Aquaponics New growbed flow control

I few days ago I created and installed all the required bits to control the way water enters and exits my growbed.

All this is probably overkill as a lot of people get away with just dumping water at one end, and draining from the other, but theres a fair chance that at some stage down the track I might try to make this system ultra low energy, so I thought Id design it so the water can move very freely through the browbed, and so it doesnt leave any areas that dont get enough flow. If I go low energy, that might mean low flow, so I designed it to what I think is the best way I could.

The plan is to have the water enter into a submerged pipe at one end of the bed that has a lot of holes in it, and exit via a similar, submerged pipe at the other end. This way the water will enter and exit evenly throughout the width of the growbed ensuring that no corners are left to go stagnant. With high flow, this wouldnt normally be a concern, but I wanted to make sure I had lots of options for the future.

After a bit of experimentation I discovered the quickest and easiest way to make holes in PVC pipe for water flow was with an angle grinder.

Just a normal metal cutting blade does a pretty clean job of cutting a lot of slots in a 90mm PVC pipe.

Just tap it onto the PVC quickly and it works a treat. A one second cut is perfect. Three seconds will burn it.






Slots are a must when using the clay balls for media as if you drilled holes, the balls would block them all.

All sized balls will block all sized holes regardless.

Go with slots.

The end result looks like this and only takes around 5 minutes per meter at most.

I cleaned it up with a little sand paper and added end caps and an elbow.

I cut a hole with a hole saw so that I could add a stand pipe that would go through the elbow, then continue on through the growbed.

Theres no great need to make these joins exact because you want water to seep in all through this bit of kit.

I  found some fittings that for some reason have a tapered thread.

When I got them home, I found that the things they screw into dont, which is kind of strange.








The original idea was to cut a hole through the growbed, and screw the two pieces together from either side to lock the fittings on tight.

Because of the taper, I ended up just making the hole in the growbed really tight, and screwing the fitting in really hard so it cut its own thread into the growbed.

It seems solid enough.

This is what the finished drain looks like. This will drain water from the growbed back to the sump.

A pipe will be fit into the recess at the bottom, so that even though the water enters the drain from the bottom of the growbed, the water will exit the device at a bit lower than the top of the growbed.

I cut a hole with my hole saw into the bottom of the growbed.

This is an oddly scary thing to do.

Shiny new water tight containers dont lend themselves to be holed without causing some distress to the new owner.

I cut the hole slightly smaller than it needed to be, and then hand filed the rest so I could be sure of a very tight fit for the threaded component.

Once coaxed through the hole in the growbed, the standpipe was cut to size, and pressed into place without any glue.

Theres no need to glue it because if it leaks, water wont actually leave the system, and there might come a day when I want to adjust the level, or change the system from constant flood to an auto siphon or something.

The drain assembly looked like this when fitted.

The standpipe runs through the growbed on the left hand side.

The other end was completed in a similar manner, but this time with a central inlet because there was already a hole in that position.

This is where water will enter the system from the fishtank.

And thats it.

The growbed part of the system is complete.

Its worth adding plastic caps top the top of the inlet and outlet media guards to keep the clay balls from getting in when your digging around in the garden.





Like I said, its probably overkill to make the inlet and outlet pipes like I did here, but it should make it just that little bit more efficient.


120 Things In 20 Years isnt above pretending to make a new growbed when really I made it more than a week ago.

Read More..

Aquaponics New growbed

I have a shiny new allotment of auqaponics real estate!

Yay me!

With a huge amount of help from Mrs. 120 Things, we added two submerged sections of 90mm PVC as inlet and outlet drainage media screens.

We also cut holes in the top of one end of the BYAP grow bend to allow water in from the fishtank, and the bottom of the other end to allow a standpipe to be fitted.

Then we fitted the standpipe. Basically a short length of pipe that sets the depth the water will sit at, by draining the growbed from the top of the pipe, out through a hole in the growbed.

Or in normalspeak, a plug with a tube stuck in it.

The result of a lot of picking through the media (clay balls) to remove all the rubbish that comes with buying second hand media, was this very nice looking growbed. (the growbed was second hand as well)

Working with a purpose built growbed with purpose built media is soooo much nicer than working with home made stuff. Im all for tinkering and DIY, but if you just want a garden, this pre-made stuff is great. I have no connection with Backyard Aquaponics other than existing on their forum* (as BullwinkleII), but having bought one of their growbeds (second hand), I feel very comfortable recommending them.

Getting there.


* and winning my pump and some other stuff in one of their photo competitions.

Read More..

like a dog

I have never understood why being called a dog (or even a bitch) is so offensive.  99% of dog breeds are hard working and bitches?  Well how many people push out four babies per labor session?

YOU GO GIRLS!!!

It is clear that as of right now, Im pretty chipper!  Why?  Probably because I did something today that wasnt wallowing in my own pile of sadness, and self doubt.  I yearn for a lot of things...and today they werent so much on my mind.  Looks like my crappy job comes in handy sometimes.

Apparently I need to keep occupied a great deal of the day to prevent destruction...much like a border collie or a husky.

Good think I want to start farming my own food...fruits and veggies anyway.  Im not ready to rear an animal then slaughter it.  Besides, we as omnivores dont require that much meat anyway.

speaking of sustainability...which is better, a green roof or solar panels?


Now that it is official that this blog is about nothing....

I guess I could end it now

Read More..

as coy as a fish

Not really...

Let me tell you something world...I LIKE GIRLS. I do. I mean not only girls (hence why I have a boyfriend) but yeah before him, I hit on waay more girls than guys. There is a good friend of mine. She is pretty (not bi or lesbian) but one thing I cannot stand about her is she makes decisions that get her into trouble and drinks...a lot. Tipsy every week at least is too much for me. I severely worry about all of my friends that drink. Even if I were totally into her, these two things (ESPECIALLY the drinking) would turn me off in a heartbeat.

So let me tell you about this girl. First she sleeps with a slut...a guy that practically sticks it in everything. Well whatever. Today she told me that she went to a party last weekend and made out with four people, one being the girlfriend of the guy she was fooling with. Seeing as there were speaks of a small porno with this girlfriend being in a lesbo scene, that didnt shock me one bit. What made me give a yuck face was the fact it was like an achievement to make out with four people in one night!

just my opinion...that isnt cool unless youre in an organized foursome/orgy.

But I still love her. BFF for life I guess.

Anyway...something I think is interesting.People hate on goldfish as pond fish because they poop a lot. Koi, however, are seen as beautiful pond fish that are never hated on. A bit racist I think. Koi will destroy your pond plants, goldfish wont. The only differences between the two? Koi is a pretty common carp while goldfish are pretty much a domestic carp. They are cheaper and most pond fish will grow only about a foot smaller than those koi things. Buut most people till see koi as better. This is a picture of my favorite type of goldfish called Shubunkin goldfish.

This is my favorite type of Koi which goes by butterfly koi (but also sometimes dragon koi or American koi)

Both start out around the same price and end up around the same price when theyre large. Both have long flowing fins. Difference? One will bond with you like a dog (koi) and the other wont destroy your pond plants.

I want my goldfish to be near my outdoor altar (whenever that happens.) I guess it is good goldfish arent as friendly because the last thing I want is to draw too many visitors to my private space. Koi? I might get those when I have children so we can enjoy the pond as a family. Call me backasswards but that means my goldfish will be my prized fish.

But what is prized shouldnt be based on race now should it?

Read More..