Building Plywood Tanks

I get these 40"x47"x36" plywood boxes from a juice factory for $5.00 each.  I cut the shipping boxes into thirds or in half, and add bottoms to the sections as needed.  I look for discounted irregular plywood to save money (generally 1/2 price).

To build the basic plywood box would cost about $60 if you used 3/4" plywood at about $25 per sheet.  These come banded with heavy metal corners.on a pallet.  It's hard to beat these juice boxes built with high grade 3/4" - 5 ply plywood. It takes about 2300 ml of resin per tank at $50/3.5 liters

Fiberglass makes these tanks durable and clean.  Cost was about $60 per 40"x47" tank.

I'm filling this tank with water to test for leaks

The deeper tanks on top will be wicking beds.  The shallow 12" tanks underneath will be bioponic grow beds. 

I'm not concerned about toxins from the fiberglass resin.  If you are then use LG-730 Mono Epoxy Pool Paint or Pond Shield. for the finish coat  It will add $10-$20 per tank

These same tanks would cost only  $20.00 each if pond liner were used.
Box        - 5/2    =   2.50
Liner     - 100/9 = 11.00
Bottom - 12/2   =   6.00


After one year of use I found that the bulkheads needed to be tightened.  I expect the wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity which eventually caused them to loosen.

Filtering Poo with Continous Flow Media Bed

My indoor system started out with a gravel bed. After repairing a leak in the 45 mil EPDM liner of that grow bed, I decided to go with a Deep Water Culture (DWC) raft.  With only one 10' wall glazed my grow bed is 30"x10' long which is a rather small 25 sq ft..  I found it easier to utilize that precious space with a  raft system.

A panoramic view inside grow room.  800 gal fish tank on left grow bed on right

But loosing the large media bed meant that I would also lose the filtering capability of the 3/4" rock media.   So I decided to build a filter using evaporative cooler pads.   This works great at first, but after a few months the fish population began to grow and the fish got bigger.   The filter could no longer keep up with the poo.   Cleaning filters everyday was more work than I was willing to do.

So I decided to return part of the bed to a gravel media, and keep the rest as a DWC grow tank.

The DWC tank with gravel to the right of a plastic fence partition

I built a partition out of plastic fencing and PVC pipe.  Filled one side with 3/4" gravel and extended the return water pipe from the fish tank so that it dumps on top of the gravel.   One thing I'd like to say about that is I also used 2" pipe rather than 1-1/4" because the smaller pipe tends to clog.

At this point I began to have concerns about a continuous flood gravel bed.  RupertofOZ was kind enough to dispel my fears by pointing me toward a very good experiment done by backyardaquaponics.com.  

.

Cleaning New Gravel and Pipe Size

Cleaning Gravel:

Yesterday I cleaned about 5 cubic feet of new gravel.  In the past I have used progressive tubs and a bucket filled with holes.  I would start at one end and work my way down three or four barrels of progressively cleaner water.  This proved to be insufficient and the barrels became quite dirty very quickly which meant that I would constantly have to start over with more clean water.

But yesterday I used a small cement mixer.  I'd put 10 shovel fulls of gravel in and filled it with water.  Then turn the mixer on for 15 seconds, and dump the water.  I did do this about 7 or 8 times until the water was running clear.

This next step may not be necessary, but then I did a final rinse in a white bucket.  I was able to easily see how clean the water was in the white bucket, and two quick rinses generally finished the job.

It took a few hours to perform this cleaning, but after several bad experiences with cloudy water, I'm very happy with the results.  Today my water is perfectly clear.  

Pipe Size:

A couple months ago I added 10 feet of 1-1/4" pipe to the line from my fish tank to the grow bed.  It has worked well until recently when I noticed that the water in the fish tank was beginning to raise.  Closer inspection of the pipe revealed that gunk had built up on the surface and was slowing the water down.   I replaced the pipe with a clean 2" pipe.   I'll let you know in a few months how that worked out.   I'm feeling confident that this is going to work out much better.    As a general rule I'd say 2" or larger pipe should be used everywhere.

