Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think eventually an MBBR will be added since I THINK EVENTUALLY, I may get rid of the media and turn that bed into a DWC bed as well. This is the sequence of upgrades in the near future:

1: Add RFF once conical tank on hand (waiting on TANK DEPOT)
2. Build Vortex MT TANK
3. Pick up 2 more barrels to finish off the cascading(?) settling waste tanks.
4. Build 4'X32'X12" DWC
5. Build a shade structure. (I think my plants are suffering from the intense heat and the shade will help.
6. Clean media bed of poo
7. If media bed bed becomes a problem again, convert to DWC after MBBR build.

Right now 1, 2, and 3 on hold since I don't have the tanks on hand. So I plan to start building the DWC bed in a few days. Or I'll take another 6 hour round trip drive to pick up 3 more of the same red tanks to finish off 2 and 3.

Somewhere in the above upgrades, I would like to replace my current home depot flo tec sump pump with a more efficient pump. The flo tec is 375 watts or about 4 amps draw for a zero head capacity of 1470 gph. Thinking of going with a Laguna PT-8248, PT-8252 or PT-8256. Any of those would be work with high flows at half or less power usage.

I'll work on the SketchUP to give a better picture.

side question, a media bed with poo increases DO demands right?

That's what I would expect because many of the bacteria breaking down the poo need the oxygen so the oxygen demand goes up .

Yup, that's what I thought. I'm sure my media bed is putting a large demand on DO due to some solids slipping by the old RFF and net tank filtration setup.

Cleaned the static tanks today it's been 5 days. Fed 530 grams x 3 days during that time. 2 days ammonia was elevated and they received no feed.

The first static was filthy. After bubbling for 5 min, I drained it to the settling tank. Media still looked dirty so I used well water to fill and bubble the media again. Drained it to the garden this time. Media was still had poo on it repeated the cycle. Still had some poo visible. The drainage had poo each time. Cleaner each time though.

Second filter has not been cleaned since put online. I let it go longer since it's the last filter. 8 days or so. Same routine but once seemed enough for this one. Still saw some poo specs but not like the first.

No signs of slime building up in the pipes or going into the GB like before.

Still plan on adding the conical RFF before the statics. I'll clean the RFf every other day or so. We shall see. Still waiting on tank depot to get a shipment of conical tanks in.


Do you rinse the statics untill completely clean? Or empty the the water once and put back online?

The statics sure do beat the net and cloth tanks for sure.

I usually do it until they are completely clean. You might be able to flush them with a garden hose once they're drained unless your sending the solids to a Mineralization Tank where any chlorine might kill the bacteria. I suppose if you are expecting any biofiltration in the SUP that you wouldn't want to do this either but usually these are considered as straight solids filters (even though some processing of waste is carried out).

Based on the lower amount of solids in the second filter it sounds like they are working as you'd expect. You can use less media in the first filter if you want a coarser filtration for any reason. There are other things you can do to play around with the size of solids passing through the filter if you need to but it sounds about right at the moment.

Hi Lmannyr mind posting up some pics.. its been a long time since I saw your system.. seems like you getting thru with these stuff.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

HEEEEEYYYY COOKIE!!!! Your back!! Thought you gave up on AP or found "The Secrete" and were keeping it to your self. I'm in the middle of a major update. But here are a couple of pictures as the systems sits today.





I'm adding a 4 foot by 32 foot DWC bed. Its just framed for now. Still need to level the ground and lay ground cover. On the concrete pad, the blocks with no tank on it is where the conical RFF will go. Both fish tanks will flow through the RFF then continue to the first static up flow filter (SUF) (on the concrete) on the right. Then water flows to the next SUF to the left of the first SUF. So 3 filters basically is the plan. Each SUF has 4 cubic feet of k2. The SUF are mechanical only. I'm sure there is biofiltration going on in them as well as I'm not cleaning them with chlorinated water.

