Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was a fan of volkswagens for years,I loved beetles and cal looked a few,eventually getting into the top five in show and shines at some of the bigger events,my favorite had a home built twin webered 1904cc lump in the back,such good fun to drive,that engine ended up in my little shorty van. I cut the sliding door section out of a panel van and welded it back together,excellent fun to drive around in and a real head turner,if you dropped the clutch it would lift the front wheel of the ground,fun times,my sons and myself would travel around to all the shows throughout the summer.
Back to AP,this barrel is my RFS,I might build another if this works out ok for my up flow filter,depends on how successful this one is,hahaha and my plastic welding skill.
The welder I bought from eBay it's 1600 watt and has a digital display where you dial in the temp a second readout then shows you the actual temp your achieving due to conditions etc,a little more expensive but it came with two spare heating elements. To complete the kit I bought a tacking nozzle and to speed nozzles,one with a round hole the other a triangle to suit the available welding rods.

Hi Rininger,thank you for your kind words,it was tough loosing both parents in ten months and was tough taking care of father as his Lewy Body Dementia robbed him of his dignity towards the end,I wouldn't want anyone to go through that,but they are both at peace now.
Hahahaha what can I say about my erections that hasn't been documented here in this fine forum,I can only add that this final erection is going to be a mighty one.
Foam cubes are a fantastic way to start seeds,they take a little practise but once you work the little kinks 98% germination can be achieved at times.
The cubes are one time things and will rot down,I have a separate bin where the roots and cubes go into to rot away,the root system will penetrate the sides of the cubes so there done. I will reuse the ones that don't germinate.
I now don't use pots,I just put one inch holes in the raft,which is one inch thick,then when the seedlings are big enough they get pushed straight into the raft,I do this for everything from lettuce to Tomatos,providing the bigger plants are strung up well there are no problems. If and when you buy your cubes,if you like a I will give you my method of using them.

DEFINITELY need a like button here!!



thjakits

The cone bottomed barrel is finished and water tested,pleasingly there was only one small seep from the cone to barrel joint,quick fix with a little more weld.When in use as my RFS it will be sunk into the ground filled with sand to snug up against,hopefully that should give it plenty of support.
Greenhouse quote and the fencing quote due today so it's all moving forward...

That's a real neat looking weld

Thank you joblow,every time I have a go the welds seem better,I actually enjoy doing it and Iam looking forward to some more projects.

I should have foam cubes to try tomorrow. I have raft beds with 1" square holes in it already. I do have tomatoes growing in DWC right now and seem to do well. The roots are crazy in The dwc. I guess they are probably the same in the other beds just don't see them.

Holy Guacamole, the Shorty is gorgeous. No wonder then you are so good at welding. I remember those bored 1600 & 1800 cc engines very well. I was unable to build nice engines like that, although I did have a biggish engine from a Type III (pancake engine) I had in one of my Bugs for a time. That engine had dual Webers. I owned a 1959 post split window Beetle for a few years, rust finally put that one in the junk pile. I also had a Micro bus Ambulance with doors on both sides in the back which finally broke in half, lol. I wish I'd have thought of doing a Shorty. Among the many VWs I owned I had a right hand drive Micro bus, which got me out of a lot of tickets because the cops would be standing on the wrong side asking my girlfriend for papers, lol.

AP. What type of greenhouse structure are you getting quote for? I am intrigued as well with plastic welding. I also remember how difficult it is lining up bends with a round barrel so that puts a little damper on the idea. I finally saw a rheumatologist on Thursday and have my hopes up again that I may be able too work jobs like customizing a barrel when I can use my hands again. If not, well I am happy to live vicariously though your projects. Thank you.
Brian

