Aquaponics System Design - Selecting Grow Beds

[@8BitMinotaur]

I was thinking about an external bell siphon as well! I figured that I was pondering off course. Great video!

[@SSLFamilyDad]

The bell siphon and rock guard around it takes up quite a bit of room in the grow bed so using an external siphon would be awesome. It does require a little additional engineering but it would be worth it if it works as well. Thanks for following along!

[@HydroswiftRob]

I cut mine along the line. 1. The bungs were two different threads on my barrels, and I didn't want to mess with finding two different male connectors. 2. I like the fact that there are no seams when I cut them this way. The gravel weighs a lot and I didn't want to chance a welded seam cracking over time and leaking.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Yeah, that is a good point actually. The seam would be probably the weakest part of the barrel. Thanks for watching!

[@sootedninjas]

external bell siphon is very interesting idea ;)

[@ronyerke9250]

I've heard from other videos, that the white barrels and IBCs aren't UV stabilized, so their outdoor usefulness spans less time than the other color barrels. IDK if that's true though.

[@TheShow2015]

Nice video bro

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Thanks!

[@nps6014]

Plastics are not food safe unless they are NSF rated. Many plastics you listed as food grade commonly have antifungal coatings or other things that can make them unsafe to use. I personally go to restaurant wholesaler websites and order NSF rated plastics bins and barrels. In addition, PVC can be rated food grade only if it has a protective coating applied. Anywhere that coating is broken will begin to leech chemicals.

[@hendryhouse]

Hi Family Dad, Love your Vids. Just one question before I build my system, did you have to think about capacity of your sump if all 4 grow beds happen to empty at exactly the same time by chance? because each bed holds approx. 27 gallons, total 108 gallons, so when the level became the same as the sump, wouldn't it overflow??

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Great question. Actually since the grow media takes up most of the space in the grow beds there is not that much water. However, if all grow beds empty at the same time the level gets right to the top of my drain pipes and does splash over a bit. In my tips and tricks video I mentioned that I would have laid the sump tank down horizontally. This would allow the grow beds to be lower and the sump to hold more water below the level of the drain pipes. hope that makes sense! Let me know if you have any other questions!

[@joosleroux8993]

Hi. I was wondering would it be possible to have a system with multiple growbeds and a single siphon. I have a small pump and 4 growbeds. Btw love you vids

[@SSLFamilyDad]

joos Le Roux You could use a single siphon for sure but I am not sure if it would be harder to adjust or not. Would be a great idea though.

[@andrewhooghkirk4180]

Do you think I would have an issue with barrels that have once had car wash detergent? Around my area there are no bottling companies that still bottle. The closest I can find that have had food product inside are about 5 hours away.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

I personally would not be apposed to that but many people will say differently. As long as you wash them very well, and also let them sit full of water for awhile they should be fine. I took mine to the local quarter wash and sprayed them out and then let them soak with water inside to let any leftover cleaners leach out into the water and then dumped them and cleaned them again. Mine had a kitchen cleaner of some sort in them. Hope that helps!

[@andrewhooghkirk4180]

I knew about you washing them from another video. Mine would be coming from a car wash so they will already be there for me to spray. Haha

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Andrew Hooghkirk Perfect, one step easier for ya!

[@LoyFraser]

How did you connect the drain pipes on the bottom?

[@LoyFraser]

never mind

[@ianmacgillivray4924]

I have found someone selling food grade barrels that previously held pure alcohol would that be safe for the fish if I washed them out?

[@SSLFamilyDad]

I would personally not have a problem with those at all. I would think that they would be just fine as long as you wash them out well and also fill them with water and let them sit a few days so that any residual can leach out into the water and then dump it off. Hope that helps, thanks for stopping by!

[@ianmacgillivray4924]

Great Thanks

[@sootedninjas]

At the bottom of the grow barrels, did you install studs covering the length of the barrel or did you find that the edge of the barrel sitting on top of a 2x4 is strong enough to support the barrel and the grow media ? I'm planning to use 50/50 3/4 river rocks and 4/5 lava rocks. Will this be too heavy that it will require me to run a stud across the length of the grow bed ?

[@sootedninjas]

nvm. I ask the question before finishing watching the video. duh :)

[@SSLFamilyDad]

lol, well at least you watched the whole video:) Just a point, I would check that river rock to make sure it will not cause pH issues. I have a video on that below if you haven't already looked into it. Thanks for watching!
ruclips.net/video/wSzGOCHEoeo/видео.html

[@sootedninjas]

SSLFamilyDad
I was watching another video of yours on switching your grow media. How is the new media growing ? video updates maybe ?

[@SSLFamilyDad]

sootedninjas New grow media is working great! I still have two more grow beds to switch out, one probably this week and the last one next month. I have to switch it slowly so I don't lose all the bacteria colonies. I will update on the progress next week for sure, thanks for watching!

[@sootedninjas]

SSLFamilyDad
not sure why you need to wait and switch because of losing the bacteria colonies. it's not like the bacterias from the OLD media will relocate on it's own to the new media. does it ? basically you just need to trash old media and let the new media recycle. if anything else you are prolly contaminating the new media by transferring the water that cycled to the old media thereby transferring too whatever properties that making your water ph high. Not sure I know what I'm talking about BUT just giving you a different perspective. :)