Free Form Concrete

I'm experimenting with RapidSet Cement ALL.  I soaked this cloth in a slurry of this rapid setting cement to create a hard free form surface.  I'm thinking this might be fun to use for free form sculpture and architecture.   I envision being able to make everything from flower pots to actual structures or garden art.  Possibly layering this over foam insulation to create light weight structures..

Taking that idea one step further a layer of expanding foam could be applied to this cloth and then covered once again with cement soaked cloth to create a very durable light weight insulated wall.  Larger structures could be created this way by draping the first layer over a tent, balloon, straw or even a few ropes to create the initial shape.

What a fun way to make a play house, or garden shed

Catfish

Yesterday Justin and I visited a catfish farm in Gerber CA.  The owner Don has been raising catfish since 1987 .  When we arrived he was taking Dissolved Oxygen reading of his 16 ponds.   He showed us his operation.  He and his daughter who also raises catfish on her farm sell their product in the bay area.  Don recently attended the aquaponics class in the Virgin Islands and intends to incorporate AP into his aquaculture.

Justin and I are thrilled to have met Don and left with 50 fingerling which we divided.
I places 6 in my warm tank and the rest in my outdoor IBC system.  The little fellers looking happy and are a lot of fun to watch.

My new avitar

My new avitar on  community.theaquaponicsource.com  seems appropriate.  
 
Maybe my seeds will begin to sprout better now 

Njörðr is associated with sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, wealth, and crop fertility.

Gammarus shrimp AKA, Scuds

This is my second bag of Gammarus shrimp AKA, Scuds.  They are good for live freshwater fish food, eat debris and multiply quickly.  

I'd highly recommend psilocyborg69 on e-bay.  He does a good job of packaging, and when I had trouble with the first order he quickly sent this second bag.

New Scuds, Filters, and Flirting Fish

I got some Gammarus Scuds a few days ago and made this make shift aquarium for them.  I've also included a look at some new bio filters I just built and two fish that are getting ready to mate.

Scuds AKA Gammarus or Caledonian shrimp are small freshwater shrimp amphipods that can grow to about the size of a grain of rice.

Scuds are an excellent source of live food in aquariums and will rapidly colonize the gravel, keeping it clean by eating uneaten food as well as fish wastes. They are omnivorous and will eat almost anything. Scuds also colonize the filter pads and keep them clean while breeding in them, this makes the filters last well over twice as long.

They are  extremely resistant to changes in environment. Outdoors they can survive Minnesota winters as long as they have unfrozen water beneath the ice, and indoors have no problems with my 86* F crayfish aquariums.

They are super fast breeders and will rapidly colonize,  When scuds mate the male carries the female on his back as they are swimming. The female carries about 50 fertilized eggs in her egg pouch and these are orange in color and show through her semi-transparent body. The young shrimp hatch within the egg pouch and emerge as fully developed young shrimp but MICROSCOPIC in size.

Vertical Garden Sausage

This is my Vertical Garden Sausage.  After pricing pipe and stacking gardens I started thinking about ways to do it less expensively. 
This is made of fiberglass reenforced weed cloth.  I glued the seems with Goop Marine Glue and filled it with Perlite.  I imaging other media such as compost or Vermiculite could be used instead.
I was able to use the same pump that I pump water into my fish tank to drip water into the top. 
The advantage I see in vertical gardening that the produce is within easy reach, less media than a standard grow bed is used, plenty of aeration,  easy to manage in sections. 
Seeds can be started directly in to sausage, but I had these seedling and used them to get it going.

Nine Days Later

I've made more since first posting this and have been using regular Type 1 silicon.   Type 1 silicon is safe for fish.


Nate Storey shared his vertical setup

 

My Seed Order

I think I've found a new favorite seed company!
The quantity of seeds in each pack is substantial,  I'll be able to share a lot of this order.  This is not your standard seed store.  Many unusual vegetables and recipes too.
I love the variety and descriptions of the seeds sold at  
Kitazawaseed Company

I have spinach and two types of lettuce started.
I'll have to go vertical if I plant all of these!

