There are a lot of things that I learned from this video. I haven't seen anyone growing dragon fruit in aquaponics. that is a first. Also interesting to see how easily he cleaned his mechanical filter using aeration ( I have seen people spraying water on the filter bed to flush smudges down, or doing airlifting to pump out just the water from the bottom-most part). Another thing that he pointed out, air bubbles if allowed to go to the bottom-most layer of the mechanical filter can cause smudge to be pushed up. I have been facing the same problem. I will use a T to prevent that :)
Such an Awesome idea! The fact that he only cleans it out once every 6 months is very appealing! I may have to do some more tinkering to my new system before I put fish in to encompass something like this…
Great video and filtration system. I was a little mystified as to the water flow with just your ( excellent) diagram from your previous post, but all clarified now 👍. The coarse to fine stratification is a stable system and describes a Bouma sequence from stratigraphic geology. Sediments will fine upwards as the energy of the system is reduced. Great setup. People need to be warned about mint. Got some that has almost taken over my dwc trough which was where my strawberries grew in rafts. But since berries tend to rot when soaking in water, I have relocated many along the media bed edge and on the area around the grow bags sitting in the flood trays. Harvesting about 1/2 a kilo of strawberries almost daily 2 out of 3 days with the 3rd day about a good handful and we’re not yet at peak producing season. The mint thought, mint jelly? I’d like to expand with some more wicking beds using IBC’s and maybe add another fish tank for fingerlings. My fish aren’t quite ready for harvest so not rushed with the latter. The fish are hesitant on eating their pellets, waiting instead on fresh bugs. The flies have hatched from my neighbors horse, donkey, and cow fields. By leaving the garage door open, they fly in and gather at one window opposite of the garage door. Harvest off the window screen. But only enough for a snack. Supplement with some meal worms and roly poly pill bugs (Armadillidiidae) from the composting worm bins. Fish love bugs. My system in general is running well, no elevated ammonia or nitrates and the fish seem fine and the greenhouse full of green plants. Almost warm enough to take the tomatoes and peppers outside for the wicking beds but still too cool, night temps running from about 2-5C still. Inside the greenhouse tomatoes and peppers doing good but no ginger yet. Have a good one! Cheers 🍻
My mum used to make mint sauce & jelly. It would be the dressing of choice on a roasted leg of lamb. I was looking into a slater/pill bug farm system a while back. I was told that they taste just like prawns/shrimp so would like to grow enough to find out for myself 🤣 but mainly for fish feed. I think I would rather farm prawns or crayfish to scratch that itch. 😉 I'm hoping to harvest one of the ginger plots later today so I can plant out a load of bok choy. Might make it this weekends video. 🤔 How long until you start to see a rise in night time temps? Cheers Mate & have a top one yourself. 🍻
@@RobsAquaponics There’s only so much leg of lamb one can eat. Great use of mint jelly though. I believe slater/pill bugs are the only land crustaceans. May take quite a few for a good taste. I’ve got a good colony cohabiting with my composting earth worms (red wigglers). Their bins are covered with several layers of flattened carry out food containers. They don’t like to recycle them here because of a thin plastic coating which is all that remains after the worms & slaters are done with it. But I can shake off a good amount of them from one of the layers into the fish tank. Catching one at a time is poor use of time. Looks like it might drop to about 2C tonight, but warming up in the following week just below 10C outside. Inside the greenhouse, it stays above 10 even on the coolest nights. Got tomatoes, peppers, and squash growing inside waiting for warmer nights to be transported outside into a wicking bed. I actually have tomatoes starting up everywhere. Repotted a few with some mint and a few leeks which I plan to take over to a plant swap this weekend. I may also include a few strawberries. I also have epazote growing in too many places. Potting those up too. It’s a Mexican herb used with beans and stews, and allegedly an anti-flatulent. The mint is long and leggy, almost a full meter long. There is a dense root mass so potting it doesn’t work well. I think I will pull out a bunch and have it in a bucket with water and let folks take what they want, wrapped in paper and in plastic bags. Well, I got to go see how many flies have gotten trapped in the window, and play in the greenhouse. Look forward to your harvest video. Cheers 🍻
Love your videos and how informative they are. The illustrations really help explain the designs. Also, really love the filter design for this one. Cheers
@@RobsAquaponics honestly, I forgot all about that..... Will have to come round one day soon and collect it..... It's almost time to start thinking about harvesting this year's crop of gingers and turmeric..... Which is bigger than last year's 😅
Hi Rob. Love the new logo. That was a nice setup and great idea with the exclusion bucket for the mint. I’ve been growing my mint in medium sized planters and keep them in a water retention bucket so that the roots don’t try to escape. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to setup an aquaponics system. I added mosquito fish to my rain barrel but one day I found a tree frog staring back at me asking for more. I’ll have to try a new method.
