Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have to plan ahead with the materials...I can't just run out to home depot since they're a 1/2 hour away! Luckily, I had some old spray paint in the garage. The nozzle sort of fit....once I pushed it on, it stayed on! I had to use pliers to pull it out to stop it!

ah yea, the old place, Lowes was only 5 miles away but now at the new place the closest hardware store is Ace at about 7 miles and if I need Lowes I've got to go over 14 miles (though google maps will tell me it is only 6 miles away but that apparently is as the crow flies across the lake!)

Glad you had a fix.

While I was filming my latest video, this butterfly landed on my hand. In the past, I’ve received several questions about why I don’t put screens on the greenhouse vents…this is why!

(Sorry it’s blurry, this is a screen grab from the video and the camera wasn’t focused for the close up shot!)

Excellent feeder design. I was trying to figure out a design using some floppy disk stepper motors I have. I couldn't think of an option that would not jam. Your design seems ideal for my available resources. Thanks

Love the feeder, makes life a bit easier.

Here is the first of three videos on how the aquaponic system is assembled in the geodesic dome. This first video recaps some of the installation that was done during the dome construction and shows a general overview of how the entire system operates.

I enjoyed the video Rob, thanks for posting it.

Thank you look forward to the next two videos, cheers

This is the second video in my series on how the aquaponic system is set up in the geodesic dome. It details how all the plumbing is done.

Great stuff as always!

This is the first time I've had a comment, which is that I think the SLO pipe diameter should be larger, and that the screen on the bottom should be spread out more. It would only take say four dead fish to clog it, same for the holes in the top (which now has a screen).

Also are you finding the bilge pump adequate for the pumping to the beds?

I too have always done far larger drain plumbing. I think the only SLO drain I ever did that was as small as 1" was on a 40 gallon aquarium and my little 20 watt pump could over power that if I didn't bypass some of the flow back into the sump.

Then again, you are obviously working on a low power system here since you are putting in solar.

Originally I was concerned about the pipe size too, but once the siphon kicks in on it, it sucks the water out as fast as it's going into the tank! Gravity is an amazing thing!

When I'm done getting everything up and running, I"m going to add some redundancy into the system: 1) Another pipe into the fish tank to drain it....in case the other pipe gets a clog, and 2) A second pump & pipe going from the sump to the fish tank. If that pump fails that sump will fill in about 10 minutes. 3) A kill switch in the sump so if the pumps fail, it will shut down the pump in the buffer tank. It may still overflow on a failure, but at least I won't pump the system dry!

The bilge pumps are fantastic! I bought 4 pumps on ebay (extras for spares), I think for $130 on ebay. They look like junk, but have a 2 year warranty. I thought they were a joke when I got them since they are so small. The pump in the buffer tank is 1100 gal/hour (so I'm turning my water about once an hour), and the pump in the sump is 2000 gph, so it can keep up if multiple beds are draining at the same time.

The overall average power usage for the pumps and a few electronics is around 80-90 watts....but I'll save that for a future video.

@1:50 You always want your water to "slow swirly"

I liked that too

yeah, At the beginning I said it was a 1/4 watt pump instead of 1/4 hp.

I'll try to be more accurate on the next video!