Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi guys and gals my names paul I'm about to start building my very first aquaponics system.
I have a few ibc's and I'm thinking about using a whole ibc for the fish tank one for the sub tank and at least two grow beds and plan on adding more as time goes by (I have enough room for many more)

I do have a few questions firstly what sized pipes do I use to connect everything together also I'm trying to work out whats a good pump to use? and how many fish should I get and what type would suit the Ipswich climate
I'm still getting all the gear together but hope to have the hole dug in the next day or so for the sub tank but would love some advice.

please take it easy on me I'm only new

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum!

Ipswich Massachusetts, South Dakota or UK? Either way it sounds like you are in a cooler climate. I raise channel catfish in a 900 gallon round stock tank because they can survive cold winters and grow well during hot weather. I also have tilapia in a 275 IBC but I have to heat the tank for 4 months a year or so. I have 2" of urethane foam surrounding the entire tank for insulation, including top and bottom.

Your IBC is a little too small for catfish though, I would not recommend anything less that 300 gallons for catfish, and about 3 feet deep. They stick to the bottom so they need some room to spread out.

For my IBC system I use a 2" SLO that drains to a RFF drum, then that overflows to my growbeds (2" outlet splits to 1-1/2 legs, then down to 1" for each GB outlet) which in turn dump into the sump tank via flood n drain siphons (3/4" with coupling at top for a larger "flare," under a 2" bell inside a 4" gravel guard - pvc drainage pipe). Uniseals are your friend but be sure to run your hole saw in reverse once the drill makes the guide hole.

Ipswich qld australia

Welcome to the forum Paul, Rob Bob is close to your area I think, if I remember correctly. He does silver and jade perch in that climate.

Go with 25mm piping. I used 19mm ones and the walves do have a grid in them which clogs easily.

I bought pumps from Ebay, go with something with low wattage. As a generally accepted rule here, the pump should recycle the entire volume of water in 1 hour. so if the system is 1000L the pump should be 1000Lph.

Fish calculation differs but again the generally accepted hobby rule is to have 1 adult fish (600-800grams) per 20-25L of wet grow bed volume. As the fingerlings you will get are much smaller than this, you might want to get like 10 extra fish and account for the losses as well.

Grow green salad vegetables for the first season, add Fe-EDDHA iron, trace minerals or rock dust or spent coffee grounds to the grow beds and introduce red composting worms.

Get an air pump like Hailea 60 or 80, couple of air stones and air pipes as well.

Next seasons you can grow things like tomato, eggplant, chillies etc as the accumulated nutrients will be enough (given that fish are also there etc.)

Get the API Master Fresh Water test kit too, if you don't have it already.

also I'm trying to work out whats a good pump to use?

>> I bought pumps from Ebay, go with something with low wattage. As a generally accepted rule here, the pump should recycle the entire volume of water in 1 hour. so if the system is 1000L the pump should be 1000Lph.

1000LPH would be too small.

two aspects here given this is an IBC setup:

(a) make sure the volume is the actual pumped not the pump rating.

IMO for most IBC applications 1500 LPH would be lowest you would want, I would never buy < 2000LPH anymore.
if running a timer or wanting aeration then a 2000-3000 LPH pump would be better.

(b) make sure whatever pump you get is running a 19mm or 25mm outlet (12-13mm is too small)
you need to remove any filter sponges from the pump.

(c) don't buy a pump that is too big.....

Bunnings carry the Aquapro 3000 for around $94 which is a reasonable buy.
else some of the higher end pond pumps PondMax or Laguna
there are cheap pumps on eBay but they can be hit and miss - but people do use them.
Jebao and Mako are two that pop up.

most pond and fountain pumps are OK as long as filters are removed - particularly if you use a sump (CHIFT PIST setup) as you are mainly pumping filtered water. However low end pumps may struggle if your plan is to have a heavy stocking or the pump is to be in the fish tank.

p.s. as dstjohn99 notes update your location to say Australia, helps avoid confusion.
you can do that by clicking on <User Control Panel> button in the menu bar and clicking on <profile> in the options list.

Thanks for straightening my knowledge on this Darren. Are you thinking of a venturi when you say "aeration"?

thanks for the tips guys especially with the pump and pipe sizing. the fish I plan on using will be either jade or silvers

I'm using a sump...why? cause it looks like it works lol hopefully I will have it up and running before it cools down in a few months time. well that's after I manage to dig the hole for the sump and weld up the frame for the whole system

>> Thanks for straightening my knowledge on this Darren. Are you thinking of a venturi when you say "aeration"?

that's OK Gurkan - your advice wasn't wrong, just that people (esp. newbies) often don't realise we are talking actual flow rather than the pump size to buy. So I just adjusted to actual pump values as they would appear on web/eBay etc balanced out with my own experiences with 1350, 1650, 2300 and 3000 LPH pond/fountain pumps.
Moving a bit more than 1 FT per hour is OK. The 1350-1650LPH do the job but are a bit light IMO.

no, aeration as in a 'T' just above the water level that allows some excess pump flow water to turn the fish tank over and ruffle the surface a bit. Fish tend to like it (least mine do).
It is always a bonus for minimal extra to have the capacity to aerate and circulate water IMO.
(plus OP mentioned possible expansion later).

>> I'm using a sump...why? cause it looks like it works lol hopefully

actually a few benefits. One is you can SLO your fish tank and thus risk of losing water is on the sump rather than fish tank. Two is that you are pumping water from the sump that is not 'raw fish water' - the SLO does the solids lifting work for you and the sump water needing to be pumped should be low in solids if it has come from the GB's. Third is that the sump volume goes up and down rather than the fish tank - **though you have to be careful not to drain the sump - need quite a bit of volume to match your grow bed volumes plus extra water to keep the pump submerged.

But like everything in AP many options, lots of people pump direct from the fish tank without any problems (me included). But CHIFT PIST (the name for a typical setup using a sump) suits larger systems.