Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everyone
I've been going through this forum and a couple of other places related to aquaponics and have finally decided to build my own system.
I am planning on building this on my terrace and i would love for some members to help me out.
I am thinking about going with a 1000 liter fish tank ( IBC tote) and blue barrels cut in half as grow beds with either pebbles or blue gravel as grow media. For a sump tank i am thinking about using another blue barrel.
As for filters , i am really not sure about them so maybe a radial filter ? The grow beds would do the rest of the filtration right?
The grow beds would use bell siphons . The configuration would be CHIFT PIST with SLO .
Ill add a few pictures of the area in my terrace tomorrow , please give me some feedback or comments .

Thanks

Sounds good, although I have found siphons to be a PITA but then many others have used them for years without problems do its ip to you. I would also be concerned about how much sump space you will have, a whole bunch of GB's emptying at once could push a blue drum to its limits and could also leave your pump high and dry when all GB's are full.
anyway thats just my cents.
cant wait to see it all come together for you.

Hi akinich

Siphons are great, but for me they would take up too much space in a half barrel. Either timed flood and drain by turning your pump on and off or a loop siphon on the outside of the barrel would maximize your growing area.

I use bell siphons in both my grow beds that are 0.3 x 1.2 x 2.4m each but for the barrels I just used timed flood and drain via pump control.

You may need to use more than one barrel as a sump if possible. We have a 5,000L buried sump but have found that by running it at only 2,500L during summer I can keep the temps down a bit more. It is due to the hole sump tank being buried and by running it at only 1/2 capacity, the water is held 0.8 - 1.5m below ground level where it is cooler.

Is this intended to be a small compact system ?

If case then just go for a basic IBC FT and GB. Run with a small pond pump of 1300-3000 L/hr.
Run it on a timer and use flood and drain.

You can then use very low wattage pumps and even mutliple IBC's and get much better return for space occupied.

This is basically the IBC system described in the IBC of aquaponics documents under 'information' on the main BYAP web page http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/infor ... downloads/

No need for siphons, filters or sump tanks etc, unless you are going to heavily stock or get serious about fish.

Blue barrels have a bit of issue due to curved profile if you are looking at high planting densities for extent.
so maybe think about a more rectangular, vertical sided grow bed - though obviously blue barrels have cost advantage.

Any other suggestions for half barrels?




I might keep two barrels and link them up for more sump space?
Regarding the loop siphons i am not sure ill be able to cut the barrel with the hole untouched. Its easier to cut it along the seam .



Not exactly compact , i am planning to put it up on a 6 m x 3 m area.
Ill put up pictures of the place i am planning on setting up!
Its not easy for me to get IBCs and here they are actually cheaper than the blue barrels!

heaps of space then, I was thrown a bit by the Terrace in subject.

I have been cramming my AP expansion into a 25m x 700mm (0.7m) side of a house.
that makes life a lot more challenging and cuts out ability to use IBC's.

I have a "flower bed" based IBC setup as a goldfish pond under my patio [terrace].


When starting out think about multiple IBC's in the BYAP IBC method as these are most simplest to set up.
Very easy to modify later and you can experiment a lot more if you keep them separate.


** was not sure on your comment about IBC's.

Here in perth 'clean' IBC's are usually $80+ unless you get lucky and blue barrels about $25.
Obviously cheaper if you have a source... or are prepared to take chemical ones etc
(I limit to urea IBC's if I can which fortunately are becoming more common in trucking industry).

I use timed flood and drain with standpipes, just wack a uniseal in the bottom and slide your stand pipe through

I agree with the above that a straight up IBC system would be better if they are easy enough to get.

That picture is of the area im planning to use , the brick is the corner from which the lines would extend to the ends of the walls, the area is approx 6m x 3m



This is a view of my entire terrace , i would like to build an expandable system , starting of with a small one like what ive described .

Aslo id like to know if i can use this as a fish tank? its a 500 liter tank . It tends to absorb heat and smell a little but it is food safe i guess because its used for water storage in most places .



i view inside the tank



the outlet

I'm all for siphons as well. I quite like them.

One thing I will mention, the systems can get heavy. Very heavy. One full IBC will weigh 1 tonne, in a small spot. The gravel will be quite heavy.

Before doing too much work, make sure the roof can handle that much weight. You don't want it all falling in on your head.

That said, you can fit a good sized system in there.

My mistake , i was only able to get one IBC at around 20 USD , i went around and got the regular street price, its about 60 USD and they are used to carry lead free paint , not sure whether to get them or no

The blue barrels are much cheaper , im able to get them at around 15 USD a piece , and these were used to carry glucose

The roof can definitely take that much , its a re-enforced concrete roof , the building is about 30 years old ,just the tiles look bad

Which type of siphon would you suggest?

I'd just go a regular bell siphon, simple and easy.

As long as it's strong enough, then go nuts. I just thought I'd give the warning.

If you've got the space, I'd recommend against the barrels. Once you include the uniseals, pipes, valves, elbows, etc, they get expensive.

Have a look at Ryan's backporch system:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8754

They aren't that tricky to make, and you can make to size, and get far more useful growing space. You can line with pond liner to make it easier.

Im just beginning so i thought barrels would be much easier to work with . As for the plumbing , its not too expensive and im not using uniseals , cant get them here. The beds work up to ~10 USD which i dont think is too bad for starting with. Im mainly doing this as a trial system and a proof of concept to show my parents!

trial system and a proof of concept to show my parents

I can totally understand this Wish you success and hope to see you have your system running