Home Kit Revisited

My revised Home Kit - should be ready by this weekend... :)



Earlier Kit below.



New Set : Here

Affnan's Siphon - How It's Made

A short video on how I assemble my 25mm Siphon for the new set that I am making.



Earlier Classic

New Rack is here !!!

Finally is here, ready and delivered these two new rack for my setup.



I will start to make the new set this week end, and probably a demo video earlier. Since I'm going to make it from scratch might as well do a full video to help out others that may want to do the same.



I intend to make this kit available to those that want to start out Aquaponics but don't have the time to do it. But first it needs to be tested fully.


What you get are listed below :

1. One Pump for single Growbed with water feed pipings.
2. One 100 Gal Fish tank
3. One 30 Gal Growbed
4. One Aeration Pump + Hoses and Air Stones.
5. One Growbed Rack
6. One Siphon Set

Gravel , Pebbles, Growth Media and all electrical wiring not included.

Rack is ready

yahooo... finally got a call from my friend the metal work guy...

The rack is finally ready..... yeaaaaaa... I can start making my new set this weekend... 

Siphon Re Test for new set

Re test my siphon with various water inflow. So far this 25mm Siphon will work with inflow at about 400 ~ 1500 lt/hr, but as mention its best to use somewhere halfway to ensure long time in between maintenance.

Ball Assisted Loop Siphon

Yesterday I had a very bad dream, once awake I had this idea flash in my head. So immediately put to paper as a sketch of this "Ping Pong Ball - Assisted Loop Siphon" 

What flash through was this loop siphon, with a ping pong ball on a stand pipe to aids in cutting off the outflow, as sketch below. Please do let me know if anyone has done this before (with proof of course) for me to give credit. But so far I had search and it return nothing.

A better diagram below on how the siphon is to be constructed. Slight changes needed once build since this sketches and diagram is just the theoretical part.
I did build this siphon and experimented with it earlier today and the video as below. Its still in its infancy with me, I hope to fine tune it so that it will work.

One problem I found is the ball is too light, I may need to look for a heavier ball but still float. Outlet seating for ball too may need some adjustment to make it flat and probably cupping the ball.

A recess below the growbed to accommodate ball is also one possibility to make it work better.


This could be a blunder  .. :(


Spammers Please Stop.

Dear Reader

I had enable comment moderation on this blog due to reason below.

Lately this blog been getting this kind of comment posting from various (suspected same) people with this sentence and redirect to an aquaponics site that selling things.


This must be a robot or something all 22 comments are from this single person today after I enable comments moderation.



Please do stop this, you are wasting valuable time that prevent me from replying to genuine query or comments.

Update :

I had enable moderation to this blog, since the spam still happening and I will recieve email notification of any new comment. So I will not missed any - that a good thing.

Affnan Aquaponics

An Installation in Subang Jaya

Just finished install siphon and water feed to a set up in Subang Jaya, not far from my place. It uses a fish tank of about 120 gallon capacity and two growbed that I normally use at 30 gallon each.


Water uses a single 3000 lt/hr (790 gal/hr) split with a Tee feeding two growbed. At this rate its sufficient for two growbed without the need to add additional hardware like the ball valve to restrict flow or adjust.


Everything has been prefab when I arrived, I just need to do the siphon and water inlet. Siphon installed is my standard 25mm standpipe with 50/25 reducer at a basic height of 7 inches without any extender fitted. Siphon shown above are the actual installation that can accommodate up to 12 inches growbed.


That the water inlet to one of the growbed, its a lot and initially I'm worried that the siphon might not cut off. At first run its cut off without any hick up and I stayed to monitor for about 1 hour, no problem with the cutting off.


Since the growbed is not exactly on top of fish tank, we had to use 2 feet of horizontal outlet to get it into the tank. I need to advise them to provide some support for these.


Outlet pipes, tailored to installation. That's about 8 inches vertical before a 2 feet horizontal with an optional 6 inch final downward spout. Not that its needed this downward spout but it does make the water splash less.


The fish tank about 120 US gallon, this is fiberglass its more durable than plastic and harder too perfect for this kind of installation. The rack is not metal but made from Cengal, a very hard wood. Should be able to support all the growbed weight.

What's left now are the growbed media, I recomend normal pebbles not to big or too small as long as it could give proper aeration and biofilteration.

PH value should be check after 1 week of full running and initial 2 weeks the pump is recommended 24/7 then its best to do 12/7 during daylight. I normally add starter fish 3 days after adding growbed media, and slowly add more over one month period.

