Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

my first setup in progress.

it will all be in an 8x8 pieced together greenhouse

250 gal IBC (got it for 30 bucks from someone else who had previously used it for AP. top was already cut though so couldnt use that for GB)

havent got growbeds yet so dont have specifics on volume. just the dimensions i know imna be building the 2x4 frame to sit on cinderblocks.

its not shown in this picture but there will also be a 2ftx4ft GB frame on top of the IBC as well. i should be able to get about 200-250 gallons of GB volume to make it a fairly even ration.

this is a quick cad picture i through together to help myself with measurements and what not. measurements are in inches.



the Brown line is the PVC line. it will be going around the green house and flowing back into the FT, it will have ball valves at every GB and back into FT to regulate flow to all areas.

after much thought and pondering on how to plumb this thing, ive decided im going to try n keep it simple with the pump and just get a 1100 LPH pump and have it constant flow with the affnan siphons.

i am planning on trying to have all the standpipes flow into 1 large pvc pipe that will then flow into the FT, will that work with the siphons? as the standpipes will all be about 25mm or so, so im not too sure what the size down below should be for the big pipe they will all drain to.

any input/problems would be great

finished the green house today. i found a great deal on a buch of used cinderblocks. 15 bucks for a good lot of em, had to make 2 trips with the jeep. it should be enough to get the growbeds to the height needed, if not, ill be close to it.

next up is scouring craigslist for some used 2x4s still in good enough shape to use em. i might just bite the bullet and go to lowes and buy em there. i only need about 32 foot anyways, its only about 20-25 bucks in 8 ft sections

after that, gotta find something to use for GBs.

ill get some pics up tommorow

here are the promised but late pictures.



this is the outside view of the GH. its 8ftX8ft, 7 ft high. just cheaply put together with 2x3, some metal brackets for extra support. plastic is some cheap 6 mil plastic. plastic will prob last a year or so with the sun down here in southern california.



this is a pictire of the inside. as you can see the whole thing is not completly covered with plasdtic as theres no real need for it when it is right next to a wall.



the IBC with 2 growbed totes on top of it. the height on that is about 6 ft at the top of the totes, im likely going to cut the IBC down about 10 inches in height.

i currently have 5 of those 27 gallon totes, they are measured to be placed along 2 walls inside the GH. i might add 1 or 2 more to the top of the IBC totaling 6 or 7 GBs in total. not sure on that yet. i figure its 10 gallons (rounding up) at most to fill each tote with water after it has media in it, thats 50-70 gallons total out of the fish tank. FT volume will be just at 200 gallons after cutting it down a bit, that means itll probly have about 175 galolons or so of water. thats roughly a little over 100 gallons of water still in the fish tank with all 7 totes

going off the rules of thumb ratios i will likely go with about 20 1lb catfish or so to start with, thall give em a little growing room as well. i think that should be fine basing this off the slightly over 100 gallons of water i will have at my lowest point in FT volume. with that amount of fish, should i stick with 5 totes, or will i be able to up it 6 or 7? im thinking 6 might make a decent compromise.

weather i go with 5, 6, or 7 totes. the plan is to get them all hooked up to constant flood and drain with siphons. each tote will have its own ball valve. there will also be a return valve going back to the FT that has a ball valve. this will allow me to start with 1 or 2 totes, get everything cycled and operating properly and then easily add the another 1-2 totes when ready. fish will be added accordingly with the addition of new totes to keep ratios somewhat balanced.
i chose catfish because i hear they are fairly easy to care for and can handle varying temps. id like to stick with something of that sort that will work year round for me here in SoCal

im going to be gone all weekend so aint going to be able to accomplish anything but the GB framework and IBC cutting should be done within the next week.

any input would be great now that there is a visible picture of my system in progress.

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Do here's what happened. I go to lowes, pick up about 100 bucks worth of PVC pipe fittings. The inky 3 inch pipes they have is the black ads stuff. Anyways, I get multiple 3 inch Ts, elbows, and couplers.

I call up a local plumbing store, they say they have 3 inch PVC. I go there, buy 20feet of it. It is clearly labeled as 3inch schedule 40 PVC.

And when I get home, it don't fit in all my 3 inch fittings,

The ID of my fittings is 3.25 inch while the OD of the pipe is 3.5 inch.

This is BS. How is this even possible?

Woops, I think this is in the wrong place. Can a mod move it?

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I think I figured it out. It seems that the fitting I bought were for flexible PVC pipes. What a PITA

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Here in Oz, we have PVC pressure piping and PVC DWV (drain, waste and vent) piping -- never the 'twain shall meet. 90mm pressure pipe is completely different internal and external diameter than 90mm DWV. It's a trap for new players. You could use one type of piping on the water delivery side of a system and the other type on the drain side of the system, but then you'd have to stock different type of spare parts etc. so I think sticking to one type or the other throughout a system is preferable.

ok, finally back on track. everything just been sitting for a while but finances are squared away now i can play.

im currently in the process of ordering some o-rings from this site http://www.precisionassoc.com/index.html, i decided to go this route instead of uniseals as id feel safer using 2 O-rings that are sealed with threading pressure, i use this with a male/female pvc threaded fittings. on the downside their is a minimum of 40 dollar order but that just means ill have extras which is a good thing. it is surprisingly hard to get decent O-rings like this where you can get them thich enough like they are needed in this particular application but this site allows for a large variety of options in that aspect.

next is pump choices - 1 question about that real quick, IBC is 250 gallons and theres about 200 gallons of sump, so does the water in the sump factor into the whole volume of water that needs to be cycled every hour. or in other words, should i be going for a 300gph pump or 500 gph pump. and on that note, any recomendations on a pump to be ran 24/7 with siphons? hoping to get something somewhat sufficent/quit as i live in the city with next door neighbors and i want to try and be some curtious with this even though their dog barks all night long. with the aspect of efficiency and noise level, does a submerged pump/inline pump usually play a role in this or are they generally equivilant in these regards?

thanks in advance guys