Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well Time for an update!


As i said before i have a bigger one coming, and here it is!



Only problem was that it was still full of SAND!

took some moving, and when i cleaned it out ............. i dont want to KNOW what some of the black stuff was!

Here is the Filter in place and plumb in this runs in backflush as a Fluid bed filter, this gives me a biological filtering capasity of approx 600 square meters of Filtering area



Also got some trout on sunday!....... and as you can see i had to add some netting,
I forgot about trouts acrobatics caught the little buggers trying to jump up the water inlet! i suppose they thought it was a water fall!

and before any one says anything! the nets only on the water because i had to remove the Skyhook!

Here is my drain for the NFT and Grow Towers



Other end of the drain going back in to the sump!

the sump really generates some great aeration, pitty it will be used up by the Bacteria in the FBSF



and here is some of the tube for the grow towers..... i suppose you could measure it in chickens if you like!

Nice looking setup, Olley. Looks like you know what yr doing. Those sand filters you are using, are they ex-pool filters? What's one of those worth? Also, why do you need sand filters if your planning grow towers? Guess they'll help convert yr nitrites into nitrates

Really nice can not wait to see if done. Thanks for all the help on my system so far.

What did the large pipe cost you?, I'm looking for some myself. One place quoted $330 and another $230 trade price. Tt was for 1x 300mm by 6m lenght.

Yeah thats the plan!... just seening how itll run for a week i might have to make a couple of changes of how water flows through it! due to the shap of this unit i may have some Anaerobic zones in it! but i can fix that!

I found this one on Gumtree in adelaide for $70 if you look there around, there good for all sorts of things.

Why do i need/want a sand filter? well there are two! one is a Fluid sand filter which has the highest Surface aera to size that you can get from filter medium, this one has a surface aera of approx 600 square meters (it actually higher but i derate every thing by 20% as a safety margin ) Fluid sand filtration is used in large scale water treatment plants and some Large Aquatic centers. (also being used more in Aquariums aswell due to their faster ammonia conversion ) but there a power hog as you need more pumping pressure!

The second filter is in filter mode to remove as much suspened solids as possible so as to avoid root ploblems in the towers (towers will be aeroponic towers) and NFT tubes.

I'm going to be adding a protein skimmer as well to help remove more suspened solids, this will fit strait in to the water flow with out needing any extra pumping or air flow, appart from removing suspened solids they also help to add O2 and strip CO2 as well!

cheers Olley

cheers man!

Man your lucky i was quoted $390 here in Port Pirie, i scored this one ( 300mm x 4M something) for free!

Sorry !

i got 3x 250mm as well about 6m worth in smaller piece's as well

took some hunting the found it out the back of the school i am Network admin for!......

but if this size works well i will have to look for more!

Well some more Pic's well the trout are having a ball even though it's been dam HOT! ( for trout anyway!)

Yeah the Fish are having a Party!



forgot to take the cloths trolly out of shot, (thanks to my little nephew!)

The trout waterfall, this is where i caught the little buggers jumping out of the tank! they where jumping up the water and unfortunatly out on to the Ground!



Funny as i watched one do it after i added the bird netting, He jumped straight up hit the net and was bounced straight back down!

added My NFT tubes from my first build!

Mmm duct tape...... ITS all you Need!



And maybe a paper clip!

The tray got moved and Now i dont know what these are?....... and YES i forgot to label them!



More tape! this is painters tape, i can peel it back and check the roots on the plants and any thing else then just put it back, it's very good tape!

Very nice.

1. What are you using as a medium?
2. How deep is the water in the pipes?
3. The thin pipes is that the water in or air?
4. Could you give a run down on the pipe setup?

Thanks this is making me think.

Yeah we have rain, and the tempratures dropping!

Thanks for detailed response, Olley. Looking forward to seeing yr system in more detail - currently viewing on a smartphone with a pretty small screen so pics are hard to see. I'm interested in filters now since I've been working on my own ones for the past couple of weeks. In principle I think they're supposed to do the same thing as yours ie churn up the sand. Have you heard of ruffle filters before? Having put all mine together now I see how important pressure is in this kind of filter. At present the water is only really trickling through them so I'm not sure how effective the biological filtration I'm getting is. :/ it is making the water cleaner, tho, so it wasn't a total failure.

i'll give a btter break down of my filtering and the end requirments, after i finish making some pizzas!, i'm not sure about ruffle filtering but i'll go have a look soon. love to see new ways of doing things!

Yep guess who set their sprinklers going on the lawn for an hour last night.. shoulda done that on monday or tuesday..

Lot of progress goin on there.. lookin good..