🤣 Well at least you made a little green friend Karen. Have you seen "Mosquito Dunks" at all? I have a few mates in the US that use them with their open try wicking systems. I think they may be available here in OZ as well. They are made with a BT bacteria that is safe for other animals like the version made for caterpillar control. Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics I’ve heard of them but the reason I bought the fish was to use them to control the mozzies and their poo added to the rain water would be a boost for the plants. I’ve considered using gold fish next time around since they’re bigger than the frogs. We’ll see. Thanks for the advice though. Cheers
another great video rob, great filter, but still not automatic, my 200 upflow cleans out 3 times daily auto sending the waste to the worm farm in future the sand beds but so so so good work
I'm in a wheelchair I'm paralyzed from the chest down what is the best system to use which I have limited mobility My garden is 300 square meters Love your RUclips site gives me great advice Thanks Gordon
Learn about Aquaponics 🐟 🍓🍅 with my "Backyard Aquaponics for Beginners" Guide for only US$19.95. You can see the guide in action on my website, ► www.bitsouttheback.com/aquaponics-guide Or, buy directly here, ► bit.ly/AquaponicsBeginnersGuide Don't forget to click the subscribe button if you enjoyed the video, bit.ly/Subscribe2Rob & share the clip around if you think it may help others too.👍 Cheers all & have a top one. 🐟 🌱🍅 Rob
This seems like a great system, before I try building one I want to know what I'm getting in to. I understand there's a lot of oxygen/biofiltration going on through the filter, but I don't understand why it's ok to have solids accumulating above the sand. I thought that's what lead to anoxic zones and other problems.
I have installed the sand & gravel filter and have noticed in a small (2 in x 2 in) area around the air inlet pipe there is active sand movement. Is this a problem? If so, do you have a suggestion for a fix?
Hi Timothy. I haven't run a sand filter so I'm not 100% sure sorry mate. I would think that if the water coming out is clean that it should be OK. @Terry S Might be able to help you out if this tags him properly.
@@RobsAquaponics it did not tag me 🤣🤣. Moving on to Timothy's question tho, I have it in my filters as well, it's basically just fluidization of the sand, it's nothing to worry about, it doesn't effect the filter in anyway..... All it means is that your water is getting a majority of flow through that particular zone, generally as a path of least resistance. You will find that once the solids start to build up on the surface of the sand, that it won't build up there, until it builds up more elsewhere, then it will cake over, so become like a floating layer about half to an inch above the moving sand.... Again, nothing to be concerned about, it's normal. Hope that helps
@@sandponics nah, it's all good mate, the drain point isn't the issue he's having, his question was regarding the fluidization of the sand as the water is flowing through it. Which nothing can be done about it, it's just the water finding the path of least resistance to get to the top, and having a fair amount of it using the same path creates the sand to fluidize on the surface
The link Terry shared was the "Birdman's Sand & Gravel "How-To" forum post" one, www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?68132-Birdman-s-Sand-Gravel-Filter Cheers mate & sorry for taking so long to respond.
Thanks, this was very informative. I wondered about the max flow rate of the sand/gravel filter. With the 200L home-made solids separator, the flow rate and retention rate are critical for optimal separation. From memory the solids seprator needed to run at less 700L/hr. I found it was not enough to keep the 1000L IBC fish tank clear, I had to build a 2nd filter line. Could the sand/gravel filter handle 1500-2000L/hr flow rate?
Hi Rod, Thanks for that filter. I would definitely build one. I wanted to know what height of gravel and sand that are being used. Also i didn't see any outlet at the bottom of the barrel to remove the waste in the bottom. When cleaning there won't be any waste that remains in the bottom?? Is it possible to use only sand instead of gravel and sand??
Hi Jason. Terry runs through the different layers at 9:34 👍 You need the different layers to get the correct cleaning effect as I understand it. Have a read through this post as it will tell you a lot more than I can, www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?68132-Birdman-s-Sand-Gravel-Filter Hope that helps some mate.
16:24. 😂 A lot different in taste. Interesting how you use builders sand which contains salt. Is that the case there? Here in the U.K. building Sand contains salt I know that you can use play Sand.
I asked at the landscape supplies for coarse river sand, and was told that is paving sand, which is what I've used, doesn't contain salt, but even if it did, generally salt isn't a bad thing, as it's beneficial to the fish. Paving sand here in South East Queensland, contains a small amount of clay to give it it's compacting ability to support pavers, but a few flushes out with the garden hose got rid of that, leaving pure sand 👍
@@captcommando180 I know. I have used salt to medicate Fish also to buff up pH. I was just intrigued by the type of Sand you are using as I have never seen anyone use it, however it makes sense. Thankyou very much Sir. 👍😊❤️
This is really the first season, generally I harvest the heads as they mature, and store for later processing, the plan is, to cut down this year's growth, just like U would mow a lawn, and allow it to regrow next season. Also will be trimming the roots, as they will just sit in the water and rot and add more solids back into the system. Time will determine weather it works or not 😁
So I collected and processed about 700g of pure dried, threshed, hulled grains, I think that's a reasonable sort of harvest from 1 sqm. Like I said I planned to, I topped the plants, and trimmed the root mass off below the pots, and allowed them to regrow and while I haven't yet processed the grains as yet, I believe I am looking at a very similar yield..... Somewhere around 600-700g once hulled. I had 4 plant die for whatever reason, shaded out is my most likely thought as they tended to be the ones in the middle area of the bed. But that's 2 seasons from 1 seed per pot..... Might push my luck and try for a third season ... I did notice, with the plants already established and matured, the grain or seed heads grew and started maturing alot earlier .... So if I plan it right there's no reason why the harvest can't be even bigger
The water is coming straight out of the fish tank in this case Matt. If you wanted you could add a radial flow settler in front then use the sand & gravel as a polisher. The water would still need to come in under some pressure so the radial flow would need to be higher than the S&G filter much the same as Terry has the fish tank well above his. I don't think it's needed for my system but I know there would folks out there that would like to tinker with the concept.
