My husband and I are buying a new home with a lot of farm land (80 acres/ with 70 usable-10 of it is woodland) I am looking forward to setting up a system like this. Thank you for sharing and God Bless!
I wonder if you would be willing to help out a novice by posting or emailing me a complete parts list for a 4 bed system??? I would like it to be exactly like yours. Really all I would need is a list for the beds and the frame. If not, I will understand, but it would make it soooooo much easier as opposed to trying to figure it all out from watching the vids lol
I will make measurements and make a parts list for the 4 unit that I have built, and will post this list--- maybe others would be interested also. give me a few days to get it together.
Donald Porta Beautiful!!!! Thank you so much. I can't tell you how excited I am. I have planned to set up a greenhouse for a while now and have been wearing out my brain trying to figure out precisely what I wanted. Then, two nights ago, I read an article on aquaponics and was intrigued to research further. Never having heard of aquaponics before, the more I read the more excited I became, because I knew I had found what I had been searching for. Then, I found your vids. After watching them all and reading all I could find on aquaponics, I felt as though I had struck gold. I had found what I had envisioned. Very excited.
Don, After building my greenhouse and and grow beds, I immediately had problems with the consistent operation of my bell siphons. So, I came back to your channel and saw that you have changed your design again. I decided to try out another design that has been coined "abs" (alternative bell siphon). The physics and design are so so so simple that I had them all working within the first couple of hours. Switching from the bell siphon the this abs design was extremely quick and easy. If you have problems getting your new siphons to work like you want them, I would suggest this abs design.
+Larry Haggerty The J trap underneath the grow bed causes a back pressure that has to be overcome with the water pressure that is in the grow bed and needs to be at a higher level than the top of the stand pipe--- the bell will actually be under this water level. to maintain the same water height in the grow bed, everything has to be shortened, thus maintaining this level. Thanks for your comment my friend---Don
Hi Donald, Would it be an idea to use a system in which you use 1 larger (broader) siphon for 4-6 growbeds? I have seen a setup (somewhat smaller then yours that is) by a gentleman who is know to UA-cam as NorthernMonkey Mayhem. He is a British chap who made a system at his workplace which uses the same 55 gallon drums which he daisy chained onto a loop siphon and inlet device... Very elegant, simple and above all very functional... Have a look at his setup. Regards, Sander Tel.
sandertel I had converted mine to 4 in a unit--- the advantage is that I can use a smaller pump since I now have 1/4th the inlet valves, and 1/4th the valves to keep a check on. Has been working wonderful ever since.
I'm noticing most people i see on here seem to just glue it but i don't think i've seen anyone use primer and was wondering why that was? I was taught that it was important and have always used it when glueing pvc at work but was wondering if there's a reason or if everyone has just found it to be unnecessary...
most of the fittings are not glued and the ones that are is of little worry of leaks because of the low pressures in the system. I like not gluing here so that I can remove the components and change things around since everything I am building is experimental and trial and error.
Donald, are the air vent tubes being fouled by algae etc., or were they being clogged by particulates? I wonder if opaque pex style water piping would help minimize growth. Very interested in your experiences given the lifetime of your system thus far. Thanks again for sharing.
Donald, trying to get my head around the 4 barrel cluster you are now using. The 3/4 " line on the bottom of the barrels basically ties all 4 together and provides the inlet for water to fill the beds, correct? The 1 barrel has the bell siphon which provides the drainage for all 4 barrels. Do you us 3/4" pipe for the bell siphon standpipe?
+Chip Geil The fill is from the top of one of the beds. I found the bell drains all the barrels better if placed in one of the middle barrels. and I am using 3/4 in, in most, however some still have 1/2 inch and are working fine.
I was trained NOT! to turn/twist. Instructions also say DO NOT TWIST. Reason is Its chemically bonded it's not glue. The solvent chemically melts the surfaces and once together must stay like that until the bond takes place which is only a few seconds. Twisting forces the partially set and melted layers to delaminat and cause dry joins. Not saying it dosnt work! just saying problems could follow lucky it's not pressurised! Looks beautiful btw...
