Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Peoples!

Just thought I'd share what I've done so far on my second system in a rental house..(meaning no permanent damage/structures).

I'll share all the gory details in a multitude of pics because (apparently) pics are what everyone likes!

Im not sure how many pics I can post in one hit so there might be multiple posts...

To start, I'm pumping to an IBC for a fish tank that's at about 900 litres that's at a high point then gravity fed from there to a (I think too small) radial flow filter and then to a bio-filter to the sump.

The sump is 5 tubs all with an air-stone. 3 @ 150l and 2 @ 100l all connected together via 40mm pvc.

The grow tubes are 3 x 150mm pvc with 18 or 19 140mm pots at 300mm centres all teed into one bell syphon @ 25mm into the sump.
Cycles 24/7 at around 18mins per cycle.

The bio-filter is a 190l olive drum with 50l of K2 media and an air stone.

The pump has a split flow to the grow pipes and the fish tank.

Air is a pondmax PA airpump @ 35W.

Pump is a JAD 3500l/h @ 25W.

As promised I'd add some more pics...
Try and fill the server hard drives!

Last lot of pics...

Things I'd do different...
50mm between the sump tubs
50mm from the FishTank or raise the height
Bigger solids filter... maybe another 190 olive drum instead of the 2 smaller drums in parallel

If I modify anything (and I'm thinking the solids filter will be first thing) I'll post pics here.

Any feedback would be appreciated

Scotty

Those pipes are massive!.A bit dodgy in a rented property,what if you had to move.

The system looks really good!

I would remove the Aluminium pronto.

What are the "limestone lumps" for? buffering?

Thanks 7341

If I had to move, which will happen in around 2 years, I'll pack it up and move it!

System number 1 was also in a rental but was a little smaller with just flipped IBC.

The limestone is just natural stuff that's been crushed. Used for road building etc.
I was told that it makes good, cheap buffer. Seems to work well, I didn't have pH issues in the old system that also had it.

Why would you say to remove the aluminium pronto?
The only reason I used it here was because it was left over from the last system without any obvious issues.

Cheers for your input

Hiya Scotty, welcome to the forum.
Nice little system, bit complicated for my little brain.
As 7341 says brass and aluminium should not be in contact with water, not fishy friendly apparently. There have been several systems where they’ve been used and been no probs then sudden fish deaths and the finger has been pointed to brass fittings.
Seeing a 3500 Lph pump in a 40l container is somewhat confusing also, looks like a gravity fed fresh water top up into the pump tank.
Plant growth looks good.

Thanks for the welcome Skegg!

The aluminium is powder coated so the only exposed bits are the ends where the flyscreen been cut. It'll have to stay for now until I can find an alternative.

I've also scrolled back thru the pics only to see that you can't see the 40mm pvc connecting all the sump tanks together.

You can just see the 40mm pvc in the pump tank pic poking thru the UniSeal from the previous tank on the far right of the pic.

In hindsight I should've used 50mm between all the tubs because the first one comes close to overflow (pic #21) and the pump tub is never more than half full. You can see the 'tide' line in the pic of the pump tub.

And yes, the freshwater topup/chlorine dump is gravity fed thru the float valve in the pump tub.
It gives me a very good idea of how much water the system evaporates/transpires every day.

Thanks for the feedback

Scotty

Genius!.I would never have thought of that


If the Aluminium became exposed to the water & the PH dropped below 7 it will kill the fish.After time the powder coating will wear off.

The chunks of limestone are huge,I've never used it like that before.
How much of it is in the system & how much water is there?.And what's the PH? does it hold or do you have to remove the chunks sometimes?

Hehehehe!

As much of a pain in the as it is to move it, the space was just crying out for something to go there, eastern side of the house so protected from harsh arvo sun.

It also gives me an opportunity, after moving it, to set it back up with all the mods I haven't done while it's in situ.

pH has always been very steady when ever I test at around 7.5.

There'd be around 6kg of limestone that'll just stay there. The previous system I had also had steady pH and had even more limestone and stayed all the time for 2 years straight. Made into hides for the fish in the bottom of the IBC.

I figure if it gets too acid then the limestone will start to disappear...

Thanks for the aluminium tip... will have to get onto it very soon and keep a closer eye on the pH.

Scotty

Great system. It took my brain a couple of re-reads to understand also

I've read that Calcium stops "buffering" at a PH in the early 7s (suppose it depends on other parameters too).
Some of my plants are sensitive to Iron,so I must keep it below 7.I have to fidel every few months in order to keep the PH in acceptable ranges.I wish I could dump a lump of it in & let it slowly go over a period of years.

6kg but how much water in total? & how many fish?

Ahhh yes, you did ask in the previous post but didn't get to it..

I've 35 Silver Perch at about 75mm. I know that's too many but I figured on a few casualties but haven't got any so far... might have to have a few casualties before things start turning pear shaped.

The Fish tank would be about 900L in an IBC, sumps and Grow beds would total about 700L and Moving bed biofilter would be about 180L. So, all up nearly 1800L.

Interesting reading about the limestone... I've no idea what my plants are sensitive to.
I would've much rather have just the one variety of plant, I was thinking strawberries but the missus was rather excited about all these empty pots while I was first cycling the system. Nek minut... plants everywhere!

Scotty

Thanks


All the strawberries I've done needed lower PH(lower than 7.4.I think that was what it was at the time).That's one of the types of plants,I had to reduce the PH for.