Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I had a little setback. After I added the sand it wouldn't drain well anymore. I went back to the iAVS sites and reviewed how to test your sand. (I skipped this before because I used this sand before and it worked fine.) In the sand test, the cap with the holes drilled in it was lined with shade cloth. My media excluder was just some denim from an old pair of jeans. I tried replacing it with a little of the quilt batting I use as filter floss. Now it drains great. So I finished adding sand and built up the ridges. I hope to start planting tomorrow.

First of all if you have an IBC grow bed and are using flood and drain method, that is bad for IBC systems. When you cut the top of your IBC tank and you use the cut part for a grow bed you flip it upside down and you place the drain in the middle and that works find except that you have two low spots on each side of the drain so not all the water drains, it remains in those low spots which collect fish waste and food, that and the water is stagnant for some periods of time allowing for root rot. This is the unknown side of IBC tank grow beds. The water flow and drain should be free flow just like verticals.

I'm not using the top of the IBC anymore. That's a 26 gallon tub, smooth on the bottom. But I should check it with a level and make sure it slopes toward the end with the holes in the bottom.