Any fish can be use as starter, those cheap bait fish will do for a start.

Well lets see how the progress is after 1 month, as they say in Aquaponics the initial 2 months is the most difficult.

To get some seeds I recommend : Here

Aquaponics Rack

Catch hold of my friend the iron work guy that suppose to make my new Aquaponics rack. He's been busy with other work and all his men occupied on another project.
Just a simple rack, he did promise me that he will get it done next week. I can't wait to start, so much to do and many people are waiting to view my set and hopefully can start their own.

Without a set for myself it would be difficult to convince others and I am also thinking of making this home kit set for sale.

Thinking of making this for sale

Its not a new thing that I'm thinking of making my original home made siphon available to order. I did send 2 set to a person in Australia and another 2 to Abu Dhabi.

The thing with sending this siphon abroad is the postage and packing makes it expensive and uneconomical to purchase.
This siphon with its standard double elbow will be going for USD 25.00 each excluding postage, the postage worldwide and packing I need to check, it was expensive before.
High water outlet is extra since not everyone will need this and only on rare occasion it will be needed. The High water outlet would be extra USD 5.00 each to cover parts and man hour for making one.
Top part of siphon roughly 13 inches accommodating 12 inches growbed and the outlet is 18" in length average.
Just thinking about it, any input appreciated.

Siphon Overhaul

Original Home Kit that I made few years back was send to a relative house a short distance from where I stayed and it has been running all this while without any maintenance. So must be close to a year already running on its own.



Its in very bad shape however still able to produce those simple vegetable yam and Tilapia. Pump not in a good working order, aeration pump leak and since water inlet inconsistent siphon operation is at its maximum disruption.



Its shows how hardy these system is even without much care its still going on and on. This set is the first home kit that I made. Its big compared to my current design that I posted few pages back. 



Proven, those Tilapia was breed in house and now they had grown. I am sure those smaller Tilapia are from this set itself. Since a few had been harvested for consumption. 

Those that are curious, these Tilapia do not has that unpleasant smell from being breed in such a small space and the water too do not smell. We rely purely on rain water to replenish.



Siphon in a bad state too,  strainer has been dislodge from growbed that silastic glue don't seems to hold. It may be due to movement made by the current taker and roots invading the enclosed area.



Stand pipe remove and will be reuse, no problem just dirty that's all.



All parts of siphon removed to redo, I inspected all parts nothing damaged. After some cleaning its all set to be reinstalled.



Strainer, bell and down spout above and pump below. This pump need to be replace, or at the minimum the impeller change since its spindle already worn to critical level making pump starting difficult.




This time I use hot glue to hold strainer to growbed, they are much stronger. You can forget those silastics, just use that hot glue gun with its glue stick. They are much cheaper for me in the long run and harden in a short time.



Original bell installed, this siphon was made for 8 inches growbed, but should be able to do 12 inched.



It is shorter that all my current siphon which made for 12 inched growbed. It works so why bother to change.



Siphon completed all needed are those pebbles and at more water to the Tilapia tank.

Guppy Tank

After ordered my Aquaponics racks next is the fish tank, so proceed in aquiring a Guppy tank. This tank is the one I normally use for the home kit with size around 52 x 34 x 18 as measured from the top rim, actual spec is 51 x 30 x 18 or the 4 ft Plastic Guppy Tank.

This tank is 100 US Gallon, the minimum size I would recommend to start and this size will yield large enough Tilapia for consumption.



Its quite large to be transport in the trunk of my larger car, but thank got for my tiny Suzuki Swift, I am able to fit this large piece without problem.



Next is to wait for those rack done. I will check out lava rock for this project or some other media. Home kit is for small setup and slight increase in its cost to make due to other media use should not be a problem.

BTW These Guppy PVC tank should be available in USA at :


United States (USA) Office:
North American Sales,
108, Biscayne Way,
Folsom CA 95630.
Tel:916-337-5618

E-mail: ussales@guppyplastic.com.my




Hoping to get this set done in next two week or so, its all depends on how soon the rack can be fabricated.

New Aquaponics Rack

Making new rack for my setup, this rack will hold one  35 x 22 x 12 Growbed. I will need two to cater for my new setup which will have a 52 x 35 x 18 fish tank.



I will need two rack to make in economical, since the electricity usage is same if its one or two. A multiple of two growbed is the best option.


I need to get this rack done and then I'm set to start over... :)

Low cost home made rack : Here