Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

No worries, I'm up in HEB, West of DFW Airport.

@Shelgeyr

Not in any rush but I'm taking next week off from work and hoping to at least get a greenhouse up so I can start tracking air temp readings.

What size IBC totes did you have on hand?

Was looking for two, debating between cutting them both into 2 grow beds from one and Fish/Sump from the other or just picking up a separate sump tank and keeping one whole for the fish tank.

Sorry it took me so long to reply! I have the normal 275-gallon ones. Please note: I just posted a link to someone else's Craiglist post (in a Hardware thread) to a lot of free and possibly useful 275-gallon totes in Grande Prairie, which would be a lot closer to you than I am in Frisco. Here's the link: http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/zip/5712983193.html

I'm pretty sure I do have shade cloth I can give you - this last week has been hectic so I'm not entirely certain and will have to re-verify. I apologize again for the delay and like I said earlier, if I've got it then you can have it, no charge.

No worries, thanks for the update!

Keeping an eye out on CL but the group offering free totes said they're not food grade and are down to about 20, haven't been by to take a look yet.

Food Grade is generally considered a requirement by most right?

Starting to plan things out... I'm debating between trying to use the pump line to promote water movement on the bottom and more solid lifting or running that back up to the top of the fish tank for increased aeration.

Scaling may be off, TinkerCAD seems to be the only design software I've found that makes sense to me but it limits the scale down fairly small. Seems to be linked to AutoCAD so I may be able to work out importing it there.

Need to settle on a proper sized sump tank and pump, constant flow with two bell siphons and aeration outlets into the sump tank. My intent is to use one whole IBC for the FT and split another for the brow beds.

Nice CAD Casey!

Two things that come to mind (maybe 3) regarding your Sump Tank back to the Fish Tank design...

1. What happens if the pump stops? Would you have to worry about the Fish Tank draining almost completely back into the Sump Tank (and probably overflowing the Sump?) I suppose a check valve could prevent trouble there...

2. Most folks seem to pump from Sump back up to top of Fish Tank and try to get more splash for the buck to improve aeration of the water. Pumping up from the bottom would not do that. Many have great success with the fish stirring up the muck to help get it up and out the SLO.

3. I haven't thought it through enough to say for sure one way or another, but it might take more effort for the pump to pump into the Fish Tank at the bottom due to the water pressure than it would to pump into the Fish Tank at the top. That might really be a non-issue with head being head either way...

Another consideration regarding the SLO is that too many inputs could result in very little sucking power. It's all the same going up, but it might be that the water flow going in the 4 inputs at the bottom of the tank each draw too little to suck in very much of the accumulated solids.

BTW, I used to live in the DFW area. What kind of fish are you planning for the North Texas climate?

Good luck on the build! I'm jealous of all the hardware stores, etc. you've got available in the metroplex. I just flew threw DFW a few weeks ago and loaded up my suitcases with pump, testing supplies, bulkhead adapters, etc.

--
Sam

Thanks! Yeah I was wondering about a lot of this... SLO could be scaled down or use small slits to maximize draw in of solids. I hadn't thought about backflow for the pump turned off so that part definitely makes sense and the added aeration can't hurt... I'll also move one set of pipes to the opposite side of the fish tank to reduce the amount of pipe needed.

Thinking about lots of different fish... lol

Leaning towards Blue Tilapia but also interested in crawfish, shrimp, catfish and LM Bass.

Carrying the system design conversation over into Member System.

Design plan change, looking more like a standard 12'x14' greenhouse now.

Window wall and ceiling will be roughly 16'x16'.