Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi y'all. Been a while since I have been here. Was waiting for my IBCs to turn up...and waiting...and waiting...etc

But.

FINALLY!!



Loving that they arrived blue, hopefully will save painting. Opened up and nose test given, seems these are pretty clean. Once I get them home (they are at work, atm) and cut up, I will give them a vinegar/bleach scrub.

So. Now it is up to the guru's (that'd be you lot) to give me some advice on where to go next. I have some ideas in mind, primarily a buried FT, with two GBs being fed on a flood/drain cycle.

However. I realise that filling both these beds with water simultaneously (even at 30-50% total capacity) will leave the FT very shallow for a period of time whilst drain back occurs. So, I am wondering if a CHIFT/PIST is the way to go. I have seen a few setups with one tank and one bed from each of two IBCs, but I'm not a huge fan of this. Unless someone can convince me otherwise...?? I am thinking to stock with Barra.

Won't be a lot happening here for a few weeks. I have four weeks off over Chrissie, so will have this as a little project to keep me busy.

Looking forward to input!

G'day Ghengis, nice blue tanks! ive got 700l IBC tank feeding nearly 700l of grow beds, and being mostly full of stones it only seems to drain the tank around 200mm, less now i am running the pump 30 mins on and 30 off. No major problems so far....

O, ok... I knew that the media takes up around 60% if gro bed space, but I thought water level would fluctuate more than that...

So you think 1,000L feeding near on 1,000L (minus media volume) of GB would be ok??

That sounds like the equivalent of our Entertainer system Ghengis, which works very well.

More questions...

From the responses here, I had pretty much resigned to having just the one tank and two beds. I am pretty keen to stock with Barra, so I have a tasty treat for the table once in a while. But herein lies my problem...

For every fish I take out to eat, I am going to need to replace with another fish. Barra being barra, means I cannot just add a new fingerling and expect it to live past one second... What methods do you all use to raise fingerlings prior to release among the larger fish?? I was thinking to set up a tank (aquarium) with a simple sponge filter and have a constant cycle of stock coming through. But what about incorporating a sump into my system? It means more plumbing and an extra water pump, but raising fingerlings in the same water that they will eventually move into certainly has advantages...

Is anyone else using their sump as a grow out tank?? Any pitfalls I should know of??

I don't know about using sump as a grow out tank but Barra are great fish to have in an aquarium, very entertaining.

Maybe you could you add some Red Claw as a buffer?

You could run your growbeds constant flood and then the fish tank level would not alter at all.
I have a 200L aquarium that I use to get fingerlings up to size. I reckon 100mm is a good size to get them started in the big tanks.

Yeah, I have a 3ft/150L tank sitting spare atm, so might do something there I think... Only need to grow two or three at a time, so space won't be an issue. Sponge filters are among the best forms of filtration available, so there should be no issue there either...

Have cut one IBC in half already and going to mark and cut the top out of the second this arvo. Then comes the joy of digging a nice large hole for FT!!

O, and 3.5kW solar system is installed tomorrow. Woot!!

Will there be just the plastic part of the IBC underground? could see problems with the backfilled dirt collapsing the liner if there was no water in it

Hi Ghengis!

Gald to see you are getting started.

Couple of points just in case you have not thought of it yet, If you are going to bury a IBC make sure you remove the wooden pallet from the bottom as it will rot and collapse in time. Also, you will need to put sheets of wood or better yet old signs or something around the sides of the IBC before filling in the dirt around the sides because the pressure of the dirt can sometimes split the plastic.

Good luck.

Yep make sure the hole is big enough for the cage and a bit more. Then put old corrugated iron sheets or old signs like Charlie said, around the outside of the cage , then backfill

Thanks for the tips, but yes, had already considered this issue and asked about it here:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10665&p=303671#p303671
(was just waiting response to this one )

I wouldn't say I know anything about anything at all, let alone AP, but whenever I plan a project (new aquarium layout, restoring furniture etc), I try to consider every possible angle and issue, before I pick up a single tool. Anything I haven't considered, I try to learn from research in places just like this. The backfill caving in the FT was one of my biggest, and earliest, considerations in this project.

I think we feel better if we say it Ghengis...

Better to share all the info than have an early mistake, especially when it involve digging.

Yeah, sorry...I didn't mean to come across as rude. I am very grateful for the forward thinking and there is no doubt I will be needing moreof the same in the near future, so thank you to everyone

So a little update as to where I am at. These were taken last week and just today.

First up, marking and carefully cutting one IBC with handsaw. I did this on my patio, as it provided a consistent, level surface from which to measure



Millimetre perfect!!



Then today, I got home and measured and cut the FT. Again on the patio, I lay the tank on a side and used a scrap of timber as a straight edge to get an accurate line, turning to each side as I went. A plant pot provided the perfect radius for the corners.



More careful sawing



Was pretty unsure how I would get through the corner radii, given a jigsaw would likely just bounce around and make a mess, but a trusty hacksaw blade made surprisingly easy work of them!



As the French say...wahllah!!





In the top-most pics, you can see a fence. Holiday project is to build an awning off this fence, with clear poly-carb sheeting as a roof. I am concerned that the Cairns wet will overload both FT and GBs with water, so I want the whole arrangement to be covered and protected. Pics of that in a while. Still gotta dig that hole and not looking forward to it!!

Getting back to the collapsing FT under soil pressure...have I done the right thing in retaining the corner sections for strength?

Cheers.

Yes you have cut the top out the same way most that I have seen have done, and it does retain strength. Looking good, and you cut that one in half very neatly, something I didnt do