The Baby Q

[GaryD]

Hi,

Several months ago, I sold my 4 Tank aquaponics system.....and set about designing its replacement.

The result was The Queenslander......a design concept which sought to enhance the resilience and productivity of the conventional flood and drain aquaponics system.

The Queenslander concept accommodates three design elements........solids removal, component location and environmental control.

Since I sold my old system, I've been keeping 15 barramundi and one jade perch in a makeshift recirculating aquaculture system in the centre of my shed. So that I could organise the shed (to allow me to begin building my new systems) I had to move the makeshift unit.......and that meant I had to prepare another tank.

So, in the past day or so, a new RAS quietly came into being. Actually, quietly is not an accurate assessment of how it came to be. Not being able to find anything was frustrating and I was swearing like a.......submariner.

Anyway, I eventually gathered enough tools to do the job and cobbled together some components.....a fish tank, an Oase Biotec 5.1 pond filter and a sump tank...and assembled the system.

I pumped the tank down and caught the fish and moved them to their new home.

I transferred the water from my makeshift RAS to the new one so there's no cycling necessary. I've hooked up one of my tricking bio-filters to ensure that there's adequate bio-filtration during the start up phase.

This unit is a CHOP system.......where the water flows from the fish tank into the Biotec where the solids are mechanically filtered before draining into the sump tank. A small pump lifts the water from the sump tank back into the fish tank.

One of the cornerstones of the The Queenslander design was that it should be easily translated by others regardless of where they live.......so, while this system is consistent with the Queenslander design, the Biotec has no long term future.

As soon as I can find everything I need, and there's room to swing a cat in the shed, I'll begin to make the filtration system changes that will herald the arrival of the Baby Q.

Gary

[jillybee23]

Gary:

Awsome system. I like the design and will keep it in mind for future use.

[GaryD]

Hi,

As I indicated in my previous post, I've been working on a filtration module that comprises "off the shelf" components.

I took a steel frame that I already had and purchased two 150 litre tubs (310mm high by 900mm diameter).

The tubs are located one above the other. The top tank is a sedimentation tank/clarifier (and is filled with 100 square meters of nylon bird netting). The bottom tub functions as a sump tank/Moving Bed bio-filter. It contains 50 litres of Kaldes K1 plastic media.

The water flows from the fish tank into the settling tank/clarifier and exits (hopefully less all of the sedimentary solids and most of the suspended solids) on the opposite side of the tub.

From there, it travels to a continuous flow (subsurface) grow bed on the other side of the shed wall. I hope that any remaining suspended solids will be trapped in the media.

It drains out of the grow bed and flows into the sump tank.

The plumbing is arranged so that I can shut off the flow to the grow bed and divert the flow from clarifier directly into the sump/bio-filter. This is how things are operating at the moment - pending the setting up of the grow bed.

This arrangement allows me to isolate the grow bed (to minimise overnight heat loss) while still providing full aeration and nitrification.

I've connected one of my small trickling bio-filters to hasten the colonisation of beneficial bacteria in the new filtration module.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

We fitted up a grow bed today. The Baby Q is now officially an aquaponics system.

The little dog is Miki......our site boss.

Gary

[GaryD]

Now that I can get far enough away from the fish tank to take a photo.......this is the Baby Q (for today anyway). We've connected up the grow bed and water is now flowing into the settling tank (top tub) and then into the grow bed and then back into to the sump tank.

Because we have 14 large barramundi in the fish tank......and to make sure we colonise the system with plenty of beneficial bacteria........I've kept one of our little trickling bio-filters hooked up.

We've already satisfied ourselves that the settling tank works. I cleaned it out last night and it had plenty of gunk in it after just a couple of days. It should become even more effective once bio-film starts to attach to the netting.

I can stuff the 100 square metres of nylon bird netting into a bucket after giving it a bit of a wash in the tub. Once we've got our aerobic digester set up, it will take about five minutes to clean the filter up.

This system is experimental inasmuch as I'm still learning about the Moving Bed bio-filtration idea. Now that I've connected the grow bed up, I've switched off the air in the sump tank (Moving Bed bio-filter) to allow the water in the fish tank to clear up a bit.

Gary

[MarkEinOz]

I like it a lot Gary! I am going to mimic this system closely for my first I think. Finally getting my nerve and wallet in order. Question though, where is your duckweed tank?

[GaryD]

Hi Mark,

Hopefully, I'll have the filtration module sorted by the time you're ready to begin your own set up.

Having said that, you can simply factor in the space for the filtration system and build your system as usual......and fit the filtration module anytime. The ability to retrofit a conventional aquaponics system is certainly part of my Queenslander thinking.

In the original Queenslander design, I intended to place the duckweed tank immediately after the filtration module.......with the idea that it would act as another settling tank. It was my intention that I would syphon out any settled gunk at the same time that I harvested the duckweed.

As things turned out, I hooked up the grow bed first (after months of relying on the fresh food people, I'm hanging out for some real fresh food). The duckweed tank is, however, still on the agenda.

As I pointed out earlier, the Baby Q is experimental and, if past experience is any guide, things will change often as I seek to come up with a cost effective means of removing all sedimentary and suspended solids.

As things currently stand, I have achieved the important goal of being able to easily disconnect the aquaculture side of the system from the plant growing units......so making changes to the growing systems will be relatively straightforward.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

We planted out the grow bed today........with a mix of salad greens and herbs.

We've opted for subsurface continuous flow (as distinct from flood and drain). The clay pebbles in the bed are 150mm deep and the water level is about 50mm. The surface of the media is dry but is hydrated from about 50mm down from the surface.

We used this method of grow bed watering when we had our 4 Tank system and it grows plants just as successfully as flood and drain and avoids the fiddling that is often associated with auto-syphons.

I attached a couple of photos of our settling tank. In the main body of the tank the nylon bird mesh is still very white......while, on the fish tank side of the perspex weir, the build up of sediment can be clearly seen.......after just 48 hours.

We currently have 50 litres of Kaldnes K1 media in the sump tank. While this would normally be churning (driven by air), we've switched the air off until the water in the fish tank becomes clear.

I'm still toying with the idea of using Kaldnes K1 in the settling tank (in place of the bird netting).

Our past experience of this media has demonstrated that it will trap solids.....particularly when it becomes coated with bio-film. I'm leaning toward its use in the settling tank because cleaning it will be as simple as churning it with our air blower (to stir up all of the muck) and then syphoning the watery solids straight into our aerobic digester.

Gary

[aquamagic]

Gidday Gary, if you change the bird netting to the K1 Filter beads ,will you still keep the sump full of the k1 beads ,or utilise the sump as something more than a biofilter & system water catchment?

[GaryD]

Hi Aquamagic,

In an ideal world, I'd like to keep K1 in both tubs. In the top one, the media would be still so that it traps suspended solids. In the bottom one, we'd have it churning so that it functions as a Moving Bed bio-filter (as well as a sump).

The fish tank has cleared up today so I may start the air pump on the bottom tank tomorrow and see what happens.

Gary