Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The latest Sketchup plans.

One pump in tank, pumps up to growbeds, drains to DWC which drains back to fishtank.

Growbeds have bell siphons or constant flood, depending if the bell is on the siphon or not.

Drain is 4" pipe to DWC.

DWC has rafts to keep the sunlight away from the water.

Anyone see any issues with this?

Are you putting in overflows on the GB and DWC back to the FT ?
Not sure if you need it, just asking

Everything flows back to the fish tanks. Not exactly sure what you are asking. Overflows out of the growbeds in addition to the standpipe/bell siphon? Maybe in case the siphon gets clogged with roots?

Yes, probably will sooner or later. But knowing me, I won't do it until after I had needed it.

The latest Sketchup...



Sketchup is pretty handy after all. I resisted using it for a while because I'm not much of a gamer and don't usually use computer programs like that. Now I have AP Sketchup insomnia.
Tossing around in the bed because my brain won't let me sleep, the wife asks what's wrong. I say I have Sketchup on my brain.

Lots of fun figuring things out. And I see that I can do a count on how many holes to drill in a DWC raft, how many barrels I'll need, how many concrete blocks, etc...

Ahhh the joys of sketchup...

I assume you will have a few more IBC's for fish tanks?

Yep. Agree. My system is coming out very close to my schetch up. Allowed me to plan stand heights exactly to make gbs of different heights level at top, and also tall+wide enough to fit blue barrel under hem exactly.....very handy

In Sketchup, I can accomplish anything.

In real life... at least I have space for a couple more, but need to be careful I don't overextend myself. Taking it slowly, trying to do it right the first time, now that I made so many mistakes on the first system. This system, I am planning on being much more solid and permanant. There is time. Don't see the system being built in a year. Maybe have part of the area up and running with one line of growbeds with the DWC and one IBC tank going... but then there is the dirt garden, the pizza oven, the outdoor kitchen, the rocket heater... Oh yeah, and taking care of my family and the farm.

Which reminds me, what do ya'll think about running the rocket heater exhaust pipe underneath the IBC tanks in a loop. Tanks would be supported by concrete blocks, pipe would be between the blocks to keep the weight of the water from crushing the pipe. Fire up the rocket stove, keep it going for a couple of hours to warm up the cobb thermal mass, then letting the system cool down naturally. Create enough mass out of cobb and clay under the tank to have slow heat radiation.

Water flowing into the growbeds would be pumped from the bottom of the tank where it would be warmed by the thermal mass. Flows through the growbeds and rafts where the winter ambient temps cool the water, drains back into the fish tank. Cold water sinks to the bottom where it is warmed up by the thermal mass again.

Eventually the thermal mass will cool off and by morning the water is cold again, but... will it be enough to keep a warm water fish happy enough to keep growing through the winter months? And of course, giving off enough nutrients to keep the cool weather plants growing?

Another angle - will the fish not appreciate such a temp swing? Hhhhmmm interesting. If only I had taken biology, chemistry, etc...

Fish don't like quick temperature changes, but if you are pumping 24/7 I don't think you'll have an issue with temp swings.
It takes an awful lot of energy to raise the temperature of water.
3 x IBC's and 1 x DWC I'm guessing and GB's around 6000 litres (probably more)
Around 700 Watts to raise it 1C in an hour (assuming no losses)
In the winter it would probably take 700W just to keep it at the same temperature.

If you can work things out so you roll an insulating cover over the greenhouse at night so you won't be loosing all your heat overnight, You could probably make it work without causing too extreme a temperature swing. However if you are trying to heat the fish tank way up and then letting the water temp fall to ambient overnight, that kind of temp swing will be detrimental to the fish.

This would probably be after I have an enclosed greenhouse, sometime in the future. Reckon that would help keep the temps inside the GH more stable. Certainly don't want to cause the fish any issues, but just thinking of IBC tank thermal mass probabilities spurs me to explore the idea anyway.

Firing up a rocket heater to warm the thermal mass for slow release wouldn't heat up the entire tank and it wouldn't heat it fast. Compare it to using an electrical or propane heater to keep the water from falling below a certain temp. Sort of.

Especially with the water flowing 24/7 which is the way I'm running now. Don't see any reason to change something that works in that regard. But there may be a better way to use a rocket heater with aquaponics. Maybe under the DWC bed, or just in the floor of the GH, vented outside of course.

Then in the summertime, run a solar blower fan through the underground piping to cool things off. Maybe I'm just crazy and have cabin fever.

Hey Mr. Bill, makes sense to me, have you seen Rob's heating system for his dome?

oh, cool. How did I miss that episode? I remember him saying that he was looking at building a rocket heater inside, but then there was no mention of it after that. Until the latest teaser video.

Well, good for him. Hope he gives lots of info on how he built it and how it works inside the dome in the winter. Looks like his is built near the middle sump tank with the exhaust pipe near the edge. And looks like the dirt/sand/gravel inside the dome will be the thermal mass? Dude, hurry up and post the whole video! Your audience awaits.

Found out about rocket heaters on this forum. I've been doing some looking around to do research on having a rocket heater in coordination with aquaponics, and I'm here to tell you, there ain't much out there. Aquaponics has been around for ages, but is just now coming into... what's the word... vogue, maybe?
Rocket heaters have been around for ages, but they are still considered experimental.
Combining the two will be experimental as well. No data exists that I can find and if anyone can find some info, please point me in that direction.



Ha. Just found that book myself a few weeks ago. My brain has been churning ever since.

Go Rob, GO!

I had this concept I was calling "Collier Gardens", to use heat from a charcoal-making stove, to heat water in a big kettle surrounded by concrete blocks, in a greenhouse. Inlet air for the greenhouse would go through the masonry, and a water loop would transfer heat from the kettle to the fish water. Since we are in the water moving business with AP and since it holds a ton of energy it seems handy to use water to store heat from a stove. Hot water if it was stored in an insulated tank could maybe keep the system warm at night by pumping only then, and just sitting in the tank otherwise.

Either way, using a stove to heat the soil or to heat water for a radiant floor sounds good to me. With warm water in pipes or hoses you could apply the heat more specifically rather than generally. Each bed could be heated with pipes.

But heating the ground under the beds would really be a smooth fluctuation for sure.

Running loops of pipe under the raft beds is definitely a handy heat transfer method as well. I know some one up near Chicago who has done that.

Masonry heaters are another way you can fire up the stove for a short while and use the heat over a long time, if you haven't seen those yet.

http://mha-net.org/

AP on four wheels, brother. You have to remember that I'll be doing this work by myself, and I'm not an able-bodied individual like most folks are on this forum. Have seen the masonry heaters but discounted them as a possibility due to my, uh, shall we say, physical abilities. Building with bricks and concrete blocks are possible, but low to the ground where I don't have to pick them up very far.