Question. How, when the air is pumped up through the layers, do the layers not 'resettle' naturally? In my mind, the first time it's disturbed, the sand will sink into the gaps of the coarser stones.
That was my first thought when I saw the koi folks using these years back Rick. The up flow of the water from the base helps to keep the different layers separated is my understanding of how it works.
@@RobsAquaponics makes sense in terms of geology of bodies of water: they teach that the size of the particle is directly related to how far it has traveled from its source. So a large rock hasn't traveled far from where it originated but a grain of sand has traveled far. I guess that's why his air pump is so dang powerful for this one job. An interesting experiment would be to layer indiscriminately and let the up flow of water 'organize' the stratas
Hi Rob like your vids l am just stating to set up a system What happens in the case of your fish breading and the tiny fingerlings ending up in the bottom of the sand filter?
I'm not sure you want 30ppm of salt in your system as most plants would be dead. The general rule of thumb is 1ppm or 1kg per 1000L of water. That would be enough to protect the fish from brown blood disease if you have a nitrite spike & to act as a general health tonic for them.
@@RobsAquaponicsactually, I haven't cleaned it out since your last visit..... It seems as though worms have made their way into the filter as I regularly find a few on the surface of the sand in the filter ...... Then alot of the solids just disappear..... Seems they are staying on top of it in the filters....
@@captcommando180 Nice one Terry. How's the system going now, got your spice in & on the grow yet? ED to add, yes I'm slack but slowly catching up on comments.
@@RobsAquaponics lol, yeah fi was slack and did a harvest and replant of the spice rack a few weeks ago myself. Just in time for tye first heat wave we had haha. Just to ADD, for tge record i still havent cleaned out my filters, havent needed to, ive had a sand bed in the system running now for almost 12months as well, and tye clarity of my water has never been cleaner, i dont even have blockages on my 4mm lines anymore like used to happen on a weekly basis
I don't think it's needed with a simple chop and flip, personally I would recommend some sort of solids filtration tho, and Rob has a few probable options on previous vids .... Having said that, there is no reason why these can't be scaled down to say a 20 litre / 5 gallon bucket, for a chop and flip 🤔
I would go with a small canister filter Jim. Similar in that the water comes in at the base & moves through the material which captures the solids. 👍 The clean out is done manually though with a hose in the ones that I've built. ruclips.net/video/HtMZRM3a5Fs/видео.html Hope that helps some.
@@RobsAquaponics Yes it does. I have the filter you showed in 5 gallon bucket with shade cloth. I was more interested in the 6mth checkout, as I'm cleaning this every week.
Hey Mason. I do it the long way round & use Paint.net ( www.getpaint.net/ ) for the images then animate using DaVinci Resolve video editing software I use to produce the videos.
No, IF the filter ever got blocked up so that my flow rate (1500L/hr) can't make it through the filter, which on my calculations would take approximately 18 month to 2 years to achieve, the flow would back up up the breather pipes first, and the main pipe that takes the water through the media to the bottom of the filter, is about 60-70mm lower than the the first 90° bend from the slo, so it will over flow there and not back up in the fish tank. Of course the water would essentially bypass the filter part of the barrel and continue on through the system.....
@@captcommando180 I love your setup Terry and particularly how there are no unnecessarily holes in the barrel. I'm thinking about having a shorter breathing tube so that a worst case scenario is to recycle unfiltered water. My system runs off a koi pond and don't want to lose any fish. How do you prevent the large rocks from falling into the bottom of the barrel?
@@vaazig watch the video mate, there is a mesh screen at the base of the barrel, which holds the rocks above the base of the drum. As for the height of the stand pipe, I have the top of it just below the slo level from the fish tank, but it is within the dimensions of the drum, so that if it ever did block up and over flow, it will overflow straight down into the top of the filter and continue on through the system unfiltered, therefore not losing the water
It looks like his fish tank is quite a bit higher than his filter. What kind of head height is required for this kind of filter? I'm rebuilding and expanding my system right now and I'm seriously considering this instead of a radial flow settler but I think the water level in my fish tank will only be about 30cm higher than the top of my 55 gallon drum filter. Will that give enough pressure to run this sort of filter?
