Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Fruit was plentiful, but not much pulp..
I was hoping that this year would be a bit better.
I haven't given up yet, but i will have to come up with a different method of getting water in and out...
Oh yeah, and it will be in it's own bed!

Wow, thats a solid root ball.. Thanks for the heads up on the passionfruit as I have been thinking about putting on in my AP

Thanks for the heads up i have a small passionfruit in my system at the moment.... its coming out!!

Thankful for the much awaited Photos/video.
liken the fridge system. think i want one..
I remember trout man saying that the black or dark colored trout are blind. might be the reason why he is not as spooked.

regards
matt

The subject has sparked a bit of interest, so I thought I would share my next experiment with Passion fruit.

Here is a "TAD" (Texta Aided Design) drawing of the planned structure...


A large pot plant full of media, suspended in a separate container sitting at the same height as the rest of the system.
a submerged link pipe to the larger grow bed to allow water to flow both in and out via the same point.

Water level should rise and fall alongside the grow bed, and as the flow slows down I can lift the pot and chop away excess roots.

I might even place another open vessel within the tube between the two beds to allow me to keep an eye on water flow,
and also to see any roots that may try to reach the main bed.

that will work, it will just take a little longer to fill

Regards

Matt

Thats a great idea

Finally started the installation of the monster glass tank! (See photo page 6 of this thread)

So we pulled out one of the IBC's, and moved the new tank into position....
It sounds so easy when you say it like that,

The truth is, the complete extraction of the IBC only took about 15 minutes.
This included disconnecting all the pipes, removing the insulation, and then dragging everything out into the back yard.....
The "Replacement" FT took nearly 3 hours of hard work just to wrestle 8 metres across a concrete floor, and place into position.
It's amazing how much heavier everything is without a forklift!

Not only is the frame 75mm x 6mm stainless steel angle, and the glass 16mm thick,
But I also discovered on Saturday that the floor of the tank is actually 16mm steel plate!

I guess it was not made to be portable


.

Here is the tank ready to be plumbed into the system.
The little box wrapped in silver foil next to it is an IBC...

Now THAT'S a tank!

Certainly is ! Nice one

Are you planning to cover some of the glass ? Does it get much direct sunlight there as you'll possibly get a lot of algae forming.

I'm going to cover 3 sides with "Foil Board". A polystyrene insulation board that is covered in a reflective silver foil primarily for temperature stabilization

There is no direct sunlight, but I also have a really tricky scourer on a mop arrangement from "B"
that I've been using quite successfully to keep the "Cooltank" sparkling white.

.

Yep, was pretty sure you'd thought of it Dicko !

Typically with every thing, I am trying to workout how you are going to plumb this monster! Does it have any in/outlets, maybe a drain at the bottom? or are you going to need to pump from FT and then another pump back in??

The whole system uses just one pump living in the sump. This lifts water directly into the top of the glass tank.

There are bulkhead fittings in the base of the tank for the drain. (See the white circle)
The current plan is to have an "external standpipe" to regulate the water level in the glass tank.
This should help keep the tank visually uncluttered.

The overflow from the standpipe will be joined to the existing inlet on the second tank.
(See the fitting poking out of the insulation wrapped IBC)

The IBC will then continue to feed into the GB's as before.
The GB's use auto-syphons to drain into the sump, starting the cycle over again.