Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey all, well, I posted my ideas in the noob section and really didnt get a response, so... we are going to go ahead anyway.
So here is the basic design:

We are going to move pretty fast on this, the barrels are cut and cleaned, we are off the the store today to get the pump and plumbing parts, should be circulating water by the end of the weekend.

Remember, tip are appreciated lol.
Jeff

I think your design is fine. Its basically CHIFT PIST if Im reading it correctly. The pump in the sump tank feeds the fish tank where by it distributes to both GB's and the duckweed tank via SLO. Nat will like this one

Nice stuff. Teonly problem I can think of is having to move the GB to access the pump, where it might weigh way too much to be able to do it

Thanks all for replying!
Tojo, we plan on making a small access hole in the top of 1 of the sump tanks, the pump is fairly small and shouldnt have an issue.
However.... Got word last night that an IBC or 2 may have come available, so we may be holding on this one and starting the IBC today.
Was looking forward to my design as most around here dont think it will be enough waterflow for the beds in the gravity system, but I am confident it will work. Oh well, in about a month or so, I will get to try it lol.
Having some issues with barrel caps, they dont seem to be a standard size, I need like 4 of them, i went to Granger and they didnt have an affordable solution, I was thinking about getting some 2 inch cups with a flange from the dollar store and gluing them in from the inside, but if something hits it from the outside, it could break the seal.
Gives me time to solve that issue.
Anyway, going to check out the IBC's today, maybe have pics of it being cut up today lol.
Thanks again
Jeff

Sometimes the cheapest solution to the lack of caps is buying new barrels... If you were in San Diego I could give you some of my old ones from the grow beds cut long wise.

FWIW, I'd replace the milk crates with something more substantial and with a greater footprint. Under weight, the crates will sink in the ground when it's wet causing it to sit lopsided. I've also seen crates fail over time, maybe due to UV exposure... Not sure of the causes in that.

Yay blue barrels:grin:

Can i suggest something more simple like just dig the fishtank down a bit so it is lower than the beds or if you have more barrels you can do something like this

Ahhhh, the obsession with putting a sump in every system...

absolutely beautiful Nat!
I guess I kind of like the sump system because it keeps the fish tank level constant, with the filling and draining of the two beds, pumping out 40 gals, then draining it back in seems to be a lot of fluctuation when you are only talking 100 gals in the whole system, is that why I have seen some barrel system that cycle 1 bed at a time? And i have read complaints that sometimes the second bed will start to drain too early, and not be able to siphon.
At any rate, the IBC is cut, cleaned, and circulating water since last night!
Pics later today, as it was too dark last night, but i wanted it circulating lol.

Well with small outdoor systems a barrel system without a sump doesn't hold much water and therefore the temperature doesn't stay stable enough (at least not for 3 of the seasons in my climate.)

I like to have about 300 gallons of system water if not 300 gallons of fish tank so adding sump tanks helps with that.

I don't really approve of tanks you can't reach into with at least a net though.

The barrels make pretty cool looking stands how long do they last that way? Does it really stop the bulging long term?

Aleece

Thats a good question about the bulging, the drain in the IBC was draing too fast, the bed wasnt filling, we couldnt get the cap or the pvc fitting out, soooo.. we dug out all the gravel into one of the blue ones, it was bulging way bad with no support. So when we build the barrel system, i will watch that.

Get the barrel ponics manual (free pdf download) and you can see how they build their barrel cradles which are a good way to keep your barrels from bulging.

Yep gotta make the stand pipe for the timed flood and drain easy to swap out so you can adjust drain hole size. Start with fewer smaller holes and see how fast the bed fills. Enlarge or add holes until you are able to get the bed flooded a few minutes before the timer turns off and hopefully you will have enough/large enough holes that the bed will still drain fairly quickly and won't require you cleaning the holes of roots or other gunk too often. Easy way to remove roots from the stand pipe is to be able to remove the stand pipe fairly easily.

Already got the pdf , I saw posts about running on a timer or not, we still haven't decided if we want to do that or just let it run all the time, I saw the 3 vids on the experiment with different running times, is running it on a timer better than always on?
It seems like the video was done a while ago, does that still hold true?

Some people find that constant flood works well for them too. I prefer to use Affnan siphons, but everyone's systems have their own proclivities.

I've got every type of system running. They all seem to work. Often it will depends on what equipment or materials you have available and what you like to work with.

If you have a small pump you may need to run it constantly to keep enough flow going and therefor you would either do siphons or constant flow/constant flood.

If you have a bigger pump that can provide enough flow during a limited run time you can do timed flood and drain.

For siphons you need enough fall below the grow beds for the siphons to work and you have to be able to adjust the flow to the grow beds to balance properly with the siphon so it starts and stops properly.

For Timed flood and drain or siphons you have to have a system that can handle some water level fluctuations.

For Constant flood you need to make sure you have enough flow and aeration to keep the system from getting anaerobic.

for Constant flood and siphon flood and drain having more grow beds and perhaps larger media may be a good idea.

Timed flood and drain seems to have less issue with media sliming and clogging.

Some plants seem to do better in certain situations while other like other methods. Some plants don't seem to care much either way.