Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

WOW! Looks fantastic!!

How long has it been since the plants were put in till now Tristrin?

They were planted just before Christmas, some seedlings and some from seeds

so about 2 months??? I cannot WAIT till we have growth like that!

Great work Tristrin

Great growth there tristin, excellent work! keep it up

Yep, looking real good

Have not posted anything for quite a while but everything has been going along smoothly; so smooth in fact that we got a bit slack with maintenance and had our first HSM yesterday! Went to feed the fish and found the silvers swimming in about 10cm of water A siphon had blocked with roots in one of the growbeds (in the maximus kit) and the bed was overflowing. Although most water was flowing back down the top of the siphon and into the tank, some was overflowing from the top of the bed as water was being pumped into the bed faster than it could go down the siphon. Lucky I found it just in time and we only had one dead fish and the others (46) are looking fine today.

Lesson: don't get slack

Hi Tristin, I'm planning to cut my growbed IBCs vertically just like you. I think it is a great idea and I'm very inspired by all your designs! I plan to do the same and put interconnected sumps underneath to support them as well.

From what I can see, the advantages of this approach are that:
1. One IBC cage provides sufficient support underneath 2 growbeds. Cutting horizontally as most people do would only support one via the pallet, with people often resorting to wooden sleepers.

2. You get more growbed depth this way as the height that would be occupied by the 17cm tall metal pallet is replaced with extra growbed depth.

Disadvantages I can see are:
1. No / little side support for the growbeds, as the cage does not wrap around. Unsure if this needed, as I believe media does not put as much pressure on walls as water.

2. Still trying to find more...

Are the above right? Anything else that you who have seen the practical aspect of it has to say about that?

I have a few more questions. Hope you don't mind

a. Could you please elaborate on how you cut them? E.g. did you cut it so that the growbeds are 1.2m x 1, or 1 x 1?

b. I notice in some of the images, you provided side-support to the grow beds. How did you do that? Did you solder IBC cage cut-offs to the main cage to make side-supports?

c. Did you also cut the liner vertically (i.e. cut out the centre along the axis containing the top cap and bottom cap)?

d. Are you planning to purchase BYAP growbeds because you dislike this solution?

e. You said this about the second system: "Water flows to the GB's by gravity and it works much better than in the 1st system as the outlet is a little lower." What do you mean by the outlet being lower? Is this regarding the SLO height? How does help? In my mind, it seems to make it worse because the height differential between the outlet and the grow bed height is reduced?


Many thanks!

Wow! I have questions to answer

I have been keeping very busy as I started a new job and resumed studying in the later part of this year. And now it's Christmas eve and I finally have some time to myself!

I will try and answer your questions Quasar

1.2m x 1


No, the cage is cut vertically the same way the bladder is


Yes


No, just like to try different systems


The second system has a higher head pressure above the grow bed, resulting in a better waterflow.

If anyone was building a system like our second one I would recommend deeper sumps as we have still had times when they have overflowed. We are actually planning to dismantle this system in the new year as we intend incorporating it into our 3rd system which is on a timer and in a dryer area where the plants have done much better. (thats where we intended putting some BYAP growbeds so will rethink where we may put then one day). We have found our igloo gets way to hot and humid to grow a good variety of plants and keeping pests at bay in those conditions has been extremely difficult.
I will take pictures when we make the changes and try and make more regular updates, hopefully

Merry Christmas & all the best for 2012

Tristrin, I’m researching my first starter system and have been following your posts in the forum. Thanks for sharing the information. After all of the systems I’ve examined online and in the fantastic IBC of AP manual, I’m particularly interested in your second system design (or a slight mod) for learning and experimenting. I’d love your feedback on a few questions, if you have the time and wouldn’t mind:

1. You are recommending deeper sumps to avoid overflow—does that mean extra IBCs would be needed and cut differently to gain the extra depth?

2. What would be the best way to cut those IBCs to gain deeper sump tanks but to avoid material waste?

3. Would there be any advantages/disadvantages to recessing the sump tanks?

4. If you were to add a DWC bed, or trough, roughly 4x8” (1.2x1.4m), where would you add it to this design?

5. Do you see a need to add a swirl filter?

6. Would you suggest how and where to add a duckweed tank?

7. Have you made the plumbing plan available anywhere, and if not, would you consider sharing it?

Thank you so much for answering any of these. Answers you toss up will help me and others greatly as we sift through the hundreds of system plans out there, finalize a design and get down to growing good food. Ciao.

Chris