Don Couple of questions for ya. How do you have your pump set up in your fish tanks? I had mucho problems losing fingerlings to the pump. So I ended up putting the pump into a 5 gallon bucket. Will this affect the chemistry concerning the transition of the fish waste to nitrates and/or the physical transition from the tank to the grow beds? Also, I already have plants dying. About how long would you say it takes for the fish to produce enough waste to provide enough nutrition for the plants and about how many fish would be optimum for a 250 gallon tank? Hope all is well in your aquaponics paradise!!! Thanks mi amigo
+Adam See 100 adult fish to 250 gal.or i fish to 2 1/2 gal. water system should be 1 : 1 ratio up to 3 : 1 ratio for grow beds for balanced system.get to these ratios with adult fish for the amt of wastes needed. may take up to 9 months for bacteria to be well established and balanced so the fish may parish during the unstable time so start with cheep fish and don't be surprised if you have a fish loss. I have a tank with comet goldfish (feeder fish) after my catfish died and didn't know why---so the goldfish are the expendable ones and they are doing fine. my water pump is in the sump tank and water is pumped up to the fish tank. most of the solids from the fish tanks are removed with the swirl filter and dumped into my potted plants and the worm digester--- this has to be tended to daily and the fine particle filter cleaned weekly ,if not the nitrates will convert back into ammonia. Hope I answered all your questions my friend---Don
Donald Porta Ok so where is the pump that pumps water to your grow beds? I have probably seen it in your videos but I have watched so so so many different videos that all the info starts blending together after a while lol......so I apologize if I am asking you to repeat yourself.
Ahhhhhh you must be pumping into the grow beds directly from the sump tank. I just rewatched your "setup and connecting" video for your fish tanks and realized you're using an overflow to a gravity drain system back to the sump tank. And pumping directly to the fish tanks from the sump tank as well. Sighhhhh ... I set it up to pump directly from the fish tank into the grow bedss..back to work to redo my setup lol. Thanks again for your help.
Hi Doanld, I got my 4 - 1/2 barrel cluster setup using your method. All the barrels are tied together with 3/4 " pipe from the bottom of each barrel. The bell siphon standpipe is also 3/4" and during testing it seemed to be functioning well. So I filled my barrels with gravel and have been cycling the system for about 10 days looking good, until today , for some reason the barrel with the bell siphon fills up and kicks into siphon out the water , but the other 3 barrels never really drain much of their water, before the siphon stops and starts to refill again. So the other 3 barrels have about 5-6 inches of water continually in them , so they never drain it out, any ideas? Thanks in advance. Oh, I am using a 1" drain line back to my sump tank from the bell siphon.
+Chip Geil I placed the bell syphon in one of the center barrels which keeps the level a little closer to the same height. if this doesn't do it, tie the barrels together with 1 inch tubing. or use a 1/2 inch stand pipe to slow the drain time/
+Donald Porta I was able to figure out what was causing my issue. Somehow some small granite rocks had gotten into the 3/4" equalization pipe in the barrel with the bell siphon that ties all 4 barrels together and was blocking the flow of water to the other 3, prohibiting it from filling or draining very well. Once I was able to remove them everything started working perfectly. Thanks for your help!!
@@marygeil4777 i have a similar setup. I found my equalization lines between the grow beds had to be alot larger. Your trying to move water from multiple locations and into the bell. Typically the bed with the syphon will drain out faster than the water from the other beds comes in. The larger the pipe, the more volume of water you can move between the systems. My bell use a 1" stand pipe with a 3/4" bottle neck in it. I use a 2" opening in all the beds, which connect to a 3" connector pipe. So far this has allowed all my beds to remain pretty close in drain levels. I imagine that everyones system will function slightly different based on bed sizes and pipe lengths. Running multiple beds off one bell really helps to cut down on costs and points of failure l.
