Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Got the top off tank mounted tonight. Having that cage around the top of the IBC sure is handy. The tank had a few threaded mounting holes on the bottom-so easy with a couple of conduit clamps wrapped around the cage. Then plumbed it down to a float valve livestock waterer that i had sitting on a shelf.
Probably going to lower the water level in the system just a little. It seems to be to high in the far growbed. I'm also going to incorporate the unused IBC bottom valve in to the far growbed feed line to equalize. It just happens to have a 2" pvc thread.
I also have a void in the near growbed that I haven't decided what to plant there. (The grammar just doesn't seem right in that last sentence. I should have a drink to fix that concern.) I keep seeing the year old raspberry plants in a bag at the store and want to try that but I read that there is little produce for the size of the bush. Maybe I'll just put another tomato there. We use plenty of tomato foods. Any other suggestions?

The creek project is different and interesting, do you think it will ever go dry totally? Maybe part of it could be a lined area that can never go empty. Also there could be a food forest going on in that area.

The creek was actually dry about 2 weeks ago. When it gets water in it, drainage is not a real issue because of the clay soil. Evaporation is the problem when temps go up. We have hot, dry summers here usually, although when I was younger we got an afternoon shower almost every day in the summer. The last decade we basically wait for destructive hurricanes to give us our water back. We didn't get a good dousing last fall since Irene went up in your direction, Dave and everything else missed. I know it sounds weird to want a hurricane, but that's about the only way we get out of drought conditions anymore.
So, I figure topping-off with greywater from a family of 4 might be enough to keep the top part full in conjunction with some floating plants and overhanging trees to slow the evaporation.
As far as growing food, YEAH! I don't see 12,000 gallons worth of growbeds, but I would like to start some trellises with grapes and berries fed with the "creek" water and some decorative stuff, too since I'll be landscaping some walkways around there.
On the IBC system, I put the extra valve in the far growbed to equalize them and rescued one of my comets who slipped under the airlift. Need to get him fat. Tested the water and had 0 ammonia, a slight reading on the nitrites and 0 on the nitrates. I'll bump the feed up over the next few days and see what happens. If I get a consistent nitrite reading, I'll dump another bottle of bacteria starter and see if the nitrate readings follow. It seems the first bottle did its job on the ammonia.

Starting to get some new growth on the plants. Buds forming on the peppers.

And lots of flowers turning to fruit on one set of strawberries.

Also had a picture of new roots growing out of the tomato plants in the gravel, but it went AWOL? Oh well, take another pic tomorrow and it'll probably look better.
And, Hi Steph!

Is that the "cut here" line vrs the actual cut I see on your grow bed?

If it is we must have gone to the same cutting school

I didn't draw the line very straight, so I corrected while cutting.
Where's the "dangerous with power tools" emoticon?

Hey Jimbo, I like your design for ibc grow bed stands. I just picked up an ibc for $50 today. Free is always better but I was happy to find a place that sold it for what I got it for. Another place locally wanted as much as $200 for one. Anyway, I was hopeful you could share with me your building specs, particularly the way you used the metal sides for the tabletop base if you will. I think I got the 4x4 construction down just from looking at your pic (I'll probably modify the height somewhat) but before I go hacking away at the metal frame I thought I'd pick your brain for a minute.
Greatly appreciate the info, thanks.

First I removed the 2 top straps and pulled the tank out of the cage.
Looking at the tank from the valve side, I made 2 vertical parallel(ish) cuts that removed the valve/bung and the 6" cap in the top of the tank.
Then I unbolted the cage from the bottom piece(sheet metal base)that can be forklifted. Then made 2 cut similar to the tank cuts, just holding the sawzall against the 2 vertical pieces as a guide.
So, the cuts for both the tank and cage were made vertically as if splitting logs and the 2 halves fell over. This only provides support for the growbeds on the front and rear. The near growbed is held up by the fish tank cage, and the far growbed had room to slip a board between the tank and the cage.
Hope that helps.

That does help, thanks. Am I correct that in using 1 ibc for 2 grow beds using your method is that:

Advantage = more cubic feet of grow bed as opposed to slicing it in half?
Eliminates the valve and cap and having to permanently seal these?

Disadvantage = having to shore up 2 sides of each grow bed?

Just curious if in hindsight you would've done it any other way? I really like your design and your plants are looking good. Finishing up my pond construction and planning to cut ibc and build 4x4 frame/table tomorrow. Thanks again.

RC, I saw this thread recently and was more interested in the support underneath the grow bed rather than the sides. When it came time to do mine Jimbo was my inspiration.

Shoring up the sides shouldn't be seen as a problem.

RC, not more cubic ft/ volume but more square feet/surface area on top. I probably lose a little volume because you have about a 4" strip from the middle of the tank left over. But, There is more planting surface on top and you still have more than 12"/300 mm which seems to be the minimum reccomended depth you want in a growbed.
The metal cage is plenty strong enough to support the 2 sides of the growbed and the board at the end is just a 1x6. The pvc pipe along the front just covers up the sharp edges left from cutting the cage.
And yes it eliminates sealing the cap though I doubt the valve would be a problem as long as its kept closed.
The only thing I might have done differently was go back to my original design(which I think may have been in a different thread.)

This would have used the usual method of cutting 2 growbeds from an IBC into a top and bottom half. Then attach a large diameter pipe to the bottom of the IBC "top" where the cap would be and use this for a sump that the airlift would sit down in. Put a regular SLO in the FT to the first growbed which would overflow to the second growbed and pump back along the top via the airlift.
This would eliminate any plumbing below the water level and the only place I would have to worry about a leak would be where the sump pipe attaches to the IBC.
I don't know that this would have been a distinct advantage now that everything is working ( I would have lost a little planting surface area) but it seemed like a really good idea as I was gooping silicone around the drains on the growbeds to stop the leaks.
Looking good there 4x.

Jimbo and 4x, thanks for the insight, nice looking growbeds yall have, I'm gonna give it a go.

Nothing special here. Just an explanatory picture on cutting the IBC if anyone still was wondering. This is the leftover portion. For some reason I haven't thrown it away yet, so I guess my subconcious has a plan for it that I haven't realized yet.

Got back from a couple of days traveling to Florida for baseball and a quick visit to meet TC and the family, to find that my water is rather green. So, I'm looking around for something to make a top out of. Have a few ideas.


Ok-that's the right picture. D'oh!

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