Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Pond Sucker - glad you approve! IMHO the best aquaponics systems are the ones that don't look like an industrial junkyard (although a Steampunk-inspired AP system would be pretty awesome ... )

There are lots of great systems in this forum, but one of my first inspirations was Milkwood's Darwin Cafe build. Clean lines and neat handiwork, and they do great work with railway-sleepers in their other builds. Rob's Geodesic dome is great too - I would love to have his skills. I also like Blind Freddie's pond setup and Torcz's.

If you are after IBC-specific builds, be sure to check out the IBC of Aquaponics PDF that Joel put together - there's heaps of great ideas and plans. Ian's DIY system on page 36 is bordering on legendary.

Good luck with your build! IM me your build thread in case I miss it.

Hey FM, I like your build.

Could you please give me some more info on the specific plumbing. I read it's a CF system, how high is the water level? Is the SLO collecting many solids?

I have an IBC with the top cut out and am thinking a CF system lile yours with room for expansion

Thanks Urra

The sumps max out at around 40cm, due to the cut out flaps. The main tank's level is about 3cm from the top of the tank, which is dictated by the height of the SLO.

The SLO is very good at clearing solids, especially if you have an air stone on the bottom to stir it up. Some people put their SLOs on the outside connected via the existing IBC tap, which keeps the tank clear of pipes. My trout have knocked my SLO out once before (rainbow trout are crazy when feeding). Also means you don't need to drill into the IBC.

If you are planning to expand later, have a think about where the extra bed will go and what the plumbing will look like. I had to raise my tank by a brick to accommodate the second bed, which was a pain to move.

Good luck with your build! PM me your build thread so that I don't miss it.

I was looking for something IBC specific, but I'm really glad I asked the links you gave me were packed with good stuff. The girlfriend likes the idea of steam punk IBC, I feel like if we get decorating with large gears it might look cool if we take the time to paint all the plumbing and run it along the walls like a submarine. In our case we have an indexing valve so plumbing is going to be X6 anyway. I doubt we would really try it but its a worthy idea. Honestly I still don't know if I get steam punk from an art prospective. I think of the guts of old fashioned clocks.

I am blown away by the GeoDome set up awesome to have videos too I learn better with visual back up and its more inspiring and real to me. I showed your feeding video to my parents the other day while explaining AP.

The one from Blind Freedie is a great example of almost water feature type aspects. I have considered a lot of ideas with how to make ports that feed GBs look like small fountains up in the GB. My sump will be closed and hidden but for people with open sump tanks I would think it would be a great place to go for a water feature type of look especially if gravity is in your favor somehow.

Torcz build is interesting for several reasons, its smaller scale which is more my size, very nice visually, but the part that intimidates me is the carpentry looks beyond my ability. I would have to scale down almost every aspect but some of his stuff might help me for a small DWC (I only need a little bit of salad) area I want to build out though my focus will be on the 6 IBC GBs which are nothing pretty to look at.

Ian has paneled the entire outside, I think that is the answer I'm looking for minus the complex windows which I will save for my 2018 rebuild thread. However I need to keep it removable especially as the newbie. So for now I have painted the IBC frames with a bronze and the plastics with something called Eden Green and right now I have black stained 2x4" around the cut edges. I would like to add a nice frame around the top of a more quality wood like yours as a finishing touch.

Maybe once the system feels stable I will consider paneling at least the GB area. I assume most plumbing changes deal with inputs and filtration systems near the FT and the panel there need the most concern for future upgrade access compared to the GB drainage plumbing.

I have a large amount of colored glass tiles that I wanted to use somewhere near this area once everything is done. Its like what they would use to tile a shower. Its a heavy product so I don't know where to even start unless its an independent piece of cement board flush to the GBs.

I do not yet have a build thread I have a place that I complain and ask questions to Coach Chris and Ron the Pirate who have saved my tail a few times and been a lot of help. Eventually I will reorganize my photos and make a thread that people can learn from instead of a thread where I ask for suggestions But this is our effort so far....
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=22679

Anyway Keep making cool stuff Fuzzy and thanks for the good links!

Harvested another 4 trout this weekend, the biggest being only 355g. Will need to sort out the pH and solids filtration next season - one of my GBs keeps getting clogged up with fish crap.

Lettuce love aquaponics! And cabbage moth love cabbage.

That's a bit rough. .., are you not meant to poke it it the brain first ?

Ah, yep. Will need to do more reading on this.

This summer I put in six 20cm barra, the first of which I pulled out a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed for a few more weeks of warmish weather to fatten the rest up.