+Robert Madden I'm away from home for about a week, when I return home,I will get a list together of key sizes of what is working for me, some of my individual units are different since I had nothing to reference from, and experimented until I found what worked and was more reliable. Glad to help my friend---Don
+Robert Madden The hole between the tanks I used 3/4 inch tubing and the bell I have both 1/2 and 3/4 in different---Let me check on these, and get back with you---Don
+yjfoo23 Definitely not---I want no chemicals introduced into the system---If there is any cautions on handling it can't be good for the fish--- the plants root so easily just in the dwc(floating raft beds) in a matter of days! thanks for your comment my friend---Don
Adam See The stand pipes I have used both 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch--- I like the 3/4 inch better, the bell siphon I use 2 inch, the slave pipes are 3/4 inch, but a larger size than the stand pipe would be better to allow the 4 beds to drain close to even. the drain is attached to the stand pipe and is the same size.
Donald Porta You said you were planning to change out the 4" guard pipes for some reason. Did you decide to go ahead and do that?? If so, what was the reason and to what size did you change to??
Adam See Very good question--- the only reason is that after turning the guard tubes to cut any roots that made their way into them, I have to get the cut roots out--- my hand won't fit into the 3 inch pipe , but will fit in the 4 inch--- and I haven't changed any out yet--- It's on the bottom of the priority list, for now I am just using a wire with a bend on the end. thanks my friend.---Don
My husband and I are buying a new home with a lot of farm land (80 acres/ with 70 usable-10 of it is woodland) I am looking forward to setting up a system like this. Thank you for sharing and God Bless!
Donald your system and greenhouse is absolutely amazing. I have been searching for the best setup to imitate and I have found it in yours. Thank you.
Adam See Thank you--- such a great compliment!
I wonder if you would be willing to help out a novice by posting or emailing me a complete parts list for a 4 bed system??? I would like it to be exactly like yours. Really all I would need is a list for the beds and the frame. If not, I will understand, but it would make it soooooo much easier as opposed to trying to figure it all out from watching the vids lol
I will make measurements and make a parts list for the 4 unit that I have built, and will post this list--- maybe others would be interested also. give me a few days to get it together.
Donald Porta Beautiful!!!! Thank you so much. I can't tell you how excited I am. I have planned to set up a greenhouse for a while now and have been wearing out my brain trying to figure out precisely what I wanted. Then, two nights ago, I read an article on aquaponics and was intrigued to research further. Never having heard of aquaponics before, the more I read the more excited I became, because I knew I had found what I had been searching for. Then, I found your vids. After watching them all and reading all I could find on aquaponics, I felt as though I had struck gold. I had found what I had envisioned. Very excited.
Adam See here is your plans ua-cam.com/video/dXssWeDYCfc/v-deo.html
Don,
After building my greenhouse and and grow beds, I immediately had problems with the consistent operation of my bell siphons. So, I came back to your channel and saw that you have changed your design again. I decided to try out another design that has been coined "abs" (alternative bell siphon). The physics and design are so so so simple that I had them all working within the first couple of hours. Switching from the bell siphon the this abs design was extremely quick and easy. If you have problems getting your new siphons to work like you want them, I would suggest this abs design.
Adam See Thank you so much--- I will check this out --- I love the simpler the better---- Your friend---Don
Can I also mention that Grow Did Aquaponics; Strawhat Gardner. only goes thru the cap of the stand pipe.
I come from Vietnam. Thank Donald Porta
Hi!
Just found your channel & subbed, very much looking forward to watching your garden grow!
JT
You can actually buy U trap PVC pipe sections. They might cost a little more than 3 90s but would be a significant time saver doing so many.
That is something a work of art, wow. I know you said why but I did not catch it. Why is your stand pipe much shorter then the first one. Thanks
+Larry Haggerty The J trap underneath the grow bed causes a back pressure that has to be overcome with the water pressure that is in the grow bed and needs to be at a higher level than the top of the stand pipe--- the bell will actually be under this water level. to maintain the same water height in the grow bed, everything has to be shortened, thus maintaining this level. Thanks for your comment my friend---Don
Hi Donald, Would it be an idea to use a system in which you use 1 larger (broader) siphon for 4-6 growbeds? I have seen a setup (somewhat smaller then yours that is) by a gentleman who is know to UA-cam as NorthernMonkey Mayhem. He is a British chap who made a system at his workplace which uses the same 55 gallon drums which he daisy chained onto a loop siphon and inlet device... Very elegant, simple and above all very functional... Have a look at his setup.