Brian have you seen the amount of money the old vw buses are fetching now,if you were lucky enough to have a samba model bus,the one with all the extra Windows you could almost retire on the profits. I loved that little shorty it was an incredible amount of fun to own and drive,when I sold it the guy actually got some form of sponsorship from VW in the uk.
As for the greenhouse and fence quotes there both in and excepted,I am tearing out the old hedge and mismatch of fencing around the entire property,this reall tidies everything up,puts three gates,one large for our pickups two small for easy access in and out,but more importantly allows me to go from 4m to 6m wide for the greenhouse.
The new greenhouse is galvanised steel,6x12x4 meters and a 1metre wide ventilation area in the roof,this equates to a 12sq m ventilation area. The extra floor area is going to allow me to build another trough 11x1.2 meters or another 350 heads of lettuce,Iam going to have a small dst tube system for strawberries,a seedling bench and a small Dutch bucket system in the final bit of spare area.
Just waiting now for this all to start,my system is completely down now,so first stage I need the fence done,then I can get the greenhouse built and more importantly I can get the new fish house up and running so I can start cycling,the system is going to be chop 2,or twin loop pumping up to the fish tanks then through the RFS,up flows and back to the sump,the pump will then pump to the troughs and through a trickle tower filled with various media one of which will be oyster shells,Iam seeing a guy early next week for a custom stainless steel tower,but I reckon it will be to expensive,really slick but to expensive.

I can make a cone of any desired dimension but haven't thought of making it from a barrel Aha! you use a string compass. quite a determination and skill.
Was thinking of making a conical bottom blue barrel but no cutting. apply constant pressure at the center and heat progressively starting from the periphery of the bottom part going to the center. Not quite as conical but enough to gather the muck in the middle.

PS; what is RSF? havent found it on the acronym thread

I can make a cone of any desired dimension, making it from a barrel is another level. impressive Aha! you use a string compass. quite a determination and skill.
Was thinking of making a conical bottom blue barrel but no cutting. apply constant pressure at the center and heat progressively starting from the periphery of the bottom part going to the center. Not quite as conical but enough to gather the muck in the middle.

PS; what is RSF? and how its suppose to work?havent found it on the acronym thread


.........

It's RFS not RSF. RFS is a Radial Flow Settler.

Basically the water enters the tank via a pipe pointed upward that is positioned in a central cylinder. Entering this way kills some of the velocity. The water and solids flow out in a radial pattern (like the spokes on a bicycle go outward from the center) until they hit the walls of tje center cylindrical area. From here the they travel down toward the bottom of the main tank and then back up along the outside of the central cylinder to the exit. This gives a longer path to reach the exit and also encourages solids to settle because of the loss of velocity and the initial downward movement.

An RFS works a bit better than a Swirl filter usually.

Scotty RFS and swirls in a coned bottomed tank,RFS as you say outperform swirls,but swirls in a flat bottomed barrel have the effect of depositing the solids in the centre of the barrel making it easier to clean especially with a centre mounted drain. A swirl filter and a efficient static upflow filter could be a good choice,large solid collected in the RFS everything hopefully collect by the upflow filter.

I stuck the Mylar to the floor with tape and as you say a string compass to strike the two arcs to make the cone,I use an online cone calculator for the dimensions,I just typed in what I knew and the calculator gave me the two radius,it came out very well,there was just a little trimming to the top edge to get it fitted correctly in the barrel.
If I was making a smaller filter I would seriously think about fitting the cone inside of the barrel with the drain connector going through both,I had leaks with this one due in part to me still learning plastic welding. However what I quickly learnt is if you try to re weld an area if your not careful you can loose cohesion in the original weld actually making the leak worse,I learnt this the hard way,on one small leak it took 5 or 6 attempts to cure it,with it actually getting worse after the first attempt.

Thanks for the explanation Scotty.
And Dasboot for the tips. I didnt know there is an easy way."online calculator"

If you are making the leaks worse with rewelding it means you did not melt the parent material enough before applying the rod in you original weld. See to it that parent material both sides melt nicely before applying filler. you will know when melted enough because it gets shiny. Well just in any kind of welding it just takes practice.