Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

I've been trawling this forum for information for several months and have made several steps toward setting up my own system, including investing in an IBC, several 200l barrels, a 1000l tank and a lot of media for GBs and filtration. Will post some pics further along so you get an idea of what I have planned.

In brief, I'm hoping to set up two systems;

The first will be used to filter the ground water and get it to a safe level.

The second will be used to grow fish and vegetables.

I was also really inspired by the Growing Power videos on YouTube, which show how effective AP can be in producing food.

Thanks BYAP. Really appreciate this information resource.

Look forward to seeing some pics fer9us....

Welcome to the site.

What so you mean by making the groundwater safe? What is wrong with it? When people say things like this it makes me think just how lucky we are here where the water is safe.

Keep us updated and pictures are compulsory

Thanks Rob, earthbound,

The groundwater is apparently contaminated with heavy metals, pathogens and other nasties (waterborne diseases such as typhoid are pretty common in Jakarta, and drinking groundwater is a definite no-no) so some form of filtration is highly desirable since we use it for washing.

Here are a couple of pics of the gravel, media and containers in preparation...

My son's in there too -- hello Daru!

And here's a couple more pics of the media. Later I'll post some more pics of the site and a sketchup plan I've been working on.

Sketchup can be fiddly. Was up til 1 a.m. drawing last night...

Welcome.
Just a thought, limestone (and possibly coral) will probably keep your pH rather high.
Might be worth testing it before filling your GB's.

@Dui: Thanks for suggestion. The water in my aquarium is often around the pH 8 - 8.5 mark, so if that's anything to go by I'm guessing y'll be right -- tho not entirely sure whether "high" and "low" refers to acidity or alkilinity.

Really should be getting groundwater tested to find out exactly what I'm dealing with first before I go too much further methinks, although this may have to wait at least until end of Jan since I'm pretty much flat broke after Xmas hols ...

Good to see yr sketchup plans for 2012 too btw

Plants can have difficulty taking up some nutrients with high pH (alkalinity)
pH will tend to come down after a while with the nitrification process, but if you have limestone and coral that will bring it back up (or at least buffer it so it doesn't go down)
I think if you have large chunks of it, you probably don't want them in your GB's.
My pH is high atm, over 8 and most of the plants are yellow despite adding Fe-EDTA and Florigen (Seasol)

@Dui: Definitely wouldn't have coral or limestone in GBs. That was never the plan. But whatever part of the system it is in, it would probably still have same effect right? i.e. prolly better not to use it?

Here's a diagram of my initial concept to filter the water. (sorry 2D only at this stage)




What is Fe-EDTA? Iron?

Here's a pic of the site and existing header tank + reservoir ...

Yep, Iron gets locked out and becomes unavailable to plants when your pH is high, so I'd definitely keep it out of the system untill you find you want to bring your pH up, then you can just drop one of the mesh bags filled with limestone/coral into your fish tank. If you download the IBC manual there's a chart in the back that shows pH levels and where different elements are unavailable. viewtopic.php?f=51&t=10126

Looking good though...

Ah ok I misunderstood, but yes it would have the same affect anywhere in the system.
You don't want it in there certainly at the start as EB says.


1 comment:
If you join the tank to the first filter at the bottom and you get a leak somewhere your tank will empty itself (or near empty) better to have that near the top of the tank.



Yeah, sorry, common name Chelated Iron, soluble iron.

Thanks for details. This guide is amazing. Every time I read the title I imagine someone with a really strong Australian accent saying "ABC" (pronouncing it IBC). Around here people sometimes joke that when Australians say "it's a nice day today," it sounds more like "it's a nice day to die"!

@pH vs. Nutrient scale table: Great. Thanks.


Just remembered that having said this media (see above) was limestone that the guys selling it said it was zeolit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeolite) -- so this one may be OK after all. Anyone?



Understand yr concerns. Guess I could configure it so that the water passes through filter media barrel from top to bottom, but wouldn't this limit how many filter media barrels I could use? (with water flowing top - bottom). Not really sure I see the point of that. Perhaps filter media barrels in general are better avoided?

The existing tank (orange tank shown) already has an output at the bottom that runs (left) into a float valve maintaining constant level in the reservoir (don't ask me why, weird system, and I didn't design it). From here it is pumped into our taps for use in the household.

I'm not too concerned about leakage since it already has a very slow leak but it's not really a problem. The other thing is that even if (and I really don't want this to happen) the tank did run out completely if there was a major disaster it wouldn't be putting any fish lives at risk because I don't plan to have any in this system. This is pretty unlikely, though, since the feeder tank is automatically topped up by a feeder pump that draws up groundwater from a well. The feeder tank has a level switch in it that activates when the water drops below a certain level. The leak would have to be pretty big for this tank to empty faster than it was refilling.


@What is Fe-EDTA? Iron?

Thanks
Hope I can avoid adding chems to alter pH wherever possible.

Countdown to NYE. Looks like it's gonna be a wet one

Chelated Iron won't alter your pH, but provides much needed iron to the plants when the pH of the water is too high.
Another tip is to bury banana skins in the GB's to add potassium

"The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river"

... Thanks Dui