The filters are on a "Cleaning bypass loop". I can bypass any one filter to clean it. All Filters drain from the bottom and for now empty into a bucket at the end of the pipe and I manually add into the settling tanks which are partially in the ground. Still a work in progress.

The bottom drains will be plumbed to drain right into the first settling tank (bottom partially buried tank). There are 4 settling tanks. Each one will be connected. The idea is the fist tank will have the most solids. The top clear will spill over into the next and the next, etc... until clear drains back into the sump. Also (not pictured) will add a vortex MT tank on the pad that will be plumbed with the bottom drains and sump.

Next day off of work I'll plumb the settling tanks to the filters and sump. At this point, I'll be a ZERO DISCHARGE back yard AP system. I have a feeling I may need to upsize the settling tanks but only time will tell. So far i have had to clean out the SUF every 3 days. I can tell the SUF needs cleaning because the water levels will rise a bit. Currently feeding 530 grams per day. Need to figure out what my feed requirements are for optimal plant growth after the DWC is complete.

After all the filters and DWC is done, plan on putting up some sort of shade structure. Plants are burning up right now with the temps in the 90's for some 28 days straight. Heat index has been 100F daily. Melons are going well as are basil, mints, pineapple, culantro, dill. Unfortunately, I'm not too focused on the plants right now. My main focus is to finish the upgrade very soon to hopefully in time for fall and winter crops.



I had more pictures posted in the thread within the last few pages but they are "X"d out now. Not sure why. The pictures are still available on my google acct. IF a moderator can FIX them, I would greatly appreciate it or give me access to edit my own posts and I'll fix them. I think it may be the size but not sure.

Niceness well I wasn't hiding really hiding anything because I simply wasn't growing anything by my choice or by the system.. However I think I got an answer by mistake to figuring out all these secrets of mineralization.. and if it works out you wouldn't believe how easy aquaponics becomes!! I still believe that addition of external nutrients is not needed.. and solid removal shouldnt be and active action but show be left without a confined location of the system to be broken down anaerobically while water is continuingly being flowed into that location.. the bacteria actually grow on nitrates more efficiently and also prevents too much SO4 being reduced producing nasty sulphites components... focus should never be on one type of mineralization.. both aerobic and anaerobic are needed to fully extract the locked away mineral and should be encouraged to apply both types to your aquaponics system and preferably In series flow with each other.. nitrates actually suppress alot of the scentz given off in anaerobic digestion.
but I'll talk more on this as the weeks come by.. just proving it first.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

Lmannyr, Gorgeous setup, AND you got Cookie to come up and comment!!! That is so freakin' awesome! There ought to be a Cookie Badge. One question: How do you get the solids out of the barrels which are partially buried?

The settling tanks are 1/3 above the sump. The settling tanks will be gravity fed to sump. I plan for a continuous flow/trickle into sump as long as the volume is there.

Still need to figure out a simple filter between each settle tank. I'm thinking of stuffing a bath wash sponge that some use as bio filtration in each pipe. Let the sponge string hang out of pipe. If I notice it's not flowing, pull it out, dip it into the tank water for a quick rinse and stuff back.

It's going to be a week before the settling tanks are connected. Working my arse off right now untill then.

Thanks for following my setup.



Looks like the pictures are up again. THANK YOU who ever fixed it.

Thanks for the reply. and clarification

Hahhaa lol I didn't now I was soo important.. nahh lol.. but I'll be a lil more active from now on.. don't worry.. IM BACK!!

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

I'm really excited about my upgrades. I've been working on the AP 16 hours a day when off of work for the last month now. Still project about a month before I'm done.

Settling tanks = anerobic MT
Vortex tank = aerobic MT

Hopefully it will be the key to see the greatness in AP growing. I'll need to clean the media bed to stop what ever mineralization is going on in there. This will enable me to control mineralization via vortex and settling tanks. The media bed has a huge DO demand right now. MGB exit DO is 0.3. I'll deal with that after the DWC is built.

Is THIS STUFF ok/safe to use as rafts? The opposite side is aluminum?/silver faced.