Reading the blog that birdman did on his gravity fed experiment, he found he needed I think it converted to about 50cm of head height, to get about 1000gal/hr through, I just made mine about that high as well since it was a bit of an experiment in itself, turns out to get and maintain a flow rate of about 1500L/h that I was wanting, it really only needs to be about 30-35cm higher than the water level in the filter, depending on what sort of flow rate U want and what capacity of fish you are filtering from, will depend on how long it will be till it backs up. All U really need to do is have the stand/breather pipe a fraction below the slo height in your fish tank, and if it blocks up it will over flow the stand/breather pipe into the top of the filter anyway, so if you set it up right if the filter blocks, U won't lose system water, but it won't be getting filtered eother
@@captcommando180 Awesome thanks for explaining the breather pipe overflow that makes sense. I'm gonna go ahead and give this filter a try on my system. By the way your garden looks amazing!
@@captcommando180 So I built a filter following Rob's drawing of your filter and it's been working great. But I stocked my tank for the first time about a week ago with some tilapia and after a head count today I think about 10 of them have been sucked up into the filter. I'm definitely going to re-build my solids lifting outlet to prevent his but what should I do with the filter? The fish that were sucked up are probably about 1" or 25mm long. I assume those 10 fish are dead should I just let them break down in the filter? Or do you think I just take it apart and get them out?
Hi mate. I just checked the links in the description & they both look to work fine. The guide is an online interactive video guide & not a book. 👍 Cheers.
@@luanduplooy3774 You need to log into the site to get access Luan. Use the email address you used to purchase access. 👍 If you have any issues you can contact the Retrieve help desk (they host the guide) via helpdesk@retrieve.com Let me know how you get on. Cheers mate.
If you skipped the gravel, and then put the sand into your media beds you would have enough spare room for another fish tank or grow bed instead of piles of plastic & pvc
Tôi có một số video trong danh sách phát này có thể hữu ích. ruclips.net/p/PLBcWprMIwYYj8zCdbSzPJOR3HRXpxuBwf Bạn đang muốn làm một cái cho gia đình hay làm hệ thống thương mại (google Translate) I have some videos in this playlist that may help. Are you looking to make one for your family or as a commercial system?
Great video as always, your diagrams are immensely helpful. Side note: y'all had me dying laughing with the "not a mouse turd, just a grain of rice" followed with "similar in size and shape" Nearly cried laughing so thanks for that 👍
There are a lot of things that I learned from this video. I haven't seen anyone growing dragon fruit in aquaponics. that is a first. Also interesting to see how easily he cleaned his mechanical filter using aeration ( I have seen people spraying water on the filter bed to flush smudges down, or doing airlifting to pump out just the water from the bottom-most part). Another thing that he pointed out, air bubbles if allowed to go to the bottom-most layer of the mechanical filter can cause smudge to be pushed up. I have been facing the same problem. I will use a T to prevent that :)
You should check out ruclips.net/user/Hoocho , he's also growing dragonfruit in a modified hydroponic system
Am glad the video & Terry's system have given you some food for thought AP.
Cheers mate.
What I like about this channel is no snake oil like other channels.
Cheers mate. 👍
Thanks for the field trip!
No problem Mr Rob.
BTW, I think your berries look fine. 😉😁🍓🍓
Always enjoy you showing us other systems & what they r growing!
Thanks d. 😁👍
Such an Awesome idea! The fact that he only cleans it out once every 6 months is very appealing! I may have to do some more tinkering to my new system before I put fish in to encompass something like this…
It looks to work well for Terry & have thought about using one myself. Think I might try something else first though.
Cheers mate.
Great video and filtration system. I was a little mystified as to the water flow with just your ( excellent) diagram from your previous post, but all clarified now 👍. The coarse to fine stratification is a stable system and describes a Bouma sequence from stratigraphic geology. Sediments will fine upwards as the energy of the system is reduced. Great setup.
People need to be warned about mint. Got some that has almost taken over my dwc trough which was where my strawberries grew in rafts. But since berries tend to rot when soaking in water, I have relocated many along the media bed edge and on the area around the grow bags sitting in the flood trays. Harvesting about 1/2 a kilo of strawberries almost daily 2 out of 3 days with the 3rd day about a good handful and we’re not yet at peak producing season. The mint thought, mint jelly?
I’d like to expand with some more wicking beds using IBC’s and maybe add another fish tank for fingerlings. My fish aren’t quite ready for harvest so not rushed with the latter.
The fish are hesitant on eating their pellets, waiting instead on fresh bugs. The flies have hatched from my neighbors horse, donkey, and cow fields. By leaving the garage door open, they fly in and gather at one window opposite of the garage door. Harvest off the window screen. But only enough for a snack. Supplement with some meal worms and roly poly pill bugs (Armadillidiidae) from the composting worm bins. Fish love bugs.
My system in general is running well, no elevated ammonia or nitrates and the fish seem fine and the greenhouse full of green plants. Almost warm enough to take the tomatoes and peppers outside for the wicking beds but still too cool, night temps running from about 2-5C still. Inside the greenhouse tomatoes and peppers doing good but no ginger yet.
Have a good one! Cheers 🍻
My mum used to make mint sauce & jelly. It would be the dressing of choice on a roasted leg of lamb.
