Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello from South Africa, where currently it is hot...really hot.

I am busy designing and planning my CHIFT PST aquaponics system. I will be using a 1000 liter (265 gallon?) IBC fish tank that will be mounted on top of some bricks. This will then via gravity, feed the grow beds. I will be using those 210 liter (55 gallons?) blue barrels cut in half which will be filled with 2/3 gravel and the rest will then be LECA expanded clay. The grow beds will then empty via an automatic bell siphon into a 1000 liter IBC sump.

The sump will be buried in the ground and I was thinking using some thermal blanket cover (something like the product by Temax). I am still looking into this actually, maybe it won't even be necessary. The whole sump will be covered with a big fiberglass/wood lid (with maybe a few holes drilled for ventilation). From the sump, a pump will transport water back into fish tank.

I will also be adding one 210 liter swirl filter to get rid of the solids in the fish tank. This will then flow into a 210 liter bio filter (will be aerated to convert ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate) which in turn will flow into the sump.

I will also use a backup air pump(solar powered with battery) in the fish tank for when we have a power failure so the fishies won't die. I was thinking of adding one/two Pleco fish into the sump to help keep the sump clean. Then in the fish tank, I will be using Tilapia fish.

I will also be housing all the grow beds in a DIY greenhouse. The sump and fish tank will be housed in their own little building.



This is as far as I got yesterday with Google Sketchup program.

Any suggestions welcome.

And hello again from sunny and hot South Africa

HOwdy Johan.... I used to know a johan from SA...

Looks pretty good to me Not much to add really..

Welcome Johan - looks like you've researched well and planned well As EB said, not much add except we look forward to your progress reports (remember, we love photos !)

That is a great setup! Can't wait to see how it comes along. Good luck.

Hi Johan welcome to the forum

Thank you everyone. I am going to pickup my IBC totes tomorrow....finally. Found a local guy selling totes for cheap.

I have decide against using the blue barrels for the grow beds. I am changing them to IBC grow beds. I calculated that it would be heaper, less piping and equipments and of course less maintenance (hehe) to start with 4 grow beds made from the totes than using the barrels. I will get about the same space for growing veggies.
I already spoke to the guy to keep all the totes for me (he has 12 currently and I will be buying 11 of them, 4 tomorrow and rest later on).

I will also be saving on the materials needed for the framing and table for hosting the new designed grow bed setup. Here in South Africa we are steel and concrete people, lol, using wood is to expensive. So I will be making a steel frame from 50 mm (2") square tubing, with 8 legs, for the 4 grow beds to rest on.

This is gonna be a long process....I can't wait. Oh and on Sunday I am digging the hole for the sump tank.....sigh