Three Barrel CRAFTS Aquaponics Set

These barrel is cheap and we could make do without any metal frame to hold the growbed. So I got myself another three barrel to make the CRAFTS set for smaller fish.
Growbeds made from 90 cm tub, a size smaller than I normally use and at much cheaper price by almost 1/2. But it is thinner and looks less robust. Water pump is at 2000 Liter/hr all I need is about 1500 Liter/hour but it is not available at the place.
As usual for this set, I need to remove the top cover and make it into an open barrel. It an easy task making use of a jigsaw.
Making holes and access for overflow and pump access.
Those access hole I just cut a half moon to ensure I got maximum water from these barrel to use. The overflow from Return Tank into Feeder Tank is using 32 mm pvc piping and fittings.
A single 15 mm PVC pipe and fitting uses as the Feeder Tank overflow since this set is in the open, rain will fill her up to overflow.
All set, and initially I thinking of making it this way with three growbed on top of the barrels. But decide to use only 2 growbed to make it less clustered.
Support beam 1x2 wood, since these will be underneath the growbed it will be protected from rain and shine. Hope it will last longer without any weather proof.
20 mm StrainerBell made for 10 inches growbed, water level will be at 8 inches adjusted using the extender tube. Residual water level is at 1" for this StrainerBell Siphon.
Water inlet is a simple "T" this works well and very easy to maintain the pump. I made a saddle valve on the up tube since the pump is more that it is needed for this two growbed.
Completed set, and letting it cycle for few days before I introduce fish and simple "buffer" plants. Those LECA is from a growbed at the back which been running for about a year. So it will make this CRAFTS set cycle faster.
The 32mm PVC over flow from the Return Tank, murky water due to seasoned LECA.
20 mm StrainerBell Siphon in operation, may need to be tweak to ensure trouble free operation. But so far never missed a beat.

That's it, I will let the set cycle and this unit is for smaller fish to grow before I could mix them with the larger fishes.

Thrown Away Gem

Lemon skin has a lot of benefit if taken raw as it is. Personally tested, it can help reduce blood glucose level to normal if you are experiencing slightly high BG level.
I highly recommend that you try and verified whether I am correct or otherwise.

Take a lemon cut in half, squeeze all the juice out. Cut the skin and pulp (half will do) into small manageable bite size. Take it with your meal, check BG after 2 hours.

Compare with previous readings, let me know if its work for you.

Barrel CRAFTS set

Thinking of getting more drum to make this three barrel setup. It doesn't take much space since each barrel is about 23 inches across. This below is the one I made earlier for testing.
What I have in mind is like the diagram below. Using my 20 mm StrainerBell Siphon, water pump rating should be very low.
Looks like this weekends I will be busy with this project.

Full Barrel Set - Same Barrel But Twice The Fun

This Full Barrel Set is a combination of 50 gallon drum and a rectangular plastic growbed. I decided to do it this way due to I have one surplus growbed which is not used and why waste if it can be made into something. The growbed that I use below is not the normal size that I usually use, this is smaller tub.
This growbed was use before with a 25 mm siphon, so the hole is bigger than required for the 20 mm StrainerBell siphon. I end up has to hot glue the strainer guard to the growbed to ensure no leak.
Top part of the barrel were cut making an open container, initially I wanted to cut access holes just like in my Single Barrel Set but decide not to just yet. The gap left by the growbed is wide enough for access and this way I could have more water in the barrel.
Made an over flow to ensure water level not too high since I will put this set in the open where it is expose to the elements. This overflow can function as a loop siphon drain, all needed to be done is to capped the standpipe to make it airtight.
StrainerBell Siphon in place and weight down the growbed with few bricks. The water inlet is a 15 mm PVC fittings using a 1000 Liter/hour pump@ 14 watt (264 US Gal/hr)
Completed set, with water inlet on left and 20 mm StrainerBell Siphon in the middle. Media height is approximately 8 inches with 7 inch standpipe. Planting "Buffer" plants just letting it grow and do the initial cycling.
Putting in the fish quite early and letting system cycle. Will add more fish later.
That's the finish product, good amount of water for such a small footprint. Getting 2 more barrel and tie them together making a CRAFT set from these barrel.

Siphon Q & A 01/2014

First attempt at answering query via video so that it can be useful to more people rather that to only one individual that is having the problem.

 Covering the following topic :

  • Premature Siphon Cut-Off.
  • Failure to Cut-Off.
  • Reducer location - Higher or Lower on the stand pipe.
  • Reducer Size.

Thanks for watching.

Aquaponics On Radio Television Malaysia Agrotek

This is an improve version of same video posted last year, RTM late in giving me the actual copy so I am posting this to update.



Credit goes to www.rtm.gov.my for this video.

Thanks for watching.

Single Barrel Aquaponics Set - Revisited

Making this small set again, using one 50 gallon drum and this time I am using my 20 mm  #StrainerBell siphon.
Top portion of barrel cut for making the growbed, approximately 9 inches from the ream.
Holes made for water inlet and siphon, I use hole saw for these holes.
Lower half of barrel I made access holes 4 off all around using party plates as template to get a nice rounded holes.
Siphon mounted to growbed with water inlet installed.
The growbed is secured to the lower barrel using cable tie making an easy change or clean if needed. I wet run this set for few days, and probably adding fish later today once the water has been cycled few times.
Siphon outlet and pump below, no aeration required since I run this set 24/7 and I don't make the leak hole for this size siphon.
Siphon in operation above with 1000 Liter/hour pump. This siphon able to operate with inflow range from 500 ~ 1000 Liter/hour making it very easy to take care off.
The bigger pump above at 1000 Liter/hr (264 gal/hr)@ 14 watt were use for this set, the pump on right is 500 Liter/hr (132 gal/hr) @ 7 watt can also be use but it will be at the extreme lower margin of my 20 mm StrainerBell siphon operating limit.

Video of the set below.



Planting Ornamental plants in this Single Barrel set.



Ornamental Aquaponics Set - The Video Presentation

It been sometime that I wanted to make this video, finally I manage to do it. This Ornamental set has been running for a few months and I recently replaced its siphon with the newer type.

Thanks for watching.

How to make the siphon : Here