Regards, Sander Tel.
sandertel I had converted mine to 4 in a unit--- the advantage is that I can use a smaller pump since I now have 1/4th the inlet valves, and 1/4th the valves to keep a check on. Has been working wonderful ever since.
I'm noticing most people i see on here seem to just glue it but i don't think i've seen anyone use primer and was wondering why that was? I was taught that it was important and have always used it when glueing pvc at work but was wondering if there's a reason or if everyone has just found it to be unnecessary...
most of the fittings are not glued and the ones that are is of little worry of leaks because of the low pressures in the system. I like not gluing here so that I can remove the components and change things around since everything I am building is experimental and trial and error.
thankyou very much
You are most welcome
very nice thank's
Donald, are the air vent tubes being fouled by algae etc., or were they being clogged by particulates? I wonder if opaque pex style water piping would help minimize growth.
Very interested in your experiences given the lifetime of your system thus far. Thanks again for sharing.
+icarus901 I place caps over the top of the guards and stop all algae growth. Thanks for your input my friend---Don
Thanks!
you doing great job man! Thanks :)
Donald, trying to get my head around the 4 barrel cluster you are now using. The 3/4 " line on the bottom of the barrels basically ties all 4 together and provides the inlet for water to fill the beds, correct? The 1 barrel has the bell siphon which provides the drainage for all 4 barrels. Do you us 3/4" pipe for the bell siphon standpipe?
+Chip Geil The fill is from the top of one of the beds. I found the bell drains all the barrels better if placed in one of the middle barrels. and I am using 3/4 in, in most, however some still have 1/2 inch and are working fine.
+Donald Porta Thank you Donald, I am going to set mine up that same way. Thanks again for all your videos, they are very informative and helpful!
I was trained NOT! to turn/twist.
Instructions also say DO NOT TWIST.
Reason is Its chemically bonded it's not glue.
The solvent chemically melts the surfaces and once together must stay like that until the bond takes place which is only a few seconds.
Twisting forces the partially set and melted layers to delaminat and cause dry joins.
Not saying it dosnt work!
just saying problems could follow lucky it's not pressurised!
Looks beautiful btw...
Don
Couple of questions for ya. How do you have your pump set up in your fish tanks? I had mucho problems losing fingerlings to the pump. So I ended up putting the pump into a 5 gallon bucket. Will this affect the chemistry concerning the transition of the fish waste to nitrates and/or the physical transition from the tank to the grow beds? Also, I already have plants dying. About how long would you say it takes for the fish to produce enough waste to provide enough nutrition for the plants and about how many fish would be optimum for a 250 gallon tank? Hope all is well in your aquaponics paradise!!! Thanks mi amigo
+Adam See 100 adult fish to 250 gal.or i fish to 2 1/2 gal. water system should be 1 : 1 ratio up to 3 : 1 ratio for grow beds for balanced system.get to these ratios with adult fish for the amt of wastes needed. may take up to 9 months for bacteria to be well established and balanced so the fish may parish during the unstable time so start with cheep fish and don't be surprised if you have a fish loss. I have a tank with comet goldfish (feeder fish) after my catfish died and didn't know why---so the goldfish are the expendable ones and they are doing fine. my water pump is in the sump tank and water is pumped up to the fish tank. most of the solids from the fish tanks are removed with the swirl filter and dumped into my potted plants and the worm digester--- this has to be tended to daily and the fine particle filter cleaned weekly ,if not the nitrates will convert back into ammonia. Hope I answered all your questions my friend---Don
Donald Porta Ok so where is the pump that pumps water to your grow beds? I have probably seen it in your videos but I have watched so so so many different videos that all the info starts blending together after a while lol......so I apologize if I am asking you to repeat yourself.
Ahhhhhh you must be pumping into the grow beds directly from the sump tank. I just rewatched your "setup and connecting" video for your fish tanks and realized you're using an overflow to a gravity drain system back to the sump tank. And pumping directly to the fish tanks from the sump tank as well. Sighhhhh ...
