Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

they are 0 - 0

but Im planning on stocking at higher levels than 4 fish..lol

if I set up a bio filter I figure I could push stocking densities/feeding a bit harder and I dont really have the space for grow beds

bought a barrel, like $20 from just around the corner.. I assume its 220L no idea really

the lip is just slightly higher than my sump hard to tell from the photo

thoughts so far is to plumb them with a no holes over flow, no idea what diameter pipe? and to run them off thier own little pump that I already have (I say them because I may get more barrels)

once my pump dies I could get a larger pump and run them inline with diverted water

Ive decided after reading the no holes overflow thread to just get a bulkhead fitting and put it through however due to the angle/slope of the barrel Im worried that I either wont get a seal or the barrel will over flow before the SLO kicks in to return the water from the filter back to the tank.

if anyone with a little more experience could weigh in on this that would help

A uniseal will do the job perfectly.

alright I guess ill have to put in an order

If I make a 2 barrel bio filter could I just connect them at the bottom with uniseals and have inflow into the first barrel and an overflow on the second?

I can draw a picture if needed

id say that barrel is 180L, it looks like one i got that came from greece full of kalamata olives
im using mine as a bio filter as well but not for my AP just my pond, its nothing flash just used parts from other bio filters i had made previouly, mostly shade cloth as the media with some gravel at the bottom

i like em cause they have the screw on lid much better than the 200L that you have to cut a hole in
Cheers
pete

You may find that with the uniseal on an angle the pipe will want to come out perpendicular to the angled surface.. A couple of ways you may be able to fix this is either with a 45 degree elbow, or perhaps you can have the SLO coming out a bit lower where the side is vertical, then bring it up to the right height outside the barrel. A SLO's pipework doesn't have to be all inside the fish tank or barrel.

Okay this is a diagram using a bulkhead fitting using EB's instructions. didnt think it needed any labels pretty self explanitory..

I need to know if this will this work? before I cut any holes

I set it up like above ^^ and it works... hovever as per usual with my handiwork almost every place that could leak did.. need to get my silicone on

just for future reference, I use a no holes siphon, and I keep it alive by trickling a small amount of water diverted from my pump so that it's always flowing (perhaps 20lph. If I let it sit, it develops air bubbles and dies, but I run one connecting my fishtank, and my duckweed tank, so it breathes gently in and out with the flood and drain, and with the trickle of positive flow, I have no issues with it.

very poetic

thanks for the input BW, maybe ill try it if I decide to put in another barrel filter.

I found an unidentified floating object in the FT today.. as im using floating pellets, I can only assume it was partially digested poop or something? there is a lid on the tank.

there also seems to be white fluff on the surface of the water and on the UFO which looks like dust but is only occuring in the FT and not the sump..pretty wierd the 1 trout in the FT seems unaffected.

UFO and white fluff was all because my SLO was totally blocked up.. fixed that.

hot days in melbourne my water thermometer reached the "green zone" for the first time today 21 degrees

may look at harvesting 2 of my 4 trout ^^ forecast 29 tomorrow

harvested 2 trout 1 @ 250g 1 @ 320g... I picked these trout up just over a month ago and weighed one dead one in @ 120g, so not bad if you factor in these ones surviving near fatal zinc poisoning.

I have two left and well see how long I can keep them alive!