, and this is how I left it this evening. I rearranged a bunch of stuff. I also added some couplings and hard pipe sections to each of my 8 "zones." I will eventually have 8 beds, or at least 7. I have added two more beds this weekend. One is an old pond vessel with an overflow. Its just a bit tall, but I didn't want to cut it. I turned the overflow so that it would pour into the adjacent bed if there was an issue. Its running the mark 1, US spec affnan bell siphon. It uses a 3/4" electrical conduit weathertight connector from Lowes. The mark II US spec affnan bell siphon uses a 1/2" connector. I had sized up and proven the larger one fist, so I am calling it the mk I.

I also added some filter material to the turd swirler to get rid of particulates as I clean up the water. I'll run this for a while, I bet. I'll probably change it or at least hose it off every few days. I also zip tied the pump outlet to the level that is still stralding the pond. I added another milk crate to better support things. Then, I transplanted some liriope and some lilles to next to the pond. They should help hide the necessary parts.

With the taller round vessel (at far left) added, the outlet heights became an issue. I'll need valves on each of the tubes, I am afraid. I always prolly knew that, I just didn't want to admit that I'd have to spend the extra money x 8.

The green pot in the front is a cut down bucket from Tractor Supply. It was about $16 USD or so. I cut about 4" off its height, mainly so it wouldn't shade its neighbors. It has a mk II affnan setup on it. I now have 5 valves on my system. The two "high" ones to the tall grow bed at leftmost, have no valves, so they get the leftovers.

I made "stakes" using 3/4" pvc and zip tied the tubes to them. I'll likely come up with something more attractive and compact. this works for now. I ran low on hydroton. This is 3 bags worth. Looks like another 2 bags are in order. The tall bed got another tomato.

We cooked pad thai for dinner and the green onions that we used got the "heads" planted in one of the rectangular beds by my daughter. Why not try em out.

Going to add another round, and maybe a couple long window boxes next. I am bringing beds on line as I build them. I also planted a few other plants, one that looks like papyrus and also some canna lillies from Merlin. These went into pots and will "emerge" from behind the pond in good time. actually, the papyrus is in the flower pot to the left of the terd swirler.

The nice thing about my setup is each time I screw it up, the water just goes into the sump.

I have since added the three valves and now have true control on each of the beds. I have been covering up the FT with a tarp each night to limit radiant heat loss at night. Its been getting into the low 60's. Well we had a bit of a cold snap yesterday, and the projected low was 44°F. A bit chilly for the tilapia. The high was in the upper 70's and windy. As the sun fell, I covered the FT with some foil covered foam insulating boards I had in my attic. I threw the tarp over that. I also plopped in the 200watt heater from my saltwater fish tank and that kept things toasty. I turned off the circulation pump and just ran the heater and the air stone last night. This morning the water temp in the FT was a balmy 66°F. I'll call my wife from work and ask her to uncover the FT, unplug the heater, and plug in the pump. Gotta keep my tomatos wetted.

I imagine that planting tomatos and "hotter" peppers in the same bed, or perhaps adjacent ones will be a problem, cross pollination wise. I have a bunch of plants started inside that I'll move out when they are ready. Some of them are Espagne peppers. Not hot. Others will be hotter though....

I have fixed some leaks by tightening up the bulkheads on the FT and also I glued in the fittings on the outside of the bulkhead. They had previously just been pushed in, but they were weeping water continuously. That's pretty much done.

I also built out a couple more growbeds after that last picture. In fact, I am done building growbeds, I think. I added two long, narrow beds, and another black rectangular one. I am planning on two others. One is a preformed pond item that is a waterfall pan, in that it is a smallish flat pan that has a low, wide spout in one end. I may pump up into that and have it overflow into my pond. I could grow lettuce in it like a raft. The other unconventional attempt will be to use a "strawberry pot." Its a terracotta pot that has a bunch of small chambers built into the sides of it. I may drizzle water thru the center (no flood and drain) and have it work its way down thru hydroton. I have not filled it yet to see how it will behave. Should be neat if it does well.