I set it up to pump directly from the fish tank into the grow bedss..back to work to redo my setup lol. Thanks again for your help.
lol i just went back and watched your tour again and it had answers to pretty much every question lol..
Hi Doanld, I got my 4 - 1/2 barrel cluster setup using your method. All the barrels are tied together with 3/4 " pipe from the bottom of each barrel. The bell siphon standpipe is also 3/4" and during testing it seemed to be functioning well. So I filled my barrels with gravel and have been cycling the system for about 10 days looking good, until today , for some reason the barrel with the bell siphon fills up and kicks into siphon out the water , but the other 3 barrels never really drain much of their water, before the siphon stops and starts to refill again. So the other 3 barrels have about 5-6 inches of water continually in them , so they never drain it out, any ideas? Thanks in advance. Oh, I am using a 1" drain line back to my sump tank from the bell siphon.
+Chip Geil I placed the bell syphon in one of the center barrels which keeps the level a little closer to the same height. if this doesn't do it, tie the barrels together with 1 inch tubing. or use a 1/2 inch stand pipe to slow the drain time/
+Donald Porta I was able to figure out what was causing my issue. Somehow some small granite rocks had gotten into the 3/4" equalization pipe in the barrel with the bell siphon that ties all 4 barrels together and was blocking the flow of water to the other 3, prohibiting it from filling or draining very well. Once I was able to remove them everything started working perfectly. Thanks for your help!!
@@marygeil4777 i have a similar setup. I found my equalization lines between the grow beds had to be alot larger. Your trying to move water from multiple locations and into the bell. Typically the bed with the syphon will drain out faster than the water from the other beds comes in. The larger the pipe, the more volume of water you can move between the systems. My bell use a 1" stand pipe with a 3/4" bottle neck in it. I use a 2" opening in all the beds, which connect to a 3" connector pipe. So far this has allowed all my beds to remain pretty close in drain levels. I imagine that everyones system will function slightly different based on bed sizes and pipe lengths. Running multiple beds off one bell really helps to cut down on costs and points of failure l.
Donald, what size hole did you drill for bell Siphon stand pipe and what size hole drilled for equalizing line? thanks
+Robert Madden I'm away from home for about a week, when I return home,I will get a list together of key sizes of what is working for me, some of my individual units are different since I had nothing to reference from, and experimented until I found what worked and was more reliable. Glad to help my friend---Don
+Robert Madden The hole between the tanks I used 3/4 inch tubing and the bell I have both 1/2 and 3/4 in different---Let me check on these, and get back with you---Don
Do you dip your plant roots in trichoderman solution before you plant them in aquaponic grow beds?
+yjfoo23 Definitely not---I want no chemicals introduced into the system---If there is any cautions on handling it can't be good for the fish--- the plants root so easily just in the dwc(floating raft beds) in a matter of days! thanks for your comment my friend---Don
What are the sizes of the pipes you are using for the stand pipe, the bell siphon, the slave pipe, and the drain pipe??
Adam See The stand pipes I have used both 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch--- I like the 3/4 inch better, the bell siphon I use 2 inch, the slave pipes are 3/4 inch, but a larger size than the stand pipe would be better to allow the 4 beds to drain close to even. the drain is attached to the stand pipe and is the same size.
good deal thanks
Donald Porta You said you were planning to change out the 4" guard pipes for some reason. Did you decide to go ahead and do that?? If so, what was the reason and to what size did you change to??
Adam See Very good question--- the only reason is that after turning the guard tubes to cut any roots that made their way into them, I have to get the cut roots out--- my hand won't fit into the 3 inch pipe , but will fit in the 4 inch--- and I haven't changed any out yet--- It's on the bottom of the priority list, for now I am just using a wire with a bend on the end. thanks my friend.---Don
Donald Porta ty much Don
hi .Don ..can i asking for your email that i can contact with you when i am back to China ..cause i cannt use youtube in the main land of china ...pls
+Serena Gao donald_porta@yahoo.com Good luck my friend---Don