Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey all,
Been reading and watching lots of others aquaponics setups and thought it was about time to start my own.

I'm starting with a 1 barrel 44 gallon plastic drum as a first time system just to try out how this all works.

I have cut 200mm ( 8 inches ) off the top and turned it upside down to make the grow bed.

I had some old 20mm pvc fittings and luckily saw a vid of how to get the old pieces of pipe out of the fittings by heating them up and prying them out. This involves putting some pvc glue on the old pipe and lighting it to soften it enough to be able to pry it out. Works great.

I made and fitted a bell syphon and am going to try a 12 volt bilge pump simply because I had it lying around. It is 1100 gph so heaps of power and may even add more grow beds soon.

I am powering it from an old atx power supply and have bought a digital timer to turn the power supply on for 1 minute and off for 1 hour. I have read that the bilge pumps don't last long on continuous use but as mine is on for only 1 minute each hour, it should last a long time.

The grow bed fills in about 35 seconds and drains as quick with the bell siphon so may change that to make the drain slower but see how it goes.

I bought a half bobcat bucket of river rock for $18 and the timer cost $12. I had the fittings and got the barrel for free so total cost so far is $30.

I have enough rock for at least 1 or 2 more beds the same size and the pump is up to it so can and probably will extend the system soon.

I can get as many barrels as I want for free so may try some different configurations also. I like the idea of a sump and also like the idea of having the full capacity of the 44 gallons or 205 liters so may change the main tank soon.

I planted a shrub that has been lying on our lawn for a year without water and still has some green leaves on it ( I don't know how either ) so I figure it can't be killed. Going to get some seedlings tomorrow and see what happens. My son already has his order in for fresh carrots.

All a learning curve at the moment but looking forward to the journey.

Greg

That looks cool, I'm thinking of building one of those for herbs on the front porch.

Do 12v pumps last long when running constantly?


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Thanks Bentaz. I like the quick build time and simplicity. Not too much for me to stuff up on my first try at this fascinating new adventure.

Added some seasol today and planted 3 tomatoes and 3 shallots ( spring onions ).

I know it's early in the process but they were cheap ( not like the strawberry plants at $6.50 per plant. Yikes! ) so we'll see what happens.

I also planted some 2 inch root parts of some shallots we had in the fridge and a lettuce heart to see what happens. I have seen the videos of these regrowing in water on a windowsill so maybe.....

I have heard that as well Jayendra but it is what I had already and it wasn't needed for anything at the moment ( old project ) so if it dies, it's no biggy. Besides, I like to try things out for myself and it is only running for 15 mins on and 45 off at the moment so I hope it lasts a while. It also only cost $20 delivered off evilbay so worth the experiment.

I also started building my greenhouse around my barrel to help with winter temps and keeping the cats from peeing in the gravel.

Greg I'm with Jay on the 12v pump, when it does roll over don't replace it with anything 12v just buy a small pond pump. Bunning's have a couple of models under $20.00, I'm not pushing Bunning's in any way they are far from being one of my favorite stores but at times I have too use them just for their convenience.

The cost of running a small 240v pump would not be a lot more than running the charger on your current 12v pump and maybe even less.

Bye the time your 12v pump fails you could have the "aquaponic addiction" and you'll be building a bigger system and need a far bigger pump.

Greg from your pic of of the system running there's no sign of a ball valve controlling the flow unless it's hidden somewhere, the flow appears to be way too fast for a GB that size. The normal water turnover is the volume of your fish tank every hour approx.

Hey joblow,

I agree with you on the bilge pump being a trial option only and I will grab a cheap pond pump next time I'm at Bunnings but it was what I had on hand.

I have since fitted a tap to my water inlet to regulate the flow and it is working much better. The bed was filling up and the bell siphon was working but the flow was too fast for it to draw some air at the end of the drain.

Now it cycles at 3 mins 35 to fill and 40 seconds to drain and reset. Much better.

I have also made a tower and fitted that and am running a second tap to it. Pic attached.

The dirty stains on the tower is the residue from my forming the tower inlets by painting with pvc glue and lighting it to heat up the pvc and then pressing it into shape as I don't have a heat gun. Doesn't look pretty but worked and could be painted later.

I made the inlets at 90 degrees instead of 180 as all the sun comes from the right hand side ( north here in winter ) as I have it under our pergola to keep it out of the frost. May have to change that come summer yet.

Looking good Greg, I wouldn't bother painting your tower the paint would probably flake off in time, and once your plants grow you'll never see it.

Hi Joblow,

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with the build so far. Everything seems to be working really well. You may be right about needing a bigger pump. I have already cut another drum in half long ways to make another longer grow bed.

This stuff gets into your blood alright.

The more I think about what we are doing, the more amazing I realize it is.

If you have only rocks, no soil, very little space, and little water you can grow vegies and fish. No weeding, no digging, no spraying and no watering.

I have started to keep old vegies to regrow and have just bought a punnet of strawberries and taken the seeds from 2 of them ( and ate the rest - yum ), the things I do for this hobby....

I went to buy some from the hardware shop but not at $6.50 for 1 plant. I got hundreds of seeds from 2 strawberries. If 1/100th of these germinate, I am still way in front. The punnet cost $2.50 for about 8 strawberries.

I have some between paper just below the high water mark in my grow bed, some in paper and a ziplock bag on the fridge and some in the freezer to plant later.

Have you planted directly in your grow bed and if so, how did you do it. I thought between 2 sheets of paper might stop the seeds falling through the rocks.

Day 5. Time for an update.

All going well so far. Have planted some strawberries in the grow bed and tower. So far have tomatoes, strawberries, shallots and some 2 inch pieces of shallots and 1 heart of a lettuce.

I also picked up some fish yesterday and they are still alive today. I know, I'm surprised too.

So far I have 3 silver dollars and a mystery black one.

I will see how these go before I get some more. I have them inside for now to settle them in and keep them warm. I also like having the fish tank inside again after 8 years under the house. The bloke I got them from has offered some rainbows and goldies for the outside aquaponics system so that might happen next week.

The growth on my 2 inch shallots is impressive. The one in the tower seems to be growing the best.

I have also added a half barrel grow bed with some dirt from the garden and planted some tomatoes, shallots and a strawberry to see if there is a difference between the aquaponics system and normal gardening.

I bought an Aquatec 1050 lph pond pump but still going with the 1100gph bilge pump for the time being. I will install the pond pump soon and set up a 12 volt backup to run the bilge pump.

I saw a Great idea of using the 12 volt relay to switch on the backup system when 240 volt power goes out. One of those, Why didn't I think of that, ideas.

Anyway, pics included of day 5 and my fish.