Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The valve end of the IBC has extra spaced vertical bars, and there is the possibility of cutting the horizontal bar between them also, as the load of the grow bed is taken initially by the long sides of the IBC. It's all a compromise, but until I put shade cloth around it all I can access everything at the moment. This option of not cutting the IBC cage has benefits. The photos show how little cost is involved. I haven't done beam loading drawings but credible engineering aside, I just didn't trust the strength of the IBC cage once cut.

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It's going to get green with algae... but I can't help but fiddle and over complicate this...

When the siphon starts, the spray bar (of sorts) fills, and tips the inlet over to fill the other bed. The system can run on one or two pumps. It isn't a problem if the flow is too great for the siphon to stop. The water level drops fast, because the pump isn't chasing it, overall more "air" time than if ran on a purely pump and siphon, with a bonus of extra water in the system because both need aren't going to be drained at the same time.

YouTube video to follow...

Hey Roman,

Sounds great. How does the spray bar work?

That's a video of things so far...

Had water tested. Ph 8.1. Amonia, nitrite, nitrate, all 0. Added more goldfish. Somewhere between 20 and 25 small commets in there. And water temp is 25°

The idea of dropping some seasol in blows my mind, and I would like to have my own test kit first. Any recommendations for buying a water test kit?

API master freshwater test kit

I like your way of filling the grow beds. The weight of the water in the spray bar causes it to go to the other side and filling that bed. No need for timers or indexing valves.