Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm still trying to get budget parts and fit the size etc in my greenhouse and came up with this design

Plumbed in from the left with a feed to each row. The top two rows auto siphoned out to the right. The bottom a trickle flow out. Minimalist piping.

Note the auto siphon inside a standpipe. Niice with two I's

The small pipes between barrels are overflows so if one drain stops working the others take up the slack till hopefully, you notice.

The bottom row of barrels are sunk into the ground 2/3's of their height. This 'ground' will have 100 mm or more stone of some description. This and the proximity of the middle row providing shade to keep it cooler for koura (kiwi yabbies) and duckweed.

Top rows for veg. Trying to see how far down I can get the height of a 3 tier barrel system, and how little timber and plumbing I can use.

The gaps in between the barrels on the timber will have galvanised builders straps to stop the timber spreading. As will the 3 sets of posts at 2 points. This should (touch wood) make it all nice and strong.

And here's the siphon a bit closer.

Now that's a great idea...

I like the coupling a lot (designing version 2.0 with auto siphons in grow beds too). I am currently using the black drainage pipe with the little slits in it for my standpipe, and the one grow bed is not draining as well as it used to - I think the slits are too clogged to flow well. (Probably doesn't help that I topped the gravel off with out rinsing the sand out of it). Will these standpipes be drilled PVC? If the open end of the siphon were at the center of the stand pipe it might have an easier flow? I am looking at using a bucket with slits sawed into it and the bottom cout out to make sure that the siphon has an unrestricted fast source, worried about a narrow short pipe.

For 100 litre bed (half barrel) I estimate at final count 35-40ish litre water turnover.

I'll do this in a 13mm siphon mounted inside a 65mm pvc standpipe. I drill, a lot, till there's half drilled space on the bottom few cm's of my standpipe, 5-6 mm holes everywhere, no smaller.

Sand and tiny hydroton/gravel are the natural enemy of drains.

Yep, felt really cocky when I added the sandy gravel; guess I thought the bacteria would eat it or something...

Nice Sketch-upping, AA!

Sand had me flummoxed for a while. It just turns up! I suspect my worms I feed into the system contain it in their stomachs.

I'm thinking in that barrel design picture I'd like to lose the top 65 mm drainpipe and have the top layer of siphons drain into the same drain the middle layer uses. 65 mm being far more expensive than 13 mm.

There's enough room to slip the siphon lines past the second layer of barrels without it becoming a problem (taking any space) in double row designs.

I had to clear a blockage in one of my pipes this past week due small grit - was in too much of a rush when I made the growbed and now I have to go back and fix up - so being patient is a definate key to getting it right!