ITEM:  Seed #181
       True Watercress
       Cress, Watercress
PRICE: $3.49 ........................... qty 1:        $3.49

ITEM:  Seed #356
       Leisure Cilantro-Corriander
       Parsley, Chinese Parsley
PRICE: $3.49 ........................... qty 1:        $3.49

ITEM:  Seed #361
       Arugula
       Arugula
PRICE: $3.49 ........................... qty 1:        $3.49

ITEM:  Seed #372
       Green Boy, Hybrid
       Komatsuna
PRICE: $3.49 ........................... qty 1:        $3.49

ITEM:  Seed #154
       Taichung 11
       Pea
PRICE: $3.49 ........................... qty 1:        $3.49

ITEM:  Seed #444
       Jeok Gat
       Mustard, Baby Leaf Mustard
PRICE: $3.49 ........................... qty 1:        $3.49

------------------------------------------------------------

SUBTOTAL:                   $20.94
SHIPPING:                    $5.35
TOTAL:                      $26.29

More, Bigger, and Better

The pipes are buried to keep it neat

Expansion is already planned for

This is a settling tank.  I have stubbed out for future expansion.

Waiting for the Uniseals and the next Bunk feeder to arrive. 

Cherry Tomatoes in abundance!

Bunk feeders are on the other side of this IBC system.
Can you believe it, there are three IBC tanks here?

I really like these bunk feeders.
I'll be using a hard plastic which will stay afloat by means of sealed PVC pipes for my raft.
It's called the GM Raft!
This will allow even more air to circulate around the roots.
Take a look at this link and the idea from Giorgio

Fry Pen

I don't know if it will work, but I built this today for my fry.

I used a 1-1/2" PVC frame which I filled with sand so that it will sink.  I then used Zip Ties to fasten this plastic fence material to both sides of the frame and filled it with short pieces of pipe.   The fry will now have a place to hide until they are large enough not to be eaten.

Water is flowing in the IBC system / Cycling and Phoshate

Close to completion. The outdoor IBC system is flowing water. Take a look at my settling tank. It's based on a wet dry filter. The cool part is if it gets clogged it will not jam up the system.

I've begun to fill the beds with plants, but have no fish.  I'm cycling the system, but right now I want root growth.  So I embarked on a study of Phosphate.  

Here are two articles I believe are quite good although somewhat over whelming.

• Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium
• Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate and Math

Another Update 2012 April 22

My other fish

System Update

A video update to my ever expanding aquaponic project    [CLICK HERE}

CLICK HERE for a Video Tour

My Fish

This pond was built about 7 years ago. These Koi were only 2"
CLICK HERE for 3 minute Video.

This is my aquaponic fish tank
CLICK HERE for 1 minute Video.

The gangs all here

Today I added the remaining 22 fish into the 800 gallon aquaponic fish tank.  They were very happy to see their old friends and a good time was had by all.

I built a light fixture today with 16 CFL bulbs in a straight line 8 feet long.   It's a lot of light, but I may need two.

Costco has a good price on 23W 1600 lumen CFLs (about $8.00), but there were some rebates that knocked another $2.00 off the price.  So each box of 4 costs $5.99 right now.    I was going to use T5 bulbs, but I saw that, and did the math.
I'm waiting for a response from the manufacture for more information about the light spectrum.  All I have been able to find so far is that they are "Full Spectrum".  I'm hoping this will work for me, if not Costco will take them back.

I'll post a picture of my finished grow lamp after it's painted, and the specs if I hear back from Feit Electric.

Here are the specs on the CFLs that Devin Duhaime is using very successfully.

Philips 41409-4 - 26 Watt - CFL
100 W Equal - 5000K Full Spectrum - 82 CRI - 114 Lumens per Watt - 15 Month Warranty

My Spin Filter

I have to admit this did not work as well as I had hoped.  But I'm sharing my triumphs as well as my failures so that others can also learn from what I'm doing.

