Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

tThanks for your input. I have put a sheet of corflute in between the growbed and sump. this should stop any run off into the sump. better safe then sorry I guess.

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Zinc is deadly to trout even in small amounts so no harm in going a little overboard to keep any runoff out of the system. As you said better safe than sorry.

Well almost finished the expansion/rebuild but managed to glue one of the Ts incorrectly and it now has a slow leak.

Does anyone know how to repair this with water in it, or do I need to drain the tanks cut the pipe and put in a new fitting?

The t is on the gravity drain line from the tanks to the grow beds.

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Is there much head on the tee?

You may get away with using silicone or even "painting" it with the pipe glue.

Did you try to move the tee while gluing it or not enough glue? curious how you have had an issue?

it's got about half a meter of head on it.

it was the only join that I didn't twist due to gluing the the T in the wrong order. probably a combination of not enough glue and no twist I think.


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Wait a while, if its a slow drip the growth of biofilm may block it up.

if it is just a slow drip I'd just dry it off them smear pipe glue around it and as long as it doesn't have enough pressure to immediately push the pipe glue back it should work to fill the gap.

I tried drying it priming the outside and covering in glue but the water just pushed the glue away. I'm away from the system for a week so hopefully the sump isn't dry when I get home. Might even give it time to get blocked by the suspended solids in the water from mixing up the growbeds.

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does anyone know if the top of an ibc cut at 35cm and used as a growbed is strong enough without any additional support? I have reinstalled the 2 cross bars underneath.

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Your can also use plastic epoxy or a repair tape. It's it's a small drop, just wait it out. The bioslime will stop it eventually.

If it's still leaking when I get home I might try the epoxy or some putty.

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anyone know what these little red worm looking thinks are? found them in a ibc top that should only have rain water and bits of debris from nearby plants in it.

I have them in my systems anywhere the SP and Tandanus can't eat them. I think they are some type of bloodworm, but I don't know exactly what, feed them to the fish they love them.

good to know. after all my fish deaths I think I am hyper sensitive to anything unknown I see in the system.

Been a while since i posted a system update.

Sump has gone from a 200l barrel on its side to 2x 500L IBC's joined by the taps. I needed the extra capacity in the sump to get me through summer. With the barrel i was filling it up almost every second day.

All the half barrel beds are gone(except one for the mint. no way i want that taking over a whole ibc). The other 3 barrels have been removed and been replaced with 2 X 30CM deep IBC growbeds (still need to buy some more scoria to top them off). I have placed a sheet of Poly carbonate roofing between the growbeds and the sump tanks underneath to ensure i have no zinc runoff from the cages entering the system.

I have relocated the RFF so i am not plumbing back on myself like was previously.

Added a 200L barrel after the RFF to act as a MBBR it currently has 100L of a K1(5 spoke) clone in it. I have been told this should handle 600g of feed at 12c.

Originally I was running individual 4mm airline from the garage out to each air stone. i have since changed this for 19mm poly pipe which I have barbed off to 4mm air line at each tank down to the stone this seems to have increased the airflow from the pump (Rated 75L/min). I am guessing the multiple 5m+ Airlines were adding significant back pressure.

Currently in the system i have 5 small (6-10cm) silver perch and 4/5 10cm Tandanus. Getting ready for trout season. Bring on the cooler weather!

The front of the system has been cladded with mixed Australia hardwood fence palings. Still not sure what i am going to seal/treat them with so they don't turn grey. Plans are in the works for building a box over the RFF and the MBBR, as well as clad the front of the fish tanks at the back to tidy the system up.