Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi There,

Well i should have my hands on two IBC's tomorrow, i have a very bad attempt of a model i am planning which i have attched but am not sure if its uploaded or not.

The plan is to have the FT under the patio which is about 300mm above ground level, then 2 GB's out from the patio with a ST underneath, problems;

1. I have no idea if this will work with the levels of the components so FT highest, then down to GB's then ST under that.
2. I have a rough idea of how to plumb this setup but i couldnt sketchup skills couldnt make it look like it should. Would love someone to just roughly draw in the easiest way to run the plumbing.

Until i have the draft finalised i dotn want to go cutting the IBC's etc because i may make a mistake and ruin the design.

The grow beds will sit on Becca blocks with thick wood accross them for stability then the cut IBC sits on the wood.

I have access to mains power straight of the patio.

Thanks in advance for any advice and feel free to butcher my design if thier is a better simpler way then im all ears. I will post up some pics of each stage once i start work.

Cheers Linc

Linc, IBC's are already drawn up and available in the 3d warehouse for sketchup. That's where I got the one I used. As for the plumbing, I didn't draft that out, because it would take for ever, and some times just "doing it" is okay, because you will probably modify the plumbing 20 times anyway. Your levels look good. Are you doing an SLO? Not that it would affect the levels or anything, just asking. If you are striving for a 1:1 GB to FT ratio, I would say cut the tops of the IBC's 1/3rd of the way down. That way you would have 2, 1/3rd GBs, 2/3rd FT and 2/3rd sump.

Thanks Ron
Lol I didn't think to look for templates people had already done, oh well I will put it down to sketch up training.
Sorry to sound dumb but what's SLO?
My problem with having 2/3 Sump is that I can't bury it in this location there are massive old tree roots everywhere so everything has to be above ground.
As far as plumbing goes would it go like this,
Pipe from top if ft down to each gb filling in from the top.
Drains in both gb's with pipes underneath draining into sump
Then pump back from sump into top of ft
I'm just not quite sure how the last part works with the pump going back into ft.

Cheers Linc

An SLO is a solids lifting outlet. Basically, instead if the water just spilling out the outlet, you have a pipe that goes to the bottom, and pressure forces the water up and out that way. Since all of the solids are at the bottom, they get lifted out too. All that gunk belongs in the growbed where the bacteria, worms and plants can go to work on it. You really want to match gb volume to sump volume. The exception is with constant flood growbeds. They don't cause water level fluxuations. Perhaps a good solution is to run ond growbed flood and drain, and the other constant flood. That would give you more growing options as some plants like one over the other. EB is running a whole test on the different GB styles, it is somewhere in the forum. The pump going back to the FT is easy. Put a pump in the sump, with a hose and pvc, or some combination running back to the FT. Some people over size the pump, and send a return to the sump to increase aeration.

With constant flood growbeds you only need a very tiny dedicated sump tank or *gasp* none at all (like me). I would have the FT overflow via SLO (search forum for it) into the GBs and the rest is as you said. Do everything CF and only need a sump big enough to allow for a little evaporation and to hold the extra bit of water you get when you turn it off. As for splitting the IBCs... Maybe 2/3 IBC for fish tank, 1/3 for sump. Then 1/2 each for 2 GBs. There's my 2 cents.

Oh, by the way. I have 2 IBCs and for my trying-to-be-a-slo-but-not-really, I just used the 2" outlet on the bottom of the IBC (rising externally to set the water level). It doesn't really work and I have to physically sweep the solids toward the outlet once a day or so. I wish I had gone w/ a circular tank. Good luck!

Thanks guys, excuse the French but sh!t I'm confused lol. I have murrays DVD on how to construct a system with three IBC, I haven't watched it all yet but surely I could apply the same principles with two IBC ? So 2/3 fish tank, 1/3 sump and 2/3 gb.

I will do a search on SLO now and read up.

Nit sure if this is a problem but both the IBC that I have don't have screw lids on the top, does that matter.

They both have held waste oil, but don't smell to bad and I am hoping a bit of degreaser and a good wash with detergent will do the trick.

Cheers Linc

Cheers

The screw top really wont matter once you cut them open! That might even be beneficial since that is one less thing to worry about leaking. As for them holding waste oil, at least you know what was in them. As for the confusion, just think of this cycle. You feed the fish, they crap and secrete ammonia. The crap and ammonia needs to go to the growbeds. There bacteria convert the ammonia into something usefull to the plants, and the plants use that and the crap to grow. That filters the water, and that water drops into a sump. There you have a pump that pumps it back to the fishtank and the cycle starts all over again. +1 to kthignight24 for his suggestion on the deeper GBs. From what I have been reading there is quite the benefit to that. You would have to run constant flood on both tanks for that though, as the sump would get overwhelmed by f&d.

Have you downloaded the IBCs of Aquaponics yet? I haven't watched any DVDs but between that and this forum, I feel quite confident in what I am doing. Just because something is free, doesn't meen that it is now valuable!

Thanks Ron,

What I meant with the no screw cap problem was that I was planning on using the top third as a GB but I haven't seen a gb drain that uses that whole cap space without the lid, they all seem to cut a hole in the cap itself and run the pipe through it?

Yep I got that PDF which is great and now I think my plan is to,
2/3 fist tank
1/3 sump with pump in bottom
Pump waterr from sump to FT and then overflow runs via PVC back down to the gb's and drains back into sump and that cycle just keeps going.

The main thing that's got me now is, if I am filling the ft from the sump and then it overflows down to the grow beds how do I get the solids/crap from the bottom of the FT?

Thanks again Linc

Thats where you use the SLO. You'll find an example with pictures on this thread by about page 4, I think. viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1470

Agh thanks earthbound just Checked that out looks neat mate, so I gather when the ft overflows into the gb it creates a suction through it's own momentum. So it stops because the wat level drops in tge fish tank to a point where the air being sucked in at the top breaks the cycle, obviously after the pump goes off.

So it would be taking water from the top and bottom of the FT at the same time?

Just the bottom. It is actually atmoshperic pressure pushing down on the surface of the water that forces the water up through the SLO. Kind of like when you squeeze a water bottle with a straw. The straw is at the bottom, but because there is no where else to go, it goes out the straw. The highest level in the outlet or piping determines the water level. You leave the top open with a tee, instead of closed with an elbow, to act as a redundant outlet in case the SLO gets cloged.

Quick update, I have been out setting up the base for my grow beds to sit on, I have a couple of issues already I will need to dig some of my sump down a bit lower but only about 100mm so hopefully I can get through the roots.

My beams that run over the top of my bricks which the gb's will then sit on are both warped slightly so I can get them level, the only way around it will be to adjust the level of the grow beds themselves once I place them on the beams.

Lastly does it matter if the sump is not exactly level?

Cheers linc

No, this will be fine.