Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Axeman,

What type of blower vac are you using? I have seen videos of the same type of barrel setup as yours. Using a shop vac to push in stupid amounts of air without problems. Such as this one. Maybe you can watch his build to see what is different with yours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaRUzMg6unM

Maybe lower the water level first.

Nice system by the way and welcome.

Thanks for the link... I have watched lots of these.
I think the problem is that mine is a vaccume and blower and the blades are a little worn.
I need to find a cheap alternative.

By the way your build is beautiful

I added a plate and fitting but it just does not have enough grunt to push the air down. I can't lower the water as there is only about two inches of water above the sand.

Well considering that you said the fan on yours was worn out anyway. Why not replace it with something a little beefier? You would be getting a newer blower plus a vac. Such as
http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-16-ga ... 5yc1vZc2a7

So you have sand in the bottom of the filter drum? I think you will find that will always be a problem sorry. There are better designs that suit AP.

Very nice neat build...

No sand in the bottom... Only sand at the top

It's a Birdman design.... 3" cavity then grate with 3" layer of large stones, then 2" smaller, 2" smaller again, then large grit river sand.

perhaps the vac is plugged, or weakened in some other way, seems like it ought to be able to blow hard enough to fill the barrel with bubbles. I hope you figure it out as I was planning on the same thing.

Shoot I didn't see the picture. sorry: Now I'm wondering if the added pipe isn't too small. Water and air have similar properties when it comes to flow

Didn't read anywhere of your overall design flow to media beds or drum filter but the sand filter/bird man design should really only be used as a final polisher. Having a sand filter first in line will block quickly and cause you consistent problems and having it at the end might not give you any value either as the bulk of the wastes will be caught by the media beds. If you want pre-filtering before the beds go for something like a RFF, swirl, shade cloth, bird netting etc.

I don't know of anyone on this forum in the past that has successfully used a sand filter, keep in mind that not all Koi pond filtering techniques echo across to AP.

I do have a settlement chamber/swirl chamber at the end of the pond (see white drum in earlier pictures). It is fed from the bottom drain( which I convert to a surface skimmer by adding a pipe depending on the need). The pump that feeds the sand/ gravel filter gets its water from there.
I do appreciate your feedback, and if it does not work, it will be easy to disconnect.

Thanks axe