I was looking into a slater/pill bug farm system a while back. I was told that they taste just like prawns/shrimp so would like to grow enough to find out for myself 🤣 but mainly for fish feed. I think I would rather farm prawns or crayfish to scratch that itch. 😉
I'm hoping to harvest one of the ginger plots later today so I can plant out a load of bok choy. Might make it this weekends video. 🤔
How long until you start to see a rise in night time temps?
Cheers Mate & have a top one yourself. 🍻
@@RobsAquaponics There’s only so much leg of lamb one can eat. Great use of mint jelly though.
I believe slater/pill bugs are the only land crustaceans. May take quite a few for a good taste. I’ve got a good colony cohabiting with my composting earth worms (red wigglers). Their bins are covered with several layers of flattened carry out food containers. They don’t like to recycle them here because of a thin plastic coating which is all that remains after the worms & slaters are done with it. But I can shake off a good amount of them from one of the layers into the fish tank. Catching one at a time is poor use of time.
Looks like it might drop to about 2C tonight, but warming up in the following week just below 10C outside. Inside the greenhouse, it stays above 10 even on the coolest nights. Got tomatoes, peppers, and squash growing inside waiting for warmer nights to be transported outside into a wicking bed. I actually have tomatoes starting up everywhere. Repotted a few with some mint and a few leeks which I plan to take over to a plant swap this weekend. I may also include a few strawberries. I also have epazote growing in too many places. Potting those up too. It’s a Mexican herb used with beans and stews, and allegedly an anti-flatulent.
The mint is long and leggy, almost a full meter long. There is a dense root mass so potting it doesn’t work well. I think I will pull out a bunch and have it in a bucket with water and let folks take what they want, wrapped in paper and in plastic bags.
Well, I got to go see how many flies have gotten trapped in the window, and play in the greenhouse. Look forward to your harvest video.
Cheers 🍻
Love your videos and how informative they are. The illustrations really help explain the designs. Also, really love the filter design for this one. Cheers
Glad you like them 👍
Cheers.
What a nice chap. Well done Terry.
Terry is a top bloke. 👍 I still owe him some black turmeric too...... 🤔
@@RobsAquaponics honestly, I forgot all about that..... Will have to come round one day soon and collect it..... It's almost time to start thinking about harvesting this year's crop of gingers and turmeric..... Which is bigger than last year's 😅
Hi Rob. Love the new logo. That was a nice setup and great idea with the exclusion bucket for the mint. I’ve been growing my mint in medium sized planters and keep them in a water retention bucket so that the roots don’t try to escape. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to setup an aquaponics system. I added mosquito fish to my rain barrel but one day I found a tree frog staring back at me asking for more. I’ll have to try a new method.
🤣 Well at least you made a little green friend Karen. Have you seen "Mosquito Dunks" at all? I have a few mates in the US that use them with their open try wicking systems. I think they may be available here in OZ as well. They are made with a BT bacteria that is safe for other animals like the version made for caterpillar control.
Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics I’ve heard of them but the reason I bought the fish was to use them to control the mozzies and their poo added to the rain water would be a boost for the plants. I’ve considered using gold fish next time around since they’re bigger than the frogs. We’ll see. Thanks for the advice though. Cheers
Just had to move house so starting over, and one of those filters might be the go this time round.. cheers..
Nice one Amph. Hope the move went smoothly mate.
Cheers. 🍻
5:06 yup. Even in my planted aquariums in my home I find holes in my plant's leaves... 🤔 Hmm
another great video rob, great filter, but still not automatic, my 200 upflow cleans out 3 times daily auto sending the waste to the worm farm in future the sand beds but so so so good work
Am looking forward to sussing it out once things get settled Dazza. 👍👍
That was a great video guys! Nice one, cheers 👍🏻
Glad you enjoyed it Craig.👍
Cheers mate.
Thanks so much Rob
Think you should ad this video to the start up video filter works great. RFF worked good but less matenace +
Just added it to the playlist. Many thanks for the suggestion Matthew. 👍👍
I'm in a wheelchair I'm paralyzed from the chest down what is the best system to use which I have limited mobility
My garden is 300 square meters
Love your RUclips site gives me great advice
Thanks Gordon
Great video, love seeing different setups. Keep up the good work. Cheers
Thanks Stephan. 👍
Have a top one.
Rob, quando vc vier ao brasil, passa aqui na minha aquaponia👍👍👍
Obrigado pela oferta Ramone. 😁😁
Awesome video
Cheers Caleb.
Have a top one mate.
Enjoyed this one very good information
Cheers Tim.
Learn about Aquaponics 🐟 🍓🍅 with my "Backyard Aquaponics for Beginners" Guide for only US$19.95.
You can see the guide in action on my website,
► www.bitsouttheback.com/aquaponics-guide
Or, buy directly here,
► bit.ly/AquaponicsBeginnersGuide
Don't forget to click the subscribe button if you enjoyed the video,
bit.ly/Subscribe2Rob
& share the clip around if you think it may help others too.👍
Cheers all & have a top one. 🐟 🌱🍅
Rob
@Tim's and Liam's Fish and Turtles Thanks Tim. 😁
This seems like a great system, before I try building one I want to know what I'm getting in to. I understand there's a lot of oxygen/biofiltration going on through the filter, but I don't understand why it's ok to have solids accumulating above the sand. I thought that's what lead to anoxic zones and other problems.
