Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Dave,

I'm much happier with the system 2 plumbing now. After the change from the overhead idea the water came out of the 40 mm PVC at one end down a couple of inches to the 20 mm poly dispersion pipe level then traveled along filling the closest ones first.
Because I wanted to do it in 15 min I figured it would be better to fill more beds slowly than make them wait in turns.So you can see that I brought the delivery line to the middle of the GB's dispersion line.

The top of the poly inlet T's holes are a few mm below the level of the top of the stand pipes which have a 3.5 mm hole 75 mm up from the base. So when filling water is escaping out the bottom the whole time and excess water is is back pressuring that inlet until all beds are full and going down the gurgler. The T's are 50 mm below the surface of the scoria and have holey spray paint caps preventing blockages.
I have a good adjustable GB foundation and used a string line to get the positions. I had to top up the scoria in a couple of beds to minimize the visible water surface.

BTW I turned the media guards on system 1 and it kind of winds the roots in backwards, but I can imagine an eventual build up there maybe even clogging outside the media guard.

Pete.

Hi All,

can some one recommend a good aerator for 30 trout in an 1000 lt IBC ? It doesn't have to have battery back up because I can use the UPS.
I was going to order two more Aqua Pro Air Pump Dual Outlet DC300 with Rechargeable Battery Backup for my other systems but the supplier says they can't get them any more. They'll have a look for another model.

If I get two normal aerators, one for each FT I'll move the Aquapro to system 3.

Pete.

I'm gonna advocate for a powerhead. Less expensive than air pumps, quieter, better gas exchange and provides circulation in the tank. I'll post a video of mine in the IBC when I get my camera fixed (tomorrow I hope). I use these:

One in the IBC, two in my 800 gal system, one spare. They draw 4 - 6 watts each I think. I replaced two 18 watt air pumps with three of these and my UPS lasts a lot longer now too.

Hi Pete'
I have gone in the opposite direction to you that is running every thing from 12 v pumps, running 12 v DC timers, and charged from solar panels, with a 240 v charger backup and 2 x 12 v 100 ah batteries.
what I would do to improve your "UPS" system is get an electrician to fit a "Phase Failure Relay" in your 240v inlet, so that the power changes over automatically, if the mains drops out. It is a while since I purchased one but they are readilly available from an electrical supplies such as Turks, or Lawrence and Hansen, and never used to be very expensive.

Hi John,

as I understand it the battery charger supplies power to the battery as well as the inverter (acting like a huge mains battery)so when the mains drop out the battery charger stops supply and the inverter draws only off the battery. There is no change over required it's just a supply issue.

Am I missing something John?

Pete.

Hi All,
I pulled the zucchini plants out today as they took forever to grow fruit beyond finger size.
The broccoli plants are taking hold so as the toms shut down they should take over. The silver beet and perpetual spinach are thriving. The days are getting shorter and nights cooler now - soon we'll be whinging how cold it is.
I'm feeding a heaped teaspoon twice a day.

I bought two of these Hopar aerators, one as a spare as I'll be able to run one unit on two FTs.
They produce 3 L/m (720 L/H) from each outlet which operate in pairs, together and or two stages of time delays.
Just a quiet as the previous one, bigger and heavier but don't come with hoses or stones.

Another fish fell off the perch today, looks perfect other than it's dead.

I've been building the green house frame and roofed it today just in time as its bucketing down now.

The shed behind 180m2 is an over build of the previous smaller shed 108m2 including a lean-to. I recycled 2/3 rds of the lean-to frame to support the clear poly carbonate sheet over the sy1 & 2 gbs.
Once it started raining it was a pleasure to stand under there and pick the beans and tomatoes.

Next is to do the side walls and doors.

Looking good!

When I got up to the Ft's this morning I heard a high pitched noise, I turned the aerator off and found it was coming from inside the shed.
It was the inverters' display showing me low voltage with an alarm. I switched it off, plugged the power board into the mains and went around to the generator's 90 A/H battery and measured the voltage at 11.5 V with a multi-meter.

I took a 1 m length of 1.2 mm ss welding wire and shorted the terminals and watched the voltage plummet to 10.5 V in a few seconds, removed it and timed how long it took to get back to 11.5 V which was 20 seconds - the 5 year old battery was croaking it. Even with the charger pumping power in it at 7 A/H could only manage 11.5 volts.
I've used a car battery to keep things ticking over at 13.5 V until I get another large diesel cranking battery this week.
Better to have a warning like this than to need to use a dead battery.

Yes I turned the aerator back on and the fish are fine.
I've got 3 dinner plate sized trout waiting to join us for a meal soon.

Oh wow, I somehow missed that you were building a greenhouse over your system Pete. It's been a couple months, how's it coming?

I haven't done any more work on it, I was considering putting the ends in with doors to help slow the wind down.
At the far end I thought I might extend it to the end of the building another 4 m which will give me covered space to attach the aeroponics to system 1 and DWC to system 2.
I'm presently growing winter veggies with about 16 fish in each system so I'm not trying to keep the area warm just sheltered from the rain with as much light as I can get.

Two days before my System 1's anniversary has Wifey is eyeing off a few dinner plate sized fish.

There are plenty of Perpetual Spinach, a bit of silver beet some cabbages, Bok and Broccoli that I grew from seeds. The older Broccoli is surviving the winter but the heads were very open so I just let them go and suck nutes as the other plants were quite small.
It's amazing how slow plants grow in winter.
I'm feeding the fish 2 heaped teaspoons of 5 mm pellets twice a day. Their waste doesn't seem to get to settle as much any more so there is less to vacuum out.

Very nice update. Thank you Pete. I like the way your Wife thinks. Great looking trout.