Pipe layout and dura skirm how to questions

[OaklandNewb]

Hello,

I have decided to use the dura skrim material for my grow beds and Fish tank. Is there anything I can use to seam, overlap and glue these sheets and make them water tight?

Regarding the corners of the grow bed, do I need to fold them over each other? I would like to be able to cut them to get it installed clean and square but dont know what would be water tight for seaming. I found some tape that says its not guaranteed water tight...

Im about to start buying all of my materials, but my plans are still incomplete.

Im still not sure where my pipes need to go in and out from one filter to the next...

I hope Im clear enough.

My plan is to have constant flow from:

Fish tank (with oxygen stones)
Mechanical filter
Bio Filter
sump tank / reservoir (whatever is the correct terminology for it)
PUMP from there to grow bed (with oxygen stones)
back to FT

(If I am missing something to prevent over flow or something to regulate water levels please let me know I have not dealt with any of this before do I need stand pipes anywhere? If so where should that water go?)

Attached is an image of how I plan for my water to flow, can someone please help draw in where my pipes should go in and out.

lets say I use a 30 gal barrel for all those pipes would it come out an inch from the top of one and go in to the next an inch down from the top again, or does it come out an inch down from the top of one and go in an inch up from the bottom of the next one? I dont know.

I hope my question is clear enough.

I plan on posting all my construction plans, and pictures of the build once I am complete, should be done soon, I plan on starting the build next weekend.

I plan on having 3 grow beds at 3x6 feet each about 8" deep, this will hold about 100 gallons of water each, how do I calculate how big my fish tank should be, how many fish to have, and how much water I should pump per hour?

(the size of each grow bed is 3x6 determined by the space i have available to put them.)

Also do I need to have the hight of the filters from high to low to get the water to flow? Or having them on one plain is ok?

[Apollo]

Welcome, QaklandNewb, glad that you have joined us. May your journey bring you the knowledge that you seek, put a smile up on your face, create hours of pleasure to stimulate your mind, an a healthier life style for your heart...from Apollo__Phoenix, Arizona.

Way to many question for my mind this late in the day, not sure where to begin...and it's almost dinner time. Have you read Aquaponics 101 by Olive it's at the bottom of the Welcome to the Original "DIY Aquaponics" Community established in the year of our Lord, 2007? This might answer a lot of your questions, maybe viewing my set up will also help. To make a seam / repair for the Dura liner I took some small piece of the liner as tried lots of different methods for bonding them together. By over lapping 2 pieces with different cements, then placing it in water for 24 hrs. Best by far was "Christy Red Hot Blue Glue...PVC Pipe Cement", on the inside corners I did 5 pleats (one in the center two on each side). This can be viewed in my main site "Pipe Siphon by Apollo".

If you want to view my set up from start to now, check out “Fire Pit … AP” then “Pipe Siphon by Apollo” and ending with "Got Vertigrow?". Not sure if "Whirlpool Filter / Fry Catcher is in my main site or not, but might be helpful you with your set up. Catch you later...time to eat.

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I HAVE NOT FAILED. I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK. Thomas A Edison

[OaklandNewb]

Have you read Aquaponics 101 by Olive it's at the bottom of the [color=#0000FF][i][b]Welcome to the Original "DIY Aquaponics" Community established in the year of our Lord, 2007?

on the inside corners I did 5 pleats (one in the center two on each side). This can be viewed in my main site "Pipe Siphon by Apollo".

If you want to view my set up from start to now, check out “Fire Pit … AP” then “Pipe Siphon by Apollo” and ending with "Got Vertigrow?". Not sure if "Whirlpool Filter / Fry Catcher is in my main site or not, but might be helpful you with your set up. Catch you later...time to eat.

____________________________________
I HAVE NOT FAILED. I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK. Thomas A Edison

Hello,

Yes I have read aquaponics 101 and i got a lot of good information from there. However I have decided to go with a constant flow system...

His ratios for fish tank water and grow bed water are a bit off for me I think since I dont plan on using any Gravel or clay to fill my grow trays. SO I am really lost there...

I hope my bio filter will be enough, I was only planning on having a 30 gallon barrel filled with beads for this.. Is that too little?

I will have over 250 gallons of water in my grow beds and I was hoping for a much smaller fish tank. I did look at your system and it looks very nice, you must have spent a lot of time on that, good work! I dont see how you folded the liner though, do you think you can show close ups of that? im very interested.

Im also really not sure how to set up my pipes from one to the other, by set up I mean where it should come out and where it should go in, not how to install them... Really would appreciate some drawings on top of mine there.

[Apollo]

I don't think it matters too much how you do the corners, on my fish tank I gathered it up and on the GB's I folded it to one side. Once the water is in, it pushes so tightly against the wall, you'll probably never notice it again. You'll be looking more at the fish or the plants, not at how well the corner looks.

As far a helping you with your drawings, I kind of learn from working with my set up and I'm not to knowledgeable on yours. If you had pictures of how and where you're placing each part of your AP system instead of a drawing it might be easier.

This would be my order of water flow; (all filters should come before the GB's to stop the poop from settling into your GB's and your fish tank is last, after the water has been cleansed.

5. Fish tank (with oxygen stones)
2. Mechanical filter
3. Bio Filter
1. Sump tank / PUMP (with oxygen stones)
4. Your grow beds
6. back to #1 (Sump tank / PUMP

[OaklandNewb]

I found this picture that was a response from davidstcldfl when i first started researching last year, I cant tell if these arrows he has are where the pipes should go in and out of filters from, also if they have open ends like the SLO or not. Or if one is downhill from the other or not.

Any ideas?

[Apollo]

My thoughts...just remember this type of set up is new to me and I still consider myself as a newbe.

With that being said; Water going into fish tank from pump / sump should do a splash down into top of fish tank. Water leaving FT should be pulled from the bottom but leave the tank from the top. Water then can go into your whirlpool filter at the bottom and leave from the top. With my "Whirlpool Filter / Fry Catch, I would skip the mesh filter and enter the rest of the system as showed.

All tanks, DWC and NFT's can be at same level or on a down hill run except for the Sump which needs to be lower to allow water to fill it by gravity flow.

[Oliver]

Apollo has given you some good advice.

You will need between 25 and 35 square feet of surface area in your bio-filter for every pound of fish you plan on having in your system at full grow-out.

Kaldnes has about 259 square feet of surface area per cubic foot of media. There are 7.48 gallons per cubic foot, so that works out to be about 35 square feet of surface area per gallon of media. So, you need one gallon of Kaldnes for every pound of fish.

Oliver