New kit, CHOP Constant Height One Pump

[Murray]

We have a new kit that is out and about, we have had it on test for some months now.
See it here (http://www.aquaponics.net.au/prod35.htm)
We have tried several combination's of tank and beds, but the current final combination has been running now for 4 weeks.
No fish for the first three weeks, now there are a couple of Sleepy Cod in there to test the waters.
Plant growth and cycling has been achieved by adding one teaspoon of urea each day and one cap full of Seasol. Cycling took only about a week, but that is not really a fair assessment, because some of the gravel media has been transferred from test system to test system while we tried different tank and bed combinations.
So it is possibly not true to say the system needed cycling. Just needed boosting to match the water, nutrient in the form of urea, and media present. Don't forget the plants.
The plants have had astonishing growth.
I will post some pix tomorrow of the plants.

Today I have added two more beds to the system.

Planted some corn and lettuce in the two new beds and watered them using a watering can of water from the fish tank. The two new beds are not plumed in as yet. I am awaiting the arrival of a new pump for testing on the system running 4 beds.
The pump should (hopefully) provide the right flow (for power consumption).

Aquaponics is a lot about balance, and the efficient running of a system needs balanced equipment for a long operational life at minimum running cost.

[Jason Palenske]

Really nice Murray. Looks like business is booming.

[djs-sa]

Nice system Murray, but what the, CHOP technology sounds like ur growing steaks in ur system,:rolleyes:

CHIFT PIST is the way u should have gone with the name I think Murray.

What do others think????

[Murray]

Hi djs-sa,
CHOP is what it is at Practical Aquaponics, the other acronym can be used if people want to.
Our systems will follow the CHOP acronym. All our new generation systems will use the same type of workings until we come up with the next improvement, and there will be improvements.....We are working on it all the time.

[GaryD]

Hi,

I prefer CHOP......it's concise and it has a nicer ring to it than the other thing.

Gary

[djs-sa]

so where do we get the CHOP's from murray outa the fish tank or growbed lol

CHOP, I think does'nt go with vegies and fish

[Murray]

You are out of step djs-sa.

[djs-sa]

Explain Outa Step Murray????
Chop Isnt My Idea Of A Name And Its My View Ok:):):):)

[Hamish]

Nice looking system. Might look at adding some of these grow beds once I move. Well done for progressing the design of your systems!

[DaveOponic]

Nice looking system Murray. With my Brunei dollars buying more $ Aussie I might even put in an order. It's impossible to find fibreglass tanks here. I bought a 1000 litre plastic fish tank made in Malaysia for $ 280. I haven't found anything bigger and even more difficult to find anything to make a grow bed out of. I have been using 200 litre PVC drums but have outgrown them now.

[Murray]

Hi DaveO
The Aussie $ is way out of site at the moment. Maybe it will come back !

[BARRAMUNDI BRETT'O]

Chop, steak,cuttlet who cares.Muz you made it you name it,it's your baby,pretty flash to look at i might add,keep up the good work.

[Martin A1]

Nice one Muzza!

I am saving for a new tank.... gonna ditch the gal tank and use it as a toilet feeder :).

What's CHOP stand for again? The link I looked at looks like the usual flood and drain set-up?

I like the constant water height idea but my new application has an in garage space that sits below my 3 big grow beds.... still planning a new design.

[Murray]

CHOP Constant height One pump. Could have been CHAP , Constant Height AquaPonics.
No acronym is totally perfect for the job. It's just a short way to express an idea.
The other one that is about, chift pist, is too long and sounds a bit off really. Some people like it....good for them...

There is nothing new under the sun, we have just worked on making it reliable, repeatable and less and less expensive to run. (AP that is)

I really feel that a very small pump running constantly, and using auto siphons to facilitate the flood and drain cycle is the best way to run an AP system.
We may find a better way of doing it....there are always ways to improve things.
Lots of folk out there want to have an AP system, but they lack manual skills and they need to get something that works.
Not everyone is cut out to experiment with assorted bits of pipe, and muck around with old bath tubs etc.

[adelaideaquaponics]

Nice kit Murray,

I dont really care what you call it I just want to know when I can get one, might have to talk to the wife.

How does the water circulate through the fingerling tank??? Autosyphon??

Cheers

[Murray]

Hi AdelaideAqua,
The fingerling tank is supplied from the pump that brings the water from the sump under the grow beds. Most of the water goes to the fish tank but part of it goes on to the fingerling tank. The water in the fingerling tank flows back down to the fish tank via a regulated line (tap) There is also an overflow line.
This is a really small pump ...70 watts DC or 40 watts AC.
We have a new DC pump that will hook up well to the Solar Panels.

We have just connected another 2 grow beds to the system with a second pump running that two beds. Runs like clock work.

[Martin A1]

Hi AdelaideAqua,
The fingerling tank is supplied from the pump that brings the water from the sump under the grow beds.

Murray I thought this was a One Pump set-up?

I was thinking I could pump from the main fish tank to my three large grow beds and have a part of the pumped water cycle through the fingerling tank. Will the water quality in the fingerling tank suffer that adversely? (ie obviously they will get the fish water from the main tank not filtered stuff from the grow beds)

On the new enhancements I am thinking about for my larger system, the fingerling tank water level will be above and the main tank under my grow bed drain levels. I would like to try and maintain the one pump set-up with three large grow beds, a main tank and the fingerling tank sitting on top of the main tank in the garage.

Maybe I will still need a second small pump to just circulate to the fingerling tank as the filtered grow bed water returns each hour or so?

[Murray]

HI Martin, Yes it is one pump normally, but we have added a second set of grow beds just to see how many we can run off the one pump in the end. Flows with the second small pump are good, but we have a bit of work to do yet in getting the one small pump to look after 4 grow beds.
We have already delivered some 2 bed kits late last week. We reckon it is only a matter of time before someone wants to add another 2 x grow beds to their kit, so the question of reliability on one small pump or will another be needed for the extra module.
At the moment it looks like one small pump per 2 bed module.

[Murray]

Further to my previous post. We are chasing the smallest possible, reliable pump to run our systems, smallest being watts consumed not physical size. As a consequence of adding another 2 grow beds to the system, do we use a second very small pump. or do we stick with the one pump principle and make the one pump bigger capacity to do the job.
Two small pumps may be better as a way of building in some redundancy.
In which case CHOP may become CHEP (Constant Height Extra Pumps :D)

Sorry I did not make that clear when I posted last night, it was getting a bit late.

[Outbackozzie]

Have you looked at the tornado jebao's?

[Murray]

No I have not, thanks for the info. I have looked them up now and they look like a good way to go. I have ordered one on line to try.
Always looking for something better Thanks OBO

[Outbackozzie]

I have 4 of them now, absolutely silent, and you wont find a better pump for water moved per watt.

http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/product.asp?pID=328&cID=83

Probably wont find a better price either. I love these pumps, so much better than cheapy ebay ones.

[mid northcoast aquaponics]

The whole set up looks even better when you see it actually working. Went up to murrays a couple of weeks a go and saw his set up. Very impressive. What i found really interesting was seeing the evolution of his products working next to each other. I love the CHOP set up, it follows the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle perfectly. As soon as I have moved house in December I'll be placing an order for a kit. Keep up the Great work Murray.

[Murray]

Have added two extra grow beds to the DUO kit, making it a 4 bed kit.
These beds are 400 ltr capacity and are filled with clay pebbles.
Pinched a couple of lettuce from other beds, put in some sweet corn, 3 x tomato bushes, some rock melon which I will let hang over the side onto the ground. (should build a trellis for it really)
The clay pebbles are really nice to work with....pity about the cost.

Have made a wood cover over the sump below the beds, stop kids crawling into there.
Water flows from the fish tank by gravity to the grow beds, the grow beds fill, the auto siphon delivers the water to the sump below where the small pump delivers it back to the fish tank. Only as much water can flow back to the grow beds as the small pump delivers.
It won't be long before I have some fingerlings in the sumps. They are perfect for it really. The capacity of the sump is 400 ltrs although the sump/s are only half full most of the time.
But I reckon it would be a good place to have fingerlings for the first few months of their life. Catching them might be a bit of a job when it comes time to move them....:)

[Outbackozzie]

Shiny.

+1 for clay pebbles, and the cost :rolleyes: