Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Sam,

To totally not answer your question :-) but to bring up another, how are you filtering your water from the fish tank? It looks like you would be pumping water with solids from the sump directly on your grow beds. Am I missing something?

Jeff

Yes, that is correct. I'm planning to put a platform over the Sump Tank for adding an RFF or some other fancy filtering when I add some DWC, but initially I figured I'd just do media-based growbeds and let them do all of the filtering. I think letting the growbeds process the solids will not be a bad thing. I'll probably try to do some sort of movable entry point for the water going into the growbeds or if it seems too bad, maybe drop a filter-type pad below the water flow entering the growbeds that I can easily remove and wash from time to time. I think there have been plenty examples of successful media-based growbeds without any filtering beyond that provided by the growbed.

I'm just so past ready to have something working, that I don't want anything complicated to slow me down even further. I've been thinking about aquaponics for almost a year now with nothing to show besides the few things I've been able to gather (pump, test kit, bulkhead adapters, and some fittings.)

BTW, I finally got a hands-on look at the Ecotank Bebedero I show in those latest sketches. They are a lot bigger than I thought from looking at pictures of them. At 1.80m x 1.04m and 525 L I think they might make decent growbeds. Not ideal in that they are rounded bottom like a barrel, but there are plenty of successful systems using barrels... I'm still checking other distributors for pricing, but even El Colono has them for around ¢90 mil (about $160 USD.) I think Dos Pinos has them for ¢84 mil (about $150 USD) but I haven't asked them lately.

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Sam

Yeah, I'm anxious to get something started as well. I was also looking at those black ecotanks as well over at the tank place just off Ruta 32. I think they look deep enough that the rounded bottom isn't a bad thing. I even wondered about using one for fish before I got the IBC. When I get more serious (post-prototype!) though, I will try to move to the circular tanks for fish since they make a lot more sense from a flow perspective.

For your plumbing, if you are planning on adding those two other grow beds in the future anyway, it seems to make more sense to run the plumbing around as if they were there. Perhaps add some cheap fencing material around the block bases that don't yet have tanks so that the piping isn't quite so accessible as an acrobatic playground? I have two boys, so I know exactly what you are thinking!

Sam, forgot to ask if you have found a good place to get bulkhead fittings here in Costa Rica or whether you ordered them all from the US.

Yeah, 6 meters is not really that far for a 50cm drop. That's about 4 times more slope than the US plumbing code calls for in drain pipe of 2.5" or smaller to make sure solids don't accumulate. But, I think this placement might even be better. Especially for starting with 2 growbeds with plans to expand to 4...


There won't be that much difference in solar insolation on the growbeds placed this way, especially when part of the year the Sun is north of us in Costa Rica and part of the year it is south of us. In my sketch, the wall behind the fish tank is mostly to the south and the wall on the right side, to the west, is only a half wall tapia, but I'm planning to raise it to avoid my noisy neighbors from snatching the fine produce I expect to grow!

So with this arrangement I'll do a split in the outflow from the SLO and send half to the 2 growbeds on the left and half to the 2 growbeds on the right. This will be a bit more tidy and I'll still have room to play in the growbeds without a ladder or acrobatics and I can still get into our storage shed. This back corner of our yard is open right now, but I'm planning to cover it with "zin transparente" (transparent tin) or clear corrugated plastic and route the runoff into a rain catchment system. The rains we've been having the past couple of weeks have been brutal hard and keep knocking down the tomatoes I've got growing in the dirt.

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Sam

I picked up an assortment of bulkhead fittings when I was in the US. Ordering them on Amazon plus shipping was still cheaper than I could find around the Dallas area where I was for a couple of weeks. They are available in country, but without ordering them from one of the tank manufacturers (most ferreterías can do that for you) all I could ever find were 2" adapters ranging from ¢6-7 mil to ¢15 mil ($11 to $26 USD.) I got 3/4" bulkhead fittings for $3.50 USD, 1.5" bulkhead fittings for $4.00 USD and 2" bulkhead fittings for $4.95 USD from LAPond on Amazon. Import tax on plumbing fixtures is 29.95%, although if you could convince customs they are "garden tools" it would only be 1.00%! I'm sure their are some agriculture exemptions...

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Sam

That new arrangement looks good. I'm planning on using the plastic roofing as well since the rains here in the valley are equally hard. I'll be ordering a bunch of bulk head fittings shortly so I can pick them up in Cali when I'm up there in two weeks. Looking forward to the aquaponics workshop in Santa Cruz!

So for your grow beds, would you ever consider using sand (as in iAVs) instead of other media? I keep thinking about how the filtering capability of sand addresses so many of the issues that people talk about when discussing FT solids. I also am intrigued by the vastly higher SSA (Specific Surfaced Area) of sand. Hey, and I'm not just trying to get you to help me find the best sand in CR... :-)

Devilish indeed. Wow you've come a long way while I was off learning about aquariums and aquascaping!
So you have the original plot back cool cool. I like the way it looks, for certain. It looks like I'm still a page behind, but did you already get an answer to the question of sediments remaining in the pipe? I get back to reading your build thread.

Did they finally invent transparent aluminum too? Oh shiot! They did that too while I was off playing at being an aquarist, dang!!

Yeah, I always get a chuckle out of "transparent tin". That's what folks on the street call it. In proper Spanish it would be "Lamina Policarbonato Ondulados" or "Wavy Policarbonate Sheet". But everyone calls corrugated tin "zin" (really trying to say "zinc" for galvanized tin) and so naturally, what you would call "Clear Polycarbonate Roof Panels" becomes "transparent tin!"

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Sam

"Lamina Policarbonato Ondulados" Gotta love those undulating sheets of translucent sheeting! Haha ya another one lost in translation. "Thar be whales!" Scotty

I might now since you've already found sand that should work!

Seriously, I'd like to try all types of aquaponics at some point. I figure I'd start with the standard gravel beds and then add some DWC, Wicking beds and Dutch Buckets, NFT, Vertical Towers, iAV, and maybe even Aeroponics. By the time I'm ready to build on our farm out back I expect to go big (mainly?) with DWC. But nobody lives on the farm out back and so I wouldn't dare leave equipment out there unprotected, even though I'm surrounded by family (12 sets of in-laws.) Maybe next year we'll start construction on a house out there and either move in there or have one of the kids live there, but petty thievery is so rampant in Costa Rica that as it is I have to sit out there in the dark with my shotgun when my avocados get ripe! And that is not very "pura vida"...

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Sam

Brian,

Sorry, I missed your earlier message!


Yeah, we gave the 20+ Silkies away and I got back my Aquaponics Zone! I still love the idea of doing the rooftop garden, but it will probably be awhile before I'm ready to yank off the roof and build a 2nd story. No I haven't yet gotten a definitive answer about the sediments remaining in the pipe, but at this point I think I'm just going to avoid that issue by rearranging how I originally planned to layout growbeds.

Still that rooftop terrace is alluring! I'd be tempted to recreate the visions I have when listening to this song:




Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Ah, yes.... Hallelujah......

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Sam

Call me when you are ready to build! I will bring my hammer. Or trowel?

Speaking of building, we're hoping to build something here in the central valley. Any idea of what a basic structure made of steel would cost per sq meter? I only ask because you sound like a building kinda guy. I'm thinking of using steel as it is faster and more flexible than the standard blocks.

I'm with you on trying various type of systems. I find it amazing that there are so many strong opinions about different types but so very few direct comparisons. Can't wait to get started! Word is that our stuff may be delivered tomorrow or Thurs. but I ain't holding my breath...

Thanks! At times I can use all the help I can get!

Both of the houses I've got in Costa Rica are out in the sticks. We build whenever and wherever and we don't get permission from the muni and we don't use architects or engineers. I know that is not ideal, but it is often cheaper to build without permits and pay a fine if you get caught than it is to get permits. Around here nobody gets caught unless they've got problems with a neighbor and they report you. It happens, but it rarely happens. I buy all the materials and explain to my best construction guy how I want things built and I pay him ¢1500/hour ($2.70 USD/hour). If he needs helpers, I pay them ¢1 mil/hour ($1.80/hour.) I'm sure things in the Central Valley are different.

Cost greatly depends upon if you are building to Tico Standards or American Standards. One of the contractors I know in the Central Valley with a great reputation for quality and efficiency is a Costa Rican/German/American owned company with experience in residential and commercial construction in the USA:

Jorge Manuel Hoepker, JMH Constructora Ltda., (506) 8892-3220, 2433-5871 jmhconstructora at yahoo dot com

I think Jorge would give you an honest quote for quality work. I'm sure he's got plenty of references and could provide examples of his work all over the Central Valley.

A friend down the road who built pretty much to American Standards told me, for materials and labor, he ended up paying $350/m² -- about $65,000 USD for a very nice 180m². He did get permits and had an architect make plans that my buddy provided official, etc.


Yeah, I believe in learning all one can from the wisdom from others, but also to learn through experimentation. There are so many paths to success in this Aquaponics World. I plan to explore the pros and cons of many of them and in doing so provide the best food that can be found for my family and maybe even one day be able to make a few bucks doing it.

Good luck with Aduanas!

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Sam