Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

fish tape?

Thanks Brian!!
I keep the up-turn in mind!!

Maybe you want to try an Affnan-Bell-Siphon?? Possible you could safe another few cm and get the first 90° bend right below the bottom of the GB....?

Cheers,

thjakits

Good Morning
We got a few things done yesterday. Not as much as I hoped. Well, I hoped we'd get the media in the GBs, I guess I forgot I had to do one more sealing job on the first two GBs.



I was reading the label, yeah I know, silly me, it says "mold free," I kind of freaked out for a minute, then remembered I am adding a forth coat of fiberglass over the stuff. It's going to seal this time, right?
Note to interested GB fiberglassers, add the fiberglass cloth sparingly, even if it was free like ours. Every place I folded it into the corners created leaks!

Brian, I'm no glass expert, but my brother has done it for 30 plus years. An epoxy is a far better choice as a repair then any type of silicon. Silicon doesn't adhere very well, and often leaks. If you can get mat next time, it will be easier then cloth and won't leak in the corners...providing you can round the corners first. Also, while poly resins are great for building, they're not the best for repairs. Using epoxy resins are a much safer choice.

I've not mentioned it yet, probably because of a touch of ego, but after a week of full to the brim FT, a leak above my aquarium window has developed. I thought maybe it would quit dripping if I ignored it, that didn't pan out for me.
So, in my spare time, as well as a bit of subconscious trouble-shooting to figure a plan, I decided to lower the water level and address the issue.
First thing I needed to figure out was where I could put 500 gallons of water... or 350 gals ...

This is what I came up with. I'm not totally happy with it.I think today I'll see if I can add enough support to raise it a foot or 91 cm. What that will do is allow it to gravity feed back to the FT when I'm finished sealing.

I also finished the inflow to the third and forth grow beds and tested them for leaks, sheesh. Same places; the corners. That's okay, I bought two tubes of silicone. One thing that is nice about the silicone being white and not clear, is I can see the divots. Hopefully this is it. BTW, after watching the sump tank water level drop significantly while I filled the grow beds with straight water (no media to take up volume) I calculated the volume in gallons of the GBs: 97 gallons. It doesn't mean anything, just curiosity.

Dogs feel safe with the water level at the top. None have dove in yet. That can't be far off. Notice the wet board walk, that is a consequence of the leaks in #3 & #4 GBs.

Now that I think about the dripping pond window and the mold free silicone, I can't put that on the FT interior. I'll need to wait on lowering the water level until I buy fish safe silicone. That's fine, I didn't really want to today. I'll get the IBC all set up the way I want it.
I'm also thinking today I get my Xantrex 12 volt inverter setup and build a battery holder outside the greenhouse which will double as an air pump house. It has been interesting listening to water trickle as our system is attached to the living-room. At the moment our living room is also our bedroom so we've both been having lots of water dreams.
With a little luck we'll be able to get our new bedrooms done before Winter, well maybe a lot of luck.

thanks Chris, I saw paintable in 30 minutes on the silicone and thought cool. We'll see in a few if epoxy resin sticks to it

Alrighty then. Today, I'll be working on the air delivery. One thing I've been wanting to do is add an air-lift-mechanism to my SLO to increase the flow to the bio-filters.

The idea is air pressure builds up under the PVC pipe reducer, which acts like a venturi. Air bubbles in the restricted area drag water up through the venturi.



The 90 degree elbow leading down to the RFF seems to build up air until is blew through to the RFF. Unfortunately little or no water was moving with the bubbles.

That did the trick, letting the air out so the water could make the down turn to the bottom of the RFF.

Wow!

Now the overflow is nearly equal to the outflow from the bio-filters. I realize that isn't a scientific description, but it does make me very happy. Oh speaking of happy, I went to check the leak above the pond window; it isn't there anymore!

If one does fiberglasing, one does not fold. That is a no,no.
One cuts along the corner, so one creates an overlap, or completely removes the excessive fiberglass and than uses a strip of fiberglass to overlay the joint. If one does a bowl or a round shape, very often one can stretch the fabric over the body.
Instead of just adding more epoxy, or silikoning. Use a 5 or 6 inch wide strip of fiberglas and lay it over the leaking area and epoxy it in place, its like fixing an inner tube.

...thanks for the siphon bottom pic!

thjakits

"whoops," one said

"whoops," one said

Looks good this morning! I'm now filling all four beds, fingers crossed

Pictures?? Time to get your buckets of media going Brian! Then seeds/plants!

Wednesday I should be able to fix an issue with the drain on the bottom bed where I didn't have room to properly build the slight upturn and make a seal. Water was splashing out. Can't have that. Also, I want to put a touch of glue on all the drain pipes to feel more secure in leaving the system running while I am away at work. I added one sack of red Scoria to one GB. There is a lot of red dust. I'm going to wash the rest first.

Anyone want to chime in on my question about mixing media? I have expanded clay and red Scoria. I was thinking of making the top layer of each GB be clay, eventually they'd get mixed together, after a cleaning. Conversely, I can do one bed pure clay and three with Scoria.

Also I've had donated another couple sacks of expanded clay, however it was used in hydroponics. I'm sure the porous clay absorbed whatever fertilizer was used. Can the clay be washed to make it safe for fish?