Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

You do Voodoo? Be nice to Les Dave!

Picked up the new tub and mortar mixing tub today!

The mortar tub is 90gal/340L, the new fish tub is 180gal/680L.

Also got a new 4" PVC pipe to make into a heat exchanger; I am going to wind tubing around it then wrap PVC flashing around that to make the channel for the water to flow. PVC pipe comes in 1" increments and the 3" gap was too small and the 2" was too large. I realized I could just make the outer sleeve from scratch with the flashing and it will fit just right that way. The pipe will reside in the garage, with the pipe going through the garage wall to the outside plant sump and through the sill down into the basement.

Dave are you growing outside at all this year? You keep modeling the dog and he or she will want more doggie snacks.
Good luck with your heat exchanger.
You may have to mass produce for us APiers ya know.

does the 180 gallon tub bow out when full?

Hey GF:
Not at all yet, but I hope to after this stage is completed. The plan all along has been to grow the plants out in the open and have the fish indoors, but the plans have been slow in coming this year. The special-ordered tubs took almost a month to arrive. If I can get the heat exchanger working then the hope is that I will be somewhat immune from the cold, and the season can be extended with just a cold frame and maybe some supplemental lighting, until the bitterly cold end, when it will be just like it is now with everything inside.

Hey MC:
The 110 that I use now bows a bit but not enough to be an issue. I am assuming the 180 will be similar. My drain will be on the side up towards the top like in the 110 and I just need that to be sound and it will work OK.

i have a 1400 gallon tank that bows very bad. when i finish my 1100 gallon system im gonna see what i can do to fix it.

That is a solid plan Dave.
We shall slowly grab a month or two on either side of the growing season and be all set. I agree that fish inside would be much better all around. That free's up alot of choices in fishies and gives em a chance to grow 24/7.

The plant side is woefully inadequate in my current setup; I hope to get things balanced better with some targeted efforts...

The Minister of War and Finance informed me today that funds will be tight over the next few weeks so I am looking at how to do the expansion with what I have already available. I would like to buy about three more pumps and some float switches, etc. but instead I will be looking at maybe one more little pump, or maybe even using the sump pump I used last year for something or other. It is 1/6 HP (around 125 watts). I am currently using two 40 watt pumps to service 100 gallons of gravel. Two siphons have been having trouble stopping so I could probably run three beds per pump rather than two as it is now.

One small pump will be needed for the heat exchanger setup, the other water flow through that will be by gravity. I am also looking at filling the heat exchanger by hand (bucket) since there aren't enough pumps to go around, starting the gravity flow with a valve and running the other by turning on a switch at the same time. Some stolen storage tubs from around the house would work for the header and drains for the exchange.

For the reconfigured gravel beds (which will become solely biofilters) I'll use the heavy shelving units we have now, where the aquariums are sitting. I had though about stacking concrete blocks and 4x4s but this would be clunky and bulky. I had drawn up plans to cascade the siphons from one tier to another but there is not really enough vertical drop available.

Stage I - Remove plants and move gravel beds onto shelving (no more grow light)
Stage II - Hook up new bigger fish tub and old fish tub as a sump
Stage III - Bury plant sump was old sump and setup new grow bed(s) and sump? pump
Stage IV - Drill through wall and hook up heat exchanger, piping, reservoirs, and new small pump
Stage V - Reap the bountiful AP harvest!

Hey Dave, love those new tubs. Looking forward to your new look.

Dave, love the stages, here is my stage list that I have in excel

Stage 1 - install 3 GB's (completed)
Stage 2 - install new fish tank (completed)
Stage 3 - install next 3 GBs (working on it)
Stage 4 - work on solar heating of fish tank
Stage 5 - back up power supply
Stage 6 - setup BSF farm
Stage 7 - tidy up GH

Good t have a plan

Yep, have to keep it all not-killing the fish after each stage too. It would be easier if everything could be taken offline. Looking at the arrangement now makes me want to try to separate things a little more, to have some room to tweak things.

I measured everything and am going to draw up plans in CAD now.

Hi Joyce! Mine are not as nice as your cool grow beds!

Ell, the backup power supply will probably keep slipping down to the end of the list if your list behaves like mine does. The fish getting bigger and the power bumps we've had this week are worrying though...

New plan drawn up, going to try making shelves for the beds using concrete blocks, 2x4s, and particle board. If I add blocks as spacers when I position the tubs I can make sure to have enough room to add two more stacked beds when the time comes. That would give me 150 gallons of biofilter gravel (using 100 now). The plants will also be using as much gravel as the 70 gallon sump can service.

If you knock through the basement wall, you can dig out some extra space.

Chain saws!jackhammers!bobcats! Wheres my invite?