Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am just starting preparations for my first system.
I have two 1000 litre IBCs. One will be the fish tank and one will be cut to make the sump and first GB.
I currently have a small 1500 lph submersible pump (which will need to be upgraded fairly quickly) just to start the cycling process.

My first question is looking for advise on the best depth for the GB. I am taking tops off to enable thorough cleaning and want to cut in right place.

TIA

Martin

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Go with 30cm for the GB. You can go deeper, it doesn't help with plant growth, but will let you stock more fish.

Cheers... I will make it a small amount over, somewhere between 30-40cm.

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I'm in the same boat with a new cycling system and a small pump I'm thinking of addind another pump instead of replacing the small one.
So then I will still have some circulation in the event that one dies.

I have two huge pumps, one that came off the swimming pool and one with a pressure switch that was used to pump water from the 70,000 l tank up to.the house header tank.
Would rather use a submersible though for noise value.

Cut the tops off fish & sump.tank this afternoon. Managed to burn my finger on molten plastic though.

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We are finally underway!



The Fish Tank - Planning on making up wooden batons to act as a frame for the lid so that I can fix a latch and hinges.


This is the Sump tank - havent decided what I am using as a cover for this yet.



This is pretty much as far as we have got with this, so far. As advised, the grow bed is just a shade over 30cm (33cm I think), and the next step will be sorting out the location precisely so the heights can be verified and site levelled. Then cutting the cages and making up the bell siphon & SLO

I have been doing some more planning for the system including lists of parts etc. My current thinking on the sytem is as follows: Starting with the sump - currently 700 litres, partially buried (probably only about 1/3 to enable gravity feed without having to raise the beds up too high).
In the sump, a 1500lph submersible will start the cycling process. I am expecting to enlarge this as we get going, but that is already available. 25mm pipe up to the fish tank, a 1000 litre IBC, with a venturi and a 25mm horizontal bar for the incoming flow.
I want the ability to add a second FT at a later date when we have more GBs up and running.
The SLO will be a 50mm pipe through the IBC reduced to a 40mm pipe running from the Tee down to the floor. This will then flow to a 240 litre blue drum RFF and then into a
50mm gravity fed pipe to GBs initially one IBC top (and maybe two half blue 240l barrels). A bell syphon running 25mm pipes back into the sump.
I also plan to have an emergency overflow using some spare 75mm pipe I have laying around taking overflow straight back to the sump (with a suitable filter obviously) to prevent overflowing the fish tank/s.

When I add the second fish tank it will be joined by two pipes (with screens) each with two uniseals to enable self levelling and identical water properties (although there will be isolating taps in the joining pipes). This will enable me to run a nursery or two separate species if desired. There will be separate inlets and a separate SLO for each FT.
There is also going to be the facility to add a biofilter in the future should that be deemed necessary.

I am interested to hear any thoughts and particularly anything I might have missed before I start the actual build.
Martin

Bump.

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Any thoughts appreciated.

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Just the one thought, as I don't run a CHIFT PIST system myself so can't offer any experienced advice on that side.

If you skip the venturi you might get more out of your pump. Instead, have your return from the growbeds come out of a horizontal(ish) pipe/spray bar with multiple holes drilled to increase the aeration. For the size of your tank that should probably be sufficient. I've heard that surface disruption offers better oxygenation than bubbles from below.

Now, I can't remember who, but some of the guys have (by accident more than by design usually) created rotating spray bars too.

What sort of fish will you be stocking?

Thanks for the reply. I will probably try the venturi first as I have found one from the pool filtration system in the shed, but will experiment with spray bar too.

Initially I plan to stock silver perch, but eventually hope to add a second fish tank with Murray Cod.

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Hiya Inernut, welcome to the madness.
What height difference is there between ft and gb's?
I agree with kat, with a 1500 lph pump just use a spray bar. You will already be pushing an hourly ft turnover with the pump running continuously.
You will also need a larger diameter drain than 25 mm if it's being fed from a 50mm pipe.
Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Noted the larger drain requirement. will configure for 40mm. height difference is going to depend how far down I am able to dig into the clay. We used an hydraulic, cantilever post hole digger for a recent project and each hole took 45 minutes for 600mm. AP system is on a different section of the hill (about 300m away) but still could be some hard digging.

I am building the fish tank up slightly on concrete pavers (probably 200mm), and hoping to get the sump down about 250mm into the ground. The grow bed will be sitting directly on top of the sump.

I intend drawing the system up in detail over the W/E

Martin

Would it make any significant difference (assuming I eliminate the venturi for the time being - so total 25mm line from pump to FT, and reduce the pipe from RFF to growbeds from 50mm down to 40mm?

Will that impact on my ability to add more grow beds later?

spraybar is fine, but if you make one, dont forget that if the water "sprays" out with any sort of force, you are actually potentially restricting your pump flow alot more than with a home made venturi, depending on how it is made.

Yes lowering your SLO size will impact on the size pump you can have later, which will impact on the number of GBs the pump can supply, there are plenty of ways around that though - add more SLOs, pump directly to GB or split flow between FT and GBs, etc.