Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Boss, yes LSL is a bit of a luxury. Apparently a hang over from when it took a month each way to travel back to the motherland by ship .

By horizontal rungs I assume you mean the black rods across the bottom (old pool fencing). Yes, there is 13mm plywood on top. The fencing is strong and, with the plywood, distributes the weight well.

Looking forward to growing something lol

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OK, now the fun part, plumbing the system! Over the past few days I've been playing with uniseals and testing for leaks. I'm pretty sure it's not leaking now, but I had to mess about for the lower fittings that are under more pressure. The thin walls of the IBC are probably not the best thing to use uniseals with, but with a little plumbers tape they are working well. The attached images show the pipe linking my two FT together and my first SLO in place.




Also, I thought I would post what I am trying at the bottom of my SLOs. There is a few fittings, but it should work OK. It's a threaded 50mm onto a basin plug fitting (with inside divisions cut out), then I've used nylon screws to hold it off the bottom.

So, I started plumbing only to realise I should paint my FTs to help stop the UV from breaking down my, IBCs, help prevent algal growth and perhaps create a happier darker environment for the fish.

After reading up on various methods of cladding and painting I first tried using a couple of spray cans of plastic suitable paint. After the first coat I realised that this was going to be a futile approach. I did lightly sand the tank first, but the paint still scratches off very easily. Then I read on the side of the can that it may not work for PE plastic (which, as all you guys probably know is one of the hardest plastics to paint). Also, I would hate to think how many coats I would have needed to get it to look half decent.

So, the idea I came up with (which may not be original) was to buy a 3m x 3m UV stable green tarp from the local hardware store ($30) and wrap the IBC completely like a Christmas present. I then tied it off at the bottom to make it tight. Putting the IBC in place and lowering the cage over it tightened it a bit more and made it a little more presentable. Then I cut the hole off the top and used rubber edging to clamp the tarp to the IBC and neaten it up. However, you could skip that step as the hole stayed nice and tight and looked ok anyway. The rubber edging material is not exactly cheap at about $10 a metre. You can then cut holes for the pipework and the uniseals mask the hole nicely.

Ok, I'll cover the second IBC and get back to the plumbing. Images below.

Nice idea with the tarp. Looks neat and a relatively cheap option


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Looking good DrF, I especially like the base of the SLO.

That tarp looks sweet. What size is it as it looks a good fit. Enjoying your build while i acquire my bits and pieces after the school fees for the kids are paid.

The tarp was 3m x 3.5m. Given the IBC is not square it was a suitable dimension. Tying off the tarp using the eyelets took a bit of fiddling, but it's just like wrapping a present really. You just don't want the extra folded areas to be where your pipes are going to go.

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It looks fantastic for sure. Brilliant idea and craftsmanship.

Very generous of you Boss, but it's just a case of having enough time to sit and ponder long enough, something I currently have lots of . I hope it will be of use to others.

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Tagging along to see this get operational!

I'm always being accused of being a ponderer but I pass it off as being a planner. I find an ice cold stubby helps my planning process but inhibits my doing process....

Your system is starting to come together nicely, keep the updates coming.

[quote="skeggley"]I'm always being accused of being a ponderer but I pass it off as being a planner. I find an ice cold stubby helps my planning process but inhibits my doing process....

One shouldn't inhibit the doing prcess Skeggly

I'm going to have to buy a bottle of bubbly to celebrate turning the water on!

A note on my tarp IBC covering. I just read on the packet the tarp came in that you can have the green side facing outwards to absorb heat and silver out to reflect, which of course makes sense. At the time I was thinking of aesthetics. In hindsight, I probably should have had the silver facing outwards given our climate.

For the second IBC I will have the silver side out and see if there is any major difference. Just a thought to others who might want to replicate it.

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Looking awesome DrFish, well done! Can't wait to see it planted.........

Hey Doc,

Very nice work you have done!
I can appreciate all your struggles - time, finances and wife's consent issues have been all too familiar to me. :-)

I have read your entire thread now and see how resourceful you are and you have indeed solved all of your challenges nicely! Don't you find great satisfaction in finding solutions to work around the limitations?
I myself find that it would be less satisfying if I had tons of time and money and could just pick everything I needed from the top shelves.
I'm not actually a thrifty person, but I enjoy a good challenge.

I also admire your attention to detail and aestetics. I simply don't have the skills nor the patience to make it look so nice.

I have a little bit of input for you.

Regarding media in your beds, don't be afraid to use coarse gravel. Go way up to 30 - 40 mm size pebbles.
Fill your beds 2/3 with this and just put clay balls on top. Or use gravel only. I have used blue granite gravel around 16 mm average size with caly balls on top and although it's heavy it works fine. I have no problems with dead root matter. I keep a population of earthworms in all my media beds, they take care of business. :-)

Regarding filters - don't sweat it too much! Your media beds will do a great job filtering out solids and have more than enough surface area for you bacteria. Use one drum as a swirl filter to settle out the heaviest and largest bits and thats it. You can stick a hose with a pump into that drum once in a while and pump the solids out and pour them into your garden somewhere. Preferably around a fruit tree! :-) A second drum can be your sump.

You don't need a mineralisation tank or a media filter as long as you keep a fairly low stocking density. Raising fewer fishes per volume also gives you a safer system which will not crash so easily. I keep around 30 - 35 trout per IBC. I have a settling tank before my sump tank, no filter or media. In the settling tank I keep crayfish (you would have yabbies) who are happy to rummage on the bottom and break up everything into even finer matter. I also take water from the bottom of my settling tank to water flowers on the patio via a pump.
I grow the trout from fingerlings. I grow trout because they are native to my area and therefore fit the temperature ranges here. You'll know what suits you best.

I see there are others suggesting that you run DWCs instead of media beds. I agree with a mix of both.
Whether you should have media beds or DWCs depends on what you want to grow. Things like toms and chukes like the media beds, as do brassicas, peppers, squash etc. All leafy greens as well as cilantro, parsley, mint etc. do really well in the DWCs.
Personally I would have 1 media bed and 2 DWCs. Let the water flow into the media bed first and from there into the DWCs. Then back to the fishes. Run it all as constant flow.


Just my two cents' worth..... :-)