Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi there new to all of this stuff. Keen gardener and permaculturist and lucky enough to have a couple acres.

I have an old bathtub, a 200litre plastic barrel that was home to 2 goldfish (recently deceased), a 12v dc pump, solar panels and a solar timer. Plus some other 12v related stuff to tinker with, switches, fuses etc.

I want an ebb and flow system using a sump so i can harvest algae etc. for the garden. I have tinkered with passive hyrdoponics but not much with pumps etc

Need advice on which fish i can use other than goldfish. If possible i would love to try and grow some native Tasmanian crayfish.

I am thinking bath as fishpond but not sure the best way to utilise the barrel... maybe the sump?

Tried to post up a pic of what i am starting with but having probs with the upload...

All help much appreciated.

Cheers DD

Hi DD, I see your still wondering how you are going to get started. You will find that as you rome through posts everything will start making sense.

Algae is not very friendly in AP systems as it messes with the nutrification process and can rob oxygen.

If I was to suggest a system 2 designs (considering your components) I would probably go with

1 - cutting your barrel in half long ways and that will give you 2 GB's, make up a frame that they sit nicely on over the bath tub which will become your FT. You would have to stock lightly as you would only have around 170L of FT and 200L of GB. Run it CF with loop syphons.

or

2 - reverse the components by using the bath as the GB and mayby lay the barrel on its side and cut out a window and use it as the FT. You could plum it also as a straight CF but with stand pipe that mounts through the plug hole.

Just some ideas for ya.

p.s. To help you with posting pics :-

You can search for the posting pics thread through the search button at the top right of the forum

or

When you reply post, just under the section you type in there is the "choose file" button, click on that and select the pic you want to add (the pic must be re-sized to 800x600), when it loads in you than click on the "Add the file" button - this will now attach it to the post. You can add 3 photos max. When you are happy with your post and press "submit" your pics will load up with the rest of your post.

Good luck mate.

Cheers Charlie will give it a go on the photo front. Actually need a new program to change the size... any ideas on that one?

My barrel has no lid so cutting in half will leave me needing to fix something up.

I am going to have a look around the tip shops tmrw for any GB looking stuff. If i had a trailer or ute i would just grab one of those large milk container things and use the bath for something else.

What are the reasons and advantages of a sump? I must be getting algae confused with pond sludgey stuff

No fuss DD, we are here to help.

Resizing depends on your operating system, I have a Mac so find it quite easy but maybe try this link

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=107&start=30&hilit=resizing

should find an answer there.

Ok, didnt realise your barrel was open one end. Hmmm, you could cut the barrel somewhere in the middle and use the bottom as a GB. OBO and others have had great success like this. Trust me, after a while everything looks like a GB or FT!!

Maybe dont rush into it just yet and see what you can dig up, try yard sales or the local tip for any favourable containers. With the right support frames you can use just about anything for a GB.

The main purpose of a sump is so you can have your GB's at a lower workable height, most backyard systems rely on the GB's draining back to the FT so obviously the GB must be higher than the FT (water wont drain up hill). Some FT's are quite high (especially IBC's) So if you want your GB's lower, you can have them draining into a sump which can be lower and of smaller volume which is then pumped to the FT. CHIFT PIST is the classic example of a system designed using a sump.

The other reason I suppose is for a greater water volume whilst reducing floor space. You can also use it to stock another species like yabbies or marron etc.

On the algae front,

Green Algae ->BAD

Brown -> GOOD this is biofilm, a living helpful organism to your system.

Perfect thanks that makes sense. Today i picked up some flexbile, non-toxic pond sealant and also a large laundry style stainless steel sink.

How about this:

Bathtub as FT
Sink as main GB + a smaller one that is a smaller box of some variety...
cutdown barrel as sump.

The sink and other box are over the bathtub on a wooden bench and the sump rests on the ground.
I am very keen on growing some kind of yabby/cray... just has to cope with our cold winters.

Cheers i will see if i can get my photos working.

Lets see if this works...

Ahh yes.

Plenty of work to do as you can see. This area is a great suntrap and i plan on growing a tomato up the wall on the trellis plus some chillies and a few other things.

Good morning Digital Dirt,
A couple of things that comes to mind that might be worth a little research are
- the chips in what I pressume is a cast iron bathtub and the effect that it may have on the health of the fish. There has been previous discussion and experience with this situation by forum members and a quick search should bring up some of those threads.
-the other thing I thought was that if you filled those tyres with gravel that would perhaps provide some more stability, please make sure that it is safe as the weight in these systems can do some serious damage if they fell on someone.

Hiya faye

Thanks i have got some paintable pond liner for the bath. I dont want lead poisoning. :/

I am thinking the bath will just rest off the ground. Not sure if its cast iron but it sure is heavy! Would there be any need to have some kind of drain or tap coming out of the plughole... would i ever have to drain the FT?

Cheers.

We don't drain fish tanks.
If you ever need to it is easy to pump it out anyway.

Ok cool thats one less thing to worry about.

Its hard to find the right size plug for some reason. Old bath... Might havta seal it up with silicon.

Hi guys i have some new things to show you.

Got my bath covered with 2 coats of the sealant. I reckon this pallet i have can be cut down to size a bit and then have my 2 growbeds on top.

What do y'all think of cutting down the green barrel to make a sump? I also have this half oil barrel that i was thinking i could maybe use? It used to have some kind of diesel oil in. Probs no good?

Hello again.

Today i finished off my wooden support for my beds. The wood is a bit old but it was just laying around nearby. Its sturdy enough at least.

Been around 2 weeks since the 2nd and final coat of the sealant. Bath is lookin good.

Now i am thinking it will be much simpler to forget about a sump for now. I plan on pumping the water from FT to the highest GB which will gravity feed the lower one. This will have a bell syphon to drain the laundry tub.

Got 3 goldfish and 3 minnows the other day. They are living in the green barrel for now.

Questions:

Is it ok to have the plug hole of sink only about 5cm above the water line?

How big roughly should the bell syphon be?

Does it look ok? any suggestions?

Cheers

Hi DD

Welcome to APs. It certainly keeps the brain active hey!

My only suggestion is that you will probably want to be able to access the FT (even if just to sit and watch your fish) Can your GBs be offset a little? It is very tricky trying to move them after they are filled with media, plants and water!