Aquaponic Armageddon!

[bsfman]

File this one onder the "lessons learned" category!

My largest of 3 aquaponics systems was a roughly 700 gallon job that I built on the fly doing the "learn as you go" thing...

Originally, it was a floating raft system with four 30 gallon 2X3 foot by 8" deep mortar tubs as grow beds. I suspended the grow beds on a 2X4 frame resting on top of 4 concrete block pilings stacked 40" high. Since the wading pool fish tank was situated on a slight slope, I used shims on top of the block pilings to level the growbed frame.

Six weeks ago, I converted the floating rafts to gravel grow beds with pea gravel media. It was extremely heavy, but rock solid and level. The tomatos and cucumbers I planted in it literally exploded with growth. Some of the tomato vines were literally an inch in diameter and like 7 feet long! I had about 150 tilapia in it that had grown from 3/4" to 10 inches in length over a 7 month period. During the winter, I enclosed the system in a greenhouse tent - mainly to keep the water warm during our south Florida winter that occasionally saw temps as low as the high 30's - low 40's. Condensation in the greenhouse dripped down the sides and kept the soil surrounding the fish tank fairly moist.

A few days ago, I noticed overflow from some of my grow beds - a combination of bulging sides of the plastic mortar tubs and roots clogging the gravel screens in my auto-siphons had caused the problem. About 300 gallons had overflowed during the night before I discovered the problem and corrected it.

Yesterday, I removed the greenhouse. The ground surrounding the fish tank was extremely muddy from the condensation and previous overflow, but the system was running smoothly and all the grow bed leaks had been fixed.

This morning at 7:30 I was enjoying my morning coffee and watching the weather forecast when I heard a weird noise. It sounded suspiciously like somebody dumping a load of gravel into a puddle - which is exactly what it was!

I rushed outside to find that the entire growbed rack had dumped over onto the side of the fish tank - releasing about 650 of the 700 gallons in the system. Tilapia were flopping all over the back yard in puddles! Evidently the muddy soil had enabled one of the pilings to sink into the mud enough to shift the balance and dump the entire grow bed frame.

I enlisted my wife's help and we quickly grabbed thrashing tilapia and transported them with buckets to my 350 gallon system which is now HEAVILY overstocked! About 15 tilapia were goners and they went into a bucket of ice awaiting the filet knife for this afternoon's fish fry.

Looks like I'll be shoveling gravel out of the lawn for the next couple of days. The inflatable ring atop the Intrex pool is shot, but I was able to put several hundred gallons back into it so that I can relocate some of the tilapia temporarily while I enter re-build mode. My bio-filter will have to suffice to keep them alive until then.

I hated losing those beautiful cucumber and tomato plants, but what the hell - you gotta learn from your mistakes, right? At least I salvaged most of the tilapia. The new system will be relocated with the fish tank on more level ground with lined plywood growbeds suspended on a frame mounted on poured concrete (and carefully leveled) footers. I'll incorporate lessons learned into a much better and more carefully planned system. Live and learn!

[commander]

ACK! Tough way to learn. But, I too have had my own education by trial. Wish I was close enough to help.

[Jeff]

Oh no! I totally can imagine the horror you must have felt to see this! At least you're going to eat a nice fishy lunch today!

[urbanfarmer]

I'm sorry for your loss.

This happened to us in Nicaragua when we tried to explain to the workers to put some cement blocks directly underneath the legs and they didn't. It washed out when it rained. Soil and running water do not make a good foothold!

At least you get to eat out of it

[sdanchenko]

Yeah, my stand folded as well (and dumping water and hydroton on the floor in basement) and I had to rebuild it. No fish lost, but all my tomatoes and peppers are gone. Now I have lettuce and reddish seedlings only. And it happens on Sunday evening when all nearby stores are closed Good adrenalin shot.

[davidstcldfl]

Major bummer bsfman....
It's nice to dig in our soil, aka 'sand'....but it doesn't like to support anything.... My buddy and I installed 'red neck' footers....we just placed blocks end to end at ground level... and filled them with some concrete. It was to support the weight of IBC's with 250 gals/1870 lbs of water.


Sounds like a bummer for you too sdanchenko... One of the rules of the universe...the store is closed when you really need them...

[Eleven11]

Wow, horror of horrors. It's good that you were home at the time. I almost had something similar happen when setting up my system. The totes couldn't handle the outward force of the water and expanded clay and bulged and sagged really bad. I had to make supports for the sides using electrical EMT conduit.

All the best for a quick recovery.

[bsfman]

The fish are now relocated to a new 650 gallon wading pool with a 44 gallon mechanical/biofilter filled with old media. That'll buy me some time to build new grow beds. All told, I lost about 30 fish - 15 due to the catastrophe itself, and 15 more that committed suicide by jumping out of their temporary quarters later that same day.

[bsfman]

Major bummer bsfman....
It's nice to dig in our soil, aka 'sand'....but it doesn't like to support anything.... My buddy and I installed 'red neck' footers....we just placed blocks end to end at ground level... and filled them with some concrete. It was to support the weight of IBC's with 250 gals/1870 lbs of water.

I stole a page from your book, David. I leveled "red neck footers" yesterday, drove 24" long rebar through the centers, and cememted them in this morning.

Gonna build a 2'X8'X12" deep grow bed framed up using 4X4 treated stringers with six 4X4 uprights for support. Everything will be cross braced. Filled with pea gravel and water, it'll weigh about a ton and an eighth, so support is crucial. Eventually, I'll be adding a second grow bed of the same size, but I want to finish this one first so as to incorporate lessons learned in building the second one.

Anybody have suggestions for bell siphon outlet size? I'm thinking 1". The grow bed will be about 120 gallons, so filled with gravel, I'll be draining maybe 50 gallons of water each cycle after displacement by the gravel.

[davidstcldfl]

I leveled "red neck footers" yesterday, drove 24" long rebar through the centers, and cememted them in this morning.

Oh wow....you did 'fancy' red neck footers with rebar....

I built 4' x 8' x 12" grow beds....and I installed 1" drains. It actually worked pretty well. Don't remember the exact drain time, it was in the upper range, but it was acceptable.
Per Affnan...I did add a 1 1/2" X 1" reducing coupling to the top of the stand pipe. Without it and the Bernoulli effect, I wouldn't of gotten the speed of the drain time.

Bsfman.....You may be able to/should be able to, use a 3/4 inch stand pipe....like you said, your 'total volume' of the bed is approx 120 gals.
I agree, you may only be drainning, as little as 40 gallons of water.