It will be interesting to see how well this spin filter works when I add the fish.  While it's not exactly as I had  hoped I believe it will make a significant difference.

UPDATE 12/23/2012
As the fish grew and the demand increased it became apparent that this was only marginally useful as a settling tank.  Maybe a better design would be more effective.

Below are links to two short videos that show the currents and settling of Koi food

Test with floating Koi food

Test with sinking Koi Food

Tour my Aquaponic System

Nearly finished

Please let me give you a tour of my aquaponic grow room.  

It's not quite finished, but I want to show you the progress I've made.    

Click Here for a video tour

Bell Siphon - My Conclusion

UPDATE -After 6 months my bell siphon failed to start siphoning.
Here you will find the best way to break the siphon, but I have abolished any further use of Bell Siphons because they are and always will be prone to failure.  
I am now using

Drip Dry Flood and Drain

But if you insist upon a bell siphon the instructions below are your best bet

 

I have found the answer to the Bell Siphon Blues. I have found a way to make any Bell Siphon absolutely 100% trouble free. Below you can read about my anguish and how I labored to get my Bell Siphon to work. Twice I thought I had it right.  Each time it worked for over a week without flaw, and then quit working.

There is a lack of real engineering available, and even the College of Hawaii failed to provide a mathematical reason for how a Bell Syphon works.   I will not provide the math either, but when you see my solution it will be so obvious that you will not need anything else.

Click here to see my simple solution that will make your bell siphon work EVERYTIME.

First Stand pipe with 1-1/4 extension.
When screwed in it stands 8-7/8" tall including the bulkhead. 

New stand pipe goes directly to 1" from 2". 
The top is slightly smaller as the first standpipe used a coupling.

This is the tail piece without the 1" male adapter as shown below 

Exactly the same as  above except the horizontal section is 1" longer

It's difficult to see in this photo due to camera angles,
but there is 3/4" of air space above the standpipe,
the bulkhead adds about 3/8" to the height of the standpipe .

I don't believe the air space is critical.  I used to have about 4" of air space and it still worked.  I think the important thing about the air space is not to restrict it by too much.

Here are the differences 

The Tailpiece

By shortening the horizontal section of the tailpiece I shaved 1 or 2 seconds off the siphon break.
By lengthening the horizontal section by 1" the siphon will not break.

The Standpipe

With the 1-1/4" section of the standpipe

• Drain Time (Siphon catch to catching air) - 3:52
• Catching air to flow stop     - 0:12
• Flow stop to burp               - 0:17

Without the 1-1/4 section of the standpipe

• Drain Time (Siphon catch to catching air)  - 2:45
• Catching air to flow stop      - 0:17
• Flow stop to burp                 -0:05

My pump is rated at 500 GPH at 1 foot head with a maximum head of 17 feet.
I have a 2-1/2 to 3 foot head.  It varies due to the level of the sump, but the fish tank buffers any difference in flow.

Conclusion 

My preference is the standpipe with the 1-1/4" extension. I ran the tests several times and recorded the events in order to get a verifiable test.  Without a doubt the standpipe with the 1-1/4" extension not only broke siphon faster, but it did it with a more profound and determined manner.

I spent well over 30 hours fine tuning this siphon.  My advice is to find someone who is willing to share their GPH flow and exact siphon design and then follow that.  In the real world your system is going to differ slightly from every other system so even if you try to duplicate another siphon you will probably have to spend time fine tuning it.  Have patience, experiment till you find something that works for you.  Taking a video of the test will prove to be very helpful. 
In my initial testing I used a hose between the sump and the tank.  After hard plumbing the pump into the system my flow rate increased slightly and the siphon no longer broke siphon.  Minute changes can make all the difference. 

Click Here To Watch Test 1
Click Here To Watch Test 2 

I have not tested this, but I believe it best to build your bell siphon so that it can break siphon at a flow rate higher than your system runs at.  If it will break siphon at a high flow rate then it should break at a slower rate too.

Here is a link to Construction of Automatic Bell Siphon from the College of Hawai