So cool!
great video Rob
Cheers Jeffery.
Have a top one mate. 👍
Thanks for sharing. 💜💜💜
Hope you enjoyed it Ellen.
Have a top one.
GRATITUDE 💥🐟💥
I have installed the sand & gravel filter and have noticed in a small (2 in x 2 in) area around the air inlet pipe there is active sand movement. Is this a problem? If so, do you have a suggestion for a fix?
Hi Timothy. I haven't run a sand filter so I'm not 100% sure sorry mate. I would think that if the water coming out is clean that it should be OK.
@Terry S Might be able to help you out if this tags him properly.
@@RobsAquaponics it did not tag me 🤣🤣. Moving on to Timothy's question tho, I have it in my filters as well, it's basically just fluidization of the sand, it's nothing to worry about, it doesn't effect the filter in anyway..... All it means is that your water is getting a majority of flow through that particular zone, generally as a path of least resistance. You will find that once the solids start to build up on the surface of the sand, that it won't build up there, until it builds up more elsewhere, then it will cake over, so become like a floating layer about half to an inch above the moving sand.... Again, nothing to be concerned about, it's normal. Hope that helps
@@captcommando180 You could also use an oversized outlet to reduce or dissipate the flow until the layer of detritus develops
@@sandponics nah, it's all good mate, the drain point isn't the issue he's having, his question was regarding the fluidization of the sand as the water is flowing through it. Which nothing can be done about it, it's just the water finding the path of least resistance to get to the top, and having a fair amount of it using the same path creates the sand to fluidize on the surface
@@captcommando180 Thansk Mate.
I need some of that duckweed.
Hi Rob. Another awesome and interesting video. At the 15:38 ish mark you mentioned a link you were going to post. I can't see it
The link Terry shared was the "Birdman's Sand & Gravel "How-To" forum post" one,
www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?68132-Birdman-s-Sand-Gravel-Filter
Cheers mate & sorry for taking so long to respond.
@@RobsAquaponics All good. I have your book. great info. Great videos and information
Thanks, this was very informative. I wondered about the max flow rate of the sand/gravel filter. With the 200L home-made solids separator, the flow rate and retention rate are critical for optimal separation. From memory the solids seprator needed to run at less 700L/hr. I found it was not enough to keep the 1000L IBC fish tank clear, I had to build a 2nd filter line. Could the sand/gravel filter handle 1500-2000L/hr flow rate?
Brilliant
Great and interesting 👍👍👍
Cheers Gafrers 😁👍
Thanks terry to awesome. I almost got turned off aquaponics looking at robbs filter set up, lol no offence robb good job fellas.
🤣 I still like my RFS 😋
Cheers mate.
Hi Rod,
Thanks for that filter.
I would definitely build one.
I wanted to know what height of gravel and sand that are being used.
Also i didn't see any outlet at the bottom of the barrel to remove the waste in the bottom.
When cleaning there won't be any waste that remains in the bottom??
Is it possible to use only sand instead of gravel and sand??
Hi Jason. Terry runs through the different layers at 9:34 👍 You need the different layers to get the correct cleaning effect as I understand it.
Have a read through this post as it will tell you a lot more than I can,
www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?68132-Birdman-s-Sand-Gravel-Filter
Hope that helps some mate.
@@RobsAquaponics Thanks a lot Rob
Nice setup.
Terry has dione a great job. 👍
16:24. 😂 A lot different in taste.
Interesting how you use builders sand which contains salt. Is that the case there? Here in the U.K. building Sand contains salt
I know that you can use play Sand.
I asked at the landscape supplies for coarse river sand, and was told that is paving sand, which is what I've used, doesn't contain salt, but even if it did, generally salt isn't a bad thing, as it's beneficial to the fish. Paving sand here in South East Queensland, contains a small amount of clay to give it it's compacting ability to support pavers, but a few flushes out with the garden hose got rid of that, leaving pure sand 👍
@@captcommando180 I know. I have used salt to medicate Fish also to buff up pH.
I was just intrigued by the type of Sand you are using as I have never seen anyone use it, however it makes sense. Thankyou very much Sir. 👍😊❤️
About the black rice, does he harvest on demand or he harvests whole and starts with new seed every season cycle,
This is really the first season, generally I harvest the heads as they mature, and store for later processing, the plan is, to cut down this year's growth, just like U would mow a lawn, and allow it to regrow next season. Also will be trimming the roots, as they will just sit in the water and rot and add more solids back into the system. Time will determine weather it works or not 😁
So I collected and processed about 700g of pure dried, threshed, hulled grains, I think that's a reasonable sort of harvest from 1 sqm. Like I said I planned to, I topped the plants, and trimmed the root mass off below the pots, and allowed them to regrow and while I haven't yet processed the grains as yet, I believe I am looking at a very similar yield..... Somewhere around 600-700g once hulled. I had 4 plant die for whatever reason, shaded out is my most likely thought as they tended to be the ones in the middle area of the bed. But that's 2 seasons from 1 seed per pot..... Might push my luck and try for a third season ... I did notice, with the plants already established and matured, the grain or seed heads grew and started maturing alot earlier .... So if I plan it right there's no reason why the harvest can't be even bigger
Very interesting 🤔
Thanks Jennifer.
Hope all's well with you.
Great stuff!
Cheers Matty. 😁👍
You need to start taking showers before leaving the house Mr. Rob! Poor fella Terry needs to clean his water when you come for a visit!
🤣 I really should stop bathing in peoples systems.
Hope I can build a system soon. What do you use for water storage
Hey Rob thanks for the video. Is the sand / gravel filter run with a radial flow filter or just on its own?
The water is coming straight out of the fish tank in this case Matt. If you wanted you could add a radial flow settler in front then use the sand & gravel as a polisher. The water would still need to come in under some pressure so the radial flow would need to be higher than the S&G filter much the same as Terry has the fish tank well above his. I don't think it's needed for my system but I know there would folks out there that would like to tinker with the concept.
Question.
How, when the air is pumped up through the layers, do the layers not 'resettle' naturally?
In my mind, the first time it's disturbed, the sand will sink into the gaps of the coarser stones.
That was my first thought when I saw the koi folks using these years back Rick. The up flow of the water from the base helps to keep the different layers separated is my understanding of how it works.
@@RobsAquaponics makes sense in terms of geology of bodies of water: they teach that the size of the particle is directly related to how far it has traveled from its source. So a large rock hasn't traveled far from where it originated but a grain of sand has traveled far.
I guess that's why his air pump is so dang powerful for this one job.
An interesting experiment would be to layer indiscriminately and let the up flow of water 'organize' the stratas
Hi Rob like your vids l am just stating to set up a system
What happens in the case of your fish breading and the tiny fingerlings ending up in the bottom of the sand filter?
I'd say they would add extra ammonia to the system as they break down as I don't think they would survive down there for too long. 😥
The salinity im confused bro my tank id 800L and how much salinity for my aquaponics system pls reply brother get to 30?
And do i need to change water at my aquaponics after adding the salt pls reply brother thanks.
I'm not sure you want 30ppm of salt in your system as most plants would be dead.
The general rule of thumb is 1ppm or 1kg per 1000L of water. That would be enough to protect the fish from brown blood disease if you have a nitrite spike & to act as a general health tonic for them.
Hi Guys
is there any reason Terry doesn't have the mineralisation tank isn't next to the filter? it'd save the extra pump?
He only cleans it twice a year so isn't really an issue.
@@RobsAquaponics ah ok. Thanks
@@RobsAquaponicsactually, I haven't cleaned it out since your last visit..... It seems as though worms have made their way into the filter as I regularly find a few on the surface of the sand in the filter ...... Then alot of the solids just disappear..... Seems they are staying on top of it in the filters....
@@captcommando180 Nice one Terry. How's the system going now, got your spice in & on the grow yet?
ED to add, yes I'm slack but slowly catching up on comments.
@@RobsAquaponics lol, yeah fi was slack and did a harvest and replant of the spice rack a few weeks ago myself. Just in time for tye first heat wave we had haha.
Just to ADD, for tge record i still havent cleaned out my filters, havent needed to, ive had a sand bed in the system running now for almost 12months as well, and tye clarity of my water has never been cleaner, i dont even have blockages on my 4mm lines anymore like used to happen on a weekly basis
Would I need this if I have a simple IBC chop and flip?
I don't think it's needed with a simple chop and flip, personally I would recommend some sort of solids filtration tho, and Rob has a few probable options on previous vids .... Having said that, there is no reason why these can't be scaled down to say a 20 litre / 5 gallon bucket, for a chop and flip 🤔
I would go with a small canister filter Jim. Similar in that the water comes in at the base & moves through the material which captures the solids. 👍
The clean out is done manually though with a hose in the ones that I've built.
ruclips.net/video/HtMZRM3a5Fs/видео.html
Hope that helps some.
@@RobsAquaponics Yes it does. I have the filter you showed in 5 gallon bucket with shade cloth. I was more interested in the 6mth checkout, as I'm cleaning this every week.
Great video!! What software are you using to make the diagrams? Always appreciate the illustrations you take the time to make. Well done mate!
Hey Mason. I do it the long way round & use Paint.net ( www.getpaint.net/ ) for the images then animate using DaVinci Resolve video editing software I use to produce the videos.
if the sand filter ever blocked you would be in trouble back filling the tank its gravity feeding from ?
No, IF the filter ever got blocked up so that my flow rate (1500L/hr) can't make it through the filter, which on my calculations would take approximately 18 month to 2 years to achieve, the flow would back up up the breather pipes first, and the main pipe that takes the water through the media to the bottom of the filter, is about 60-70mm lower than the the first 90° bend from the slo, so it will over flow there and not back up in the fish tank. Of course the water would essentially bypass the filter part of the barrel and continue on through the system.....
Thanks for that Terry. 👍👍
@@captcommando180 I love your setup Terry and particularly how there are no unnecessarily holes in the barrel.
I'm thinking about having a shorter breathing tube so that a worst case scenario is to recycle unfiltered water. My system runs off a koi pond and don't want to lose any fish.
How do you prevent the large rocks from falling into the bottom of the barrel?
@@vaazig watch the video mate, there is a mesh screen at the base of the barrel, which holds the rocks above the base of the drum.
As for the height of the stand pipe, I have the top of it just below the slo level from the fish tank, but it is within the dimensions of the drum, so that if it ever did block up and over flow, it will overflow straight down into the top of the filter and continue on through the system unfiltered, therefore not losing the water
I'm confused at how the layers don't mix, can anyone explain this?
This forum post may help some mate.
www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?68132-Birdman-s-Sand-Gravel-Filter
Sorry for taking so long to reply too.
It looks like his fish tank is quite a bit higher than his filter. What kind of head height is required for this kind of filter? I'm rebuilding and expanding my system right now and I'm seriously considering this instead of a radial flow settler but I think the water level in my fish tank will only be about 30cm higher than the top of my 55 gallon drum filter. Will that give enough pressure to run this sort of filter?
Reading the blog that birdman did on his gravity fed experiment, he found he needed I think it converted to about 50cm of head height, to get about 1000gal/hr through, I just made mine about that high as well since it was a bit of an experiment in itself, turns out to get and maintain a flow rate of about 1500L/h that I was wanting, it really only needs to be about 30-35cm higher than the water level in the filter, depending on what sort of flow rate U want and what capacity of fish you are filtering from, will depend on how long it will be till it backs up. All U really need to do is have the stand/breather pipe a fraction below the slo height in your fish tank, and if it blocks up it will over flow the stand/breather pipe into the top of the filter anyway, so if you set it up right if the filter blocks, U won't lose system water, but it won't be getting filtered eother
@@captcommando180 Awesome thanks for explaining the breather pipe overflow that makes sense. I'm gonna go ahead and give this filter a try on my system. By the way your garden looks amazing!
@@captcommando180 So I built a filter following Rob's drawing of your filter and it's been working great. But I stocked my tank for the first time about a week ago with some tilapia and after a head count today I think about 10 of them have been sucked up into the filter. I'm definitely going to re-build my solids lifting outlet to prevent his but what should I do with the filter? The fish that were sucked up are probably about 1" or 25mm long. I assume those 10 fish are dead should I just let them break down in the filter? Or do you think I just take it apart and get them out?
I ended up tearing the filter apart and getting the fish out. They were all alive!
the link to buy the guide book seems to not work for me
Hi mate. I just checked the links in the description & they both look to work fine.
The guide is an online interactive video guide & not a book. 👍
Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponicsill check it again. Thanks for the awesome videos. I'm looking forward to building my own system
@@RobsAquaponics paid via pay pal have not received the guide
@@luanduplooy3774 You need to log into the site to get access Luan. Use the email address you used to purchase access. 👍
If you have any issues you can contact the Retrieve help desk (they host the guide) via helpdesk@retrieve.com
Let me know how you get on. Cheers mate.
@@luanduplooy3774 How did you get on mate?
Hello, i wanted to know if anyone has had experience with covering rice with bug nets to avoid using chemical spray.?
How much rice did he harvest from that plot please?
I'm not sure sorry Terry.
All said and done I collected about 700g of pure rice grains..... That's dried, threshed and hulled, ready for cooking and eating.
If you skipped the gravel, and then put the sand into your media beds you would have enough spare room for another fish tank or grow bed instead of piles of plastic & pvc
🌷🌷🌷
🌺🌺🌺😁
from 3am to 5am is when you pollinate the dragon fruits
👍 My dad used to get up around 4 to do his as well.
I typically get home from work around 11pm, and am still awake till about 2am..... So I just did it when I got home....
Bạn có thể giúp tôi bản vẽ mô hình aquaponics được không
Tôi có một số video trong danh sách phát này có thể hữu ích.
ruclips.net/p/PLBcWprMIwYYj8zCdbSzPJOR3HRXpxuBwf
Bạn đang muốn làm một cái cho gia đình hay làm hệ thống thương mại
(google Translate)
I have some videos in this playlist that may help.
Are you looking to make one for your family or as a commercial system?
Like.
✌
You woefully underestimate my ability to gorge on strawberries.
🤣🤣🤣
Fair enough HFI.
Cheers & happy munching. 🍓🍓
Great video as always, your diagrams are immensely helpful.
Side note: y'all had me dying laughing with the "not a mouse turd, just a grain of rice" followed with "similar in size and shape"
Nearly cried laughing so thanks for that 👍
🤣 Glad you enjoyed it Alex.
Cheers mate & happy growing. 🌱🌱
Do you have to be a hairy monster to do Aquaponics?🤣
Monster??? 😓
🤣 I believe it helps some. 😁
@@RobsAquaponics most definitely. My avatar is very out of date... 🧔
@@vaazig 🤣🤣