Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I did this last year in a large blue barrel. Started with a bit of expander foam. covered this with a render mixed with perlite, and a smooth render finish. then painted the whole lot with bitumen paint. Probably not the best design filter, but the cone part works well.

Eddy did a home made conical bottom in one of his filter drums with cement. Did a nice job of it too. I wonder where he's gone?


viewtopic.php?p=341672#p341672

25mm bulk head fitting on mine... can't remember for dad's, i think we ditched the bulkhead fitting and rigged up something cheaper that gave us grief (i suggested we do it properly in the first place )

then it just goes to a SLO... pretty simple really, just like all the other SLO setups just a 25mm instead of the 40mm

That is not how I pictured you at all IceManDude!

A WATER JUG!!!! Why the heck didn't I think of that!? Well done Iceman...well done!

AP on my friends!
-Ryan

Do you have to paint it to stop algae?
I would have loved to use your idea iceman but i have 90mm outlets.

Thought Id add some pics of mine in spirit of the thread.

I was thinking of doing a similar mount for the sleeve, but didn't know how to go about putting a cover on it then. Do you have any ideas on the best way to work around the aluminum bars and the sleeve protruding through the top?

AP on my friends!
-Ryan

I dont put a lid on mine but you can do something like this..

do you have a tap for draining off the gunk Charlie? Can't see from the pics. If not, how do you get the gunk out?

I dont (good eyes) and the reason I didnt is because I found the 25mm uniseals didnt seal very well on these bins because the wall thickness is so thin (maybe 2mm) so I didnt want to risk the integrity of the bin any further. Ive considered draining them and using bulkhead fittings but I havnt got around to it yet. These bins are very flimsy and I wouldnt use them again. The bottoms are bowing and I have a small weep around the 25mm uniseal I used for the supply pipe.

For the moment I use a length of garden hose to syphon out the gunk into a watering can which then goes in the dirt garden. Doesnt take long so its not too bad. It would be nicer to be able to just open a tap though because the water is freezing at the moment

Thats what I have right now, but I'm thinking for future reference when I make a larger RFF if its better to do it your way.

Thanks for the info!
-Ryan

Aah yes, just checked out the pics of yours lol

I dont think there is any right or wrong really. Whether you have a lid or not doesnt effect the operation of the filter. The way I designed mine was really just to get away from drilling more holes in the bin. I think your design is neater.

Here is one I made from a RubberMaid container.
It works well.

I've added a very fine mesh filter at the 4" pipe exit.
It filters so well, it has to be washed out daily to remove the fine stuff that still floats in the water.

In the bottom I added concrete and painted it with latex paint after it had cured.
In the bottom, I added a plastic cup with a 1" pvc pipe in the side that allows the collected sludge to be drawn off with an external valve.

Now there's an interesting idea. I wonder if you could get a longer tub and add more filter buckets in as you add FTs.
Do you think if you were to only do 1 inlet from your FT lower on the 1 side, add a longer vertical stack inside the filter, and raise your outlet height that you would be able to knock the larger particles out of suspension easier and not have to clean that screen daily? Also lowering the RFF in relation to the FT may help as well. That way you would be able to "disturb" the surface of the water at the inlet due to the greater force at 1 point knocking the solids out of suspension and at the same time increasing the overall distance a solid would have to travel to get out of the tank if it got loose. Does that make any sense or am I fabricating my own hopes and dreams?

AP on my friends!
-Ryan