Backyard Aquaponics
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Hi guys,

I've been lucky enough to acquire a few nice wine barrels, so I'm planning to knock together a small ornamental AP system as a water feature in my front yard.

Here's the proposed design, using 2 full wine barrels and 2 half wine barrels:


What do you guys think? Will it work?

Here's a few things I'm not sure about:

1. Pump: Given that the FT is only 200l, I was thinking of using something as small as possible, such as the Infiniti 600, which pumps 600lph @ 1.3m. However is that still too high a flow rate for the growbed?

2. Sump: Is a 100l sump too small? If so, why?

3. Growbed depth: The half wine barrels are 45cm deep. Is that too deep for a growbed?

Thanks in advance! Love the forum - there's no doubt that the best AP brains in the world live here

Welcome Fuzzmonkey

I like your design and I cant see too many issues with it. I would recomend ditching the bell and run it CF. Also put a 'T' on the top of your SLO to prevent syphoning.

And your questions...

1. The pump will be fine, its a pretty common conception that you can half the output recommended by the supplier anyway.

2. 100L will be fine, if it can hold the volume of water from your GB during a power outage thats a bonus.

3. 45cm is ok, there are GB's out there that are a metre deep.

Good luck and make sure you gets some pics of your progress

If you think the pump output is too high, you can always put a T piece on the outlet (with a valve to regulate the flow) and divert some of the pumped water directly back to the fish tank. As long as the return pipe is above the water it will improve aeration, and if at an angle it can create a swirl effect.

Hi FuzzMonkey,

That 600Lph rating is the maximum the pump will flow straight out of the outlet on the top of the pump, with no restriction, no pipe fitted etc.

The 1.3m maximum head rating means that's the point at which it will stop pumping.

That's a VERY expensive 600Lph pump. There is nothing out of the ordinary with that pump, you could find other recognised, quality brands with similar specs for a third of that price.

With that design you've drawn, IMO a 600Lph would struggle to turn over your 200L FT every hour. You are looking at well over a metre of head by the time you take into account the sleeper stand, the barrel and your frog fountain. Depending on which barrels you have got, they can be up to 90cm high on their own. At 1m head that pump would be flowing next to nothing, at 1.3m it would stop flowing completely. You can take the depth of water in your sump out of the head equation, but IMO the pump would still probably be flowing well under half the 600Lph.

As a minimum, I'd be looking at something like the Aquapro AP750, which has a max head of 1.5m, but even that only flows 170L @ 1m head, or 290L @ 0.75m head

I think you'd be better off building the system first, measuring the maximum height at your frog fountain, then looking for a pump with specs (on side of box or manufacturers website) that state it would flow at least 200Lph at that height.

Like I said before you could take the 400mm or so of water height in your ST out of the max head height equation, but then you also have to allow for friction loss in the pipes, fittings etc, which isn't included in manufacturers stated head/flow figures, those figures are for a straight vertical pipe directly off the top of the pump.

Like your fountain Fuzzmonkey, very artistic diagram...

Awesome, thanks guys for the feedback! I'll be picking up the barrels on the weekend, and will post more pics as the project evolves.

Charlie: Why would you go CF instead of an auto-syphon? And in regards to design, what does the CF standpipe look like - similar to the BYAP F&D standpipe? (I have a Courtyard BYAP system, so I know what that looks like)

bythebrook: Thanks for that - I've updated my design accordingly.

Mr Damage: Hmm good point re: head heights. I haven't yet started shopping for a suitable pump - can you recommend any reputable brands and/or online vendors in OZ or in Perth?

EB: Thanks - chronic procrastination has improved my doodling skills

BYAP of course , see banner at the top of this page ... click on "shop" and shop till ya drop

Exactly the same... but without the two holes in the bottom of the standpipe....

But I'd build one with the holes... and just turn the standpipe in the reducer, so that they're blocked off... for constant flood... and just turn them back, if you want to go back to timed flood & drain...

Full barrels and half barrels - check!

Next is to clean, sand and oil. I also need to work out the best way to cut out a door in the side of one of the full barrels to store things like fish food, test kits, etc.

It has taken a while, but finally making some progress!

Looks great Fuzz!

I would reinforce the top of the two half barrels with hoop iron. I would also paint the top rim of the half barrels with the black paint. It wont matter how many coats of paint you put on the inside of the barrels, if the staves separate, which they will without reinforcement, your set up effort will be wasted.

Thanks for the feedback

Good point Fordy. Building a matching hoop is probably beyond my skill level (one that looks nice anyway), but I'll look into using metal brackets and screws on the inside then painting over them with bitumen. That should do the job.

You can get predrilled strap on a roll from hardware stores to do the tops of your wine barrels ,i did Mrs Terras barrel with it , put a tek screw in one end into the timber with a bit left sticking out tied that to somethink secure wrapped the strap right around and i used fence wire strainers to pull it really tight and then put short teks in every plank . Worked well for years untill barrel finally started to disintergrate (no sealer) .

To pull it tight any sort of winching device will work even a couple of ropes and sticks and use the (Spanish Winch) now theres a skill every body should learn , fine delicate work right up to pulling vehicles out of bogs . Internet search will probably only get you the vertical pole version which is a bit dangerous . I learnt the two horizontal stick version from my father we used it to tie loads of wool bales down , it draws from both directions so use it on top of load and it doesnt pull the load sideways pretty neat .

The best way to get a neat tight fit would be to turn your half barrels upside down and trace with chalk onto concrete the size of the barrel. Get some predrilled hoop iron from bunnings and uncoil enough to roughly equal the size of the circle you have drawn on the ground. have the two ends of your hoop iron overlap by about 200mm. Use rivets to fasten the ends together (flat face of the rivet facing inwards). Because the hoop iron comes in a coil, when you join it in the above manner it will naturally form a circle. You will get a better finish if you make your hoop a bees smaller than your circle drawn on the ground. Now its just a matter of gentle persuasion over the barrel and tap it down with a wooden mallet.