P.S. I basically made a water tower to get enough water pressure for the water supply to the growbeds. I pump the water from the sump tank up to about 6ft high into a small empty pond filter that has no filter media or filter mats inside, and from there the pipes run down to the ground level, towards the growbeds, then it goes back up again to the height from the growbeds, and then it supplies the growbeds with water. The benefits from that is that I can keep a low profile with the pipes, and I used a lot less pipe as well. The water tower is situated in a cabinet in the corner from my garden. I also made a drainage point at the lowest part of the pipes so that I can drain and clean the pipes if that is ever needed. Gravity is the only pressure in the pipes. The empty pond filter does catch some of the more coarse bio mass, which I can drain out manually every few months or so. This helps to prevent that my growbed media clogs up. And I can't let the pipes sit in the open air without insulation like you do otherwise they would freeze apart during the winter or they would get way too hot during the summer. So now my pipes are all out of sight and insulated against frost and hot temperatures. It looks nice and it is functional. I do have valves for each growbed, but they are always fully open. They are not needed for flow control because I have a variable pump, so I control my water flow with the speedcontroller from the pump. It is more for maintenance redundancy. This way I can keep the system running for the other growbeds if I want to do major maintenance on a single growbed. I close one valve from the growbed that I want to do the maintenance, and then I let my pump run a bit slower with the speedcontroller, and when I am done with the maintenance I put everything back as it was. But it is practically never needed.
That sounds great! I am trying to develop something for automatic watering of the soil growbeds I have. The problem is it takes too many sprinkler heads for one pump to supply. What you have done gives me some new ideas. Thanks
@@sw1ft3 When I hear pumps running and water splashing it sounds like music to my ears. But I do not blame you. I also have encountered videos with audio that I could not cope with. But I had no problems with the audio in this video. It is part of aquaponics that you can hear things, especially inside a greenhouse. I have an outdoor system and all that you can hear is a gentle sound from the water. The air pumps are usually the loudest. It is like a mini air compressor. Therefore I use a regular water pump with a venturi for the aeration. That doesn't produce a sound because it all happens under water. And I have it on a timer and it only runs like 5 hours or so during the night. And with a simple plastic valve from an aquarium air line I can regulate how much air I want to put in the water. And it produces micro bubbels which will stay in the water instead of floating straight to the surface.
Where are you located? How low do your winter temperatures get and do you need to take any measures to protect the fish or water system? Are you able to grow through winter because of the greenhouse?
I am in Northern Utah outside of Ogden. Winter temps get well below freezing during winter but the water never freezes as long as it is circulating. Before I got the water system circulating, the growbeds all froze solid during winter. The fish pond stayed liquid except for a thin layer of ice on top. About 2 feet down it never got below 41 (f) and the fish were fine. I have grown during winter but it required external heat that was too expensive for me so I gave it up. I have uploaded a series of videos over the years that go into this in great detail. You might want to take a look at some of those.
Very nice build 👌
6:27 great idea for bulkheads.
Curious it’s separate areas instead of one long continuous channel..which would save resources.
Great video!
Thanks Chad.
It is a nice system. Thanks for sharing 👍
P.S. I basically made a water tower to get enough water pressure for the water supply to the growbeds. I pump the water from the sump tank up to about 6ft high into a small empty pond filter that has no filter media or filter mats inside, and from there the pipes run down to the ground level, towards the growbeds, then it goes back up again to the height from the growbeds, and then it supplies the growbeds with water. The benefits from that is that I can keep a low profile with the pipes, and I used a lot less pipe as well. The water tower is situated in a cabinet in the corner from my garden. I also made a drainage point at the lowest part of the pipes so that I can drain and clean the pipes if that is ever needed. Gravity is the only pressure in the pipes. The empty pond filter does catch some of the more coarse bio mass, which I can drain out manually every few months or so. This helps to prevent that my growbed media clogs up.
And I can't let the pipes sit in the open air without insulation like you do otherwise they would freeze apart during the winter or they would get way too hot during the summer. So now my pipes are all out of sight and insulated against frost and hot temperatures. It looks nice and it is functional. I do have valves for each growbed, but they are always fully open. They are not needed for flow control because I have a variable pump, so I control my water flow with the speedcontroller from the pump. It is more for maintenance redundancy. This way I can keep the system running for the other growbeds if I want to do major maintenance on a single growbed. I close one valve from the growbed that I want to do the maintenance, and then I let my pump run a bit slower with the speedcontroller, and when I am done with the maintenance I put everything back as it was. But it is practically never needed.
That sounds great! I am trying to develop something for automatic watering of the soil growbeds I have. The problem is it takes too many sprinkler heads for one pump to supply. What you have done gives me some new ideas. Thanks
I really wish I could watch this video, but my friend there's a huge buzz to the audio that I cannot cope with. Hope the aquaponics goes well for you!
@@sw1ft3 When I hear pumps running and water splashing it sounds like music to my ears. But I do not blame you. I also have encountered videos with audio that I could not cope with. But I had no problems with the audio in this video. It is part of aquaponics that you can hear things, especially inside a greenhouse.
I have an outdoor system and all that you can hear is a gentle sound from the water.
The air pumps are usually the loudest. It is like a mini air compressor. Therefore I use a regular water pump with a venturi for the aeration. That doesn't produce a sound because it all happens under water. And I have it on a timer and it only runs like 5 hours or so during the night. And with a simple plastic valve from an aquarium air line I can regulate how much air I want to put in the water. And it produces micro bubbels which will stay in the water instead of floating straight to the surface.
@@sw1ft3 Weird, I reply and I see no reply, I reply again and I still see no reply, and minutes later I can suddenly see my replies.
Where are you located? How low do your winter temperatures get and do you need to take any measures to protect the fish or water system? Are you able to grow through winter because of the greenhouse?
I am in Northern Utah outside of Ogden. Winter temps get well below freezing during winter but the water never freezes as long as it is circulating. Before I got the water system circulating, the growbeds all froze solid during winter. The fish pond stayed liquid except for a thin layer of ice on top. About 2 feet down it never got below 41 (f) and the fish were fine. I have grown during winter but it required external heat that was too expensive for me so I gave it up. I have uploaded a series of videos over the years that go into this in great detail. You might want to take a look at some of those.
I use UNISEALS instead of bulk head fittings now in my Aquaponics systems they are much cheaper and seal better than bulk head fittings
I hadn't heard of uniseals before. I looked them up and I think I'll try some of those next time. Thanks