Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My Basement doorway is 29 Inches wide I'm going to get out the Sawzall tomorrow cut the tank 28 inches high and the grid for about the same.

While I'm cutting I will be swearing.. and while I try to get it into my basement I will be swearing some more... I will post pics of before an after.. and not of me swearing or praying...

can you post up which design you are using for your swirl filter? I have a experiment running and this might be useful.

Here is my simple Swirl Filter after I took it down to start the process to move over to the IBC yuck it's nasty and I spilled some water out of it....

Putting the Main container was breeze!!!

The grid on the other hand was a lot of cursing and praying and including pulling out the hinges of my side door. I managed to get in but damaged the bottom of stair wall and ripped the corner off, but I got it in there!!!

good to see you made it in there! i feel your pain on getting stuff into a basement..

Me and the kids started on the tank Move yesterday. They had a lot of fun moving the fish from the 90 gallon into the IBC.

They got scared when we threw the first one in he was banging into the walls of the tank making a hell of a lot of noise. We finally moved them all and I gave 2 to my father to cook.

So far this is where I am at this is my basement when I left i this morning.

My goal now is to fill up the IBC to about 175 Gallons, I was only able to get to 55 Gallons I was tired.. fish are ok, I have air and a heater in the tank. I'm pumping the water through a pond filter.

My eventual setup is that I want to pump water from the IBC into the the 90 Gallon (putting my fingerlings in their) and from the 90 Gallon use an Overflow into a Swirl Filter then to a pond filter into the Growbed on top of the IBC. I wish there was a way to incorporate my sump so I can get the water retuning back into the IBC as clean as possible. Anyone have any ideas or should I just stick my design.

I was home sick for the last 2 days and while I was home yesterday I went into my basement and there was water everywhere. At first I thought the IBC was leaking. It was down to about 75 Gallons. When I checked it early in the morning It was over 100Gallons ... then I noticed the 90gallon was filled to the top and the old sump tank on the bottom had water in it... I know I emptied that. I turned everything off and tried to figure it out. I lost over 25 Gallons, why!!! what happened I know I the overflow is working....!!

I Figured it all out, when I pulled out the over flows and few of the smaller Tilapia came popping out. A few got stuck in the overflow pipes and clogged them up. It caused the 90 Gallon to flood the basement...

I put screens on intakes of the Over flow pipes and added 2 more to make sure there is enough output across the overflow. I turned the system on and monitored it and sure enough the 90 gallon went back down to the same level as the overflow it took about 3 hours for the system to balance itself out. I will add pictures later of the current setup.

I have learned my lesson I am going to install a float cut off switch in the 90 gallon to prevent this from happening again.

I also figured out how to add the sump into the mix I need another pump.

I will pickup pea gravel next weekend and the Uniseal fitting to complete my growbed. My whole system should be up and complete with in the next 2 weeks or so just before winter gets here.

If at all possible, try to have the water levels on all of your fish tanks the same height, that way any overflow will be limited. So instead of having the tanks stacked, raise them so their water level is equal, or at least the tops are.

Or use an SLO, that way the fish tank never drains below a certain level.

That would require me drilling my 90 Gallon Tank... something I am not really willing to do. It's not something I can easily come by or fix if I have an issue.

I would love to do that but I have a low ceiling in my basement and I'm limited on space. I moved toward the IBC because it is better on space then what I had before and easier to maintain.

I think I have seen a combo SLO no holes outlet. I guess the acronym for that one would be SLNHO... The idea is to make it so there is always a certain water level in the fish tanks at all times.

I'm curious as to what you went with for a float switch, QF. I'm contemplating installing one in my sump so my pump only runs when necessary. I'm seeing a lot of switches on EBay - http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_stpos=0 ... itch&rt=nc - but knowing enough not to pretend to be an electrician (at least around water) the note attached to a lot of these, i.e. "Note: because the current that the switch can carry is much little(0.5A), you must use a relay or contactor when it is connected by a load, relay and contactor are not included here.", has me totally thrown as to how to power these . Cheaper isn't always better but it's a float switch not rocket surgery.... If anyone has any input I'm all ears....

Otherwise, I wonder if something like this would help with your 90g level control issue. http://youtu.be/65yVr7DiDls by adding a tee on to the existing 1st pipe and running another pipe to the bottom of the tank to get this to act as a SLO.

Sorry I have not been on lately with updates I am in NY and even though SANDY did not affect where I live it did affect my job in the Telecom industry so I have been really busy.

I never added the Float Switch but I should have the Overflow clogged up one night and most of the water from the 200 Gallon flowed over the 90 Gallon so almost no water in the 200 gallon but all the fish survived.

With the loss of water though I had a chance to look over my fish.. well it's come down to it .. Tilapia will be added to the Thanks Giving Menu... I need room for the new batch.... here are updated pictures