Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've been playing with Sketchup so hopefully I can download a picture of what I have planned. It will be interesting to see what kind of feed back I get once all of you see it.

Anyway- basic setup located on a 2 acre property, mostly rocky, hilly terrain, heavy clay soil-

Fish tanks- 6- 8' diameter fish tanks (roughly 550 gal. ea. or 3,300 gal. total) with self cleaning central stand pipe inside tank and external stand pipe drain, tanks can only drain down to height of external stand pipe- CIFTPIS design but with one pump only.
All fish tanks are linked with an incoming header pipe so all tanks fill exactly the same, unless turned off. All fish tanks are linked with a horizontal drain pipe. This leads to header pipe for grow beds.

Plant beds- 4x8 lined growbeds- all growbeds linked to drain pipe which becomes header pipe for 2- 44' x 16' DWC ponds (7000 gal. ea. 14,000 gal. total). Water will enter ponds at back of pond and at sides for aeration of whole pond. All ponds will fill exactly the same at all locations.

Sump- Water than goes to 250 gal. IBC sump but bottom of IBC will be slightly lower than ponds so in reality, all ponds are also part of sump (IBC is taller than finished ponds). IBC is only a place for the sump pump(s), water fill and to add chemicals if needed, without distrupting the fish or plant production. Water is then pumped back to fish tanks. The timer on the sump pump regulates the water flow for the entire system.

Total water in system- roughly 17.550 gallons. I'm on city water but it's a flat monthly rate. The water is deep well, naturally alkaline, around 7.5 pH and no cholrine is added. I'll retest before my system is operational so I have a baseline. Because it is city water, it's also tested yearly and must meet drinking water quality standards, so I know what's in it all the time.

I have the tanks and 2 IBC's- one is sump and one is for a fish transport/ quarantine tank. I''ll be starting this sytem with catfish and I found a local source for $2 per pound. I still need the growbeds and to build the ponds though but I'll be working on it soon. I still need to do some grading as there are three levels-the fish tanks will be on the top level and the ponds on the lowest level.

Wow! That's quite a system for a 1st prototype!

Ok, guys- I need help, I can't get the $%*%$# sketch up to post.

have you saved it as a jpg? how big is the attachment?

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Ok, how do I change an .skp to a .jpg? The file is 173 kb.

sorry, just had to look it up

In File, got to Export, 2D graphic, and save as a jpg.

I think the size is okay

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Thanks, Jaymie. It works! Please note- not to scale.

WOW,

Where are you located by the way, your profile doesn't say.

If you still have grading to do, perhaps you will be able to get away with earthwork lined growbeds? That is of course if your ground temp would be appropriate to your desired fish.

Wow again!!!!!!

You just posted the picture.

Need more grow beds I think.

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Aquaponic Lynx
Main System
300 gallon System
Tower System
PeePonics

I have 7,808 sq. feet of growing space!!!! No, I'll probably add more GB or ponds if needed, once it's fully stocked but I'm thinking that to start, I'll probably have to suppliment the plants and bacteria with ammonia. This is my play around prototype.
And if you think this is big, I've already designed my 2nd prototype and in negotiations with the city to get their 1 million gallon stainless steel 30' diameter water tower, that just happens to be located just above me. I'll let you know on that one. The city is suppose to decide on demolition at the end of this month and I've already entered my name.
Funny that you should mention earthern GB. I was thinking of something even more radical- making my own clay bricks since I have to move the clay dirt anyway. I don't know if I'll get that ambitious but I've already looked it up and it seems fairly simple- mix with sand and water; set in mold for a couple of days, remove mold, set bricks on edge to finish drying. The sand mixture is the hardest part to calculate as the bricks break if the mix is wrong.
By the way, I'm in Central California- diary cow heaven and No. 1 or 2 Agricultural county, not only in the state, but the whole U.S. Fresno county constantly competes with us for first place- sometimes they win.

Wow.

I can't wait to see the flourishing plants.

Looks great Angie, keep us posted. How about a photograph of the terrain? I love slopes and rocks and clay. Remember, gravity is our friend.

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Synaptoman
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When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
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Oh sorry, one more thing. Will you be using any of these accomplished cows to keep your "diary" of events as they unfold?

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Synaptoman
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When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
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hey Angie,

looks terrific.

looking forward to seeing your vision reach fruition.

good luck to you.

welcome to the forum btw.

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one man's waste is another man's treasure.

Ha, Ha, Ha, Synaptoman. And Bio-Farmer, I have been here so long, I already feel like part of the family but thanks for the welcome.

Pictures, pictures.... let me see if I can download a few.

sinkYou can see where the Yucca plants have been demolished- there's still a few pieces on the ground. The wood posts are for a wood fence to keep Northern winds off as I also hope to have a greenhouse covering by winter but I need to talk to the city first about if I need a permit to build it. There are two piles that still have to be moved- one is top soil and the other is road base for our driveway. The giant bushes might also have to go. There's also a tree that will stay for the time being. The fish tanks go on the other side of the tree. I also won't have to grade by hand anymore- a friend of ours is bringing his tractor to grade for me and he is also giving me a refrigeration unit so I can build my cold storage room!!! I tried to locate a source of anhydrous ammonia (NH3) to jump start my system but it is a restricted chemical so I have to get a permit from the ag commission. The permit is free but I may have to take a hazmat test- nothing is simple in California. I looked at store bought ammonia but they all contain surfactants which can cause problems with fish and it not something that I want either.

More pics.