IBC Aquaponics

I had to clean out some soy oil based concrete form release from my tanks, and I learned that next time I need to buy an IBC- it will be clean !!  Lot of work for my 4 tanks...even with pressure washer it was tough.

IBC's are great and the price is generally pretty good too.  Just be sure to consider what was in the tanks before when you make your choices.

Commercial operations my want to avoid used IBC's or make sure they can show solid proof of everything that was ever in them before to protect themselves.

It is a good idea to protect the plastic from the sun so it will last longer instead of degrading from UV rays.

This is what happens when you decide to rinse that cageless 330 gal IBC one last time before placing it online and get distracted. It survived:-)

Arghh matey...run for it she's gonna blow! 

Glad to hear it survived.

Whoops. I just added a page on plumbing the IBC FTs and I have no idea where it went. I'll have to retrieve it and post it here somehow later.

OK, I found it. I added it as a page rather than a discussion. So it is on page 2

And I still see no way of getting to page 2 from here. Am I nuts?

I got an IBC tote that has been around a while and it's last life was to provide water for horses.  It was pretty well flushed out. I screwed up a little when cutting it apart to make the aquaponics system. I made the grow bed 9 inches instead of 12 inches so don't know what consequences that will bring. Made a bell siphon using 1" inside and 2" for bell, one ell.  Pump from Harbor Freight a 660 ghp and a 1 inch line from pump to the GB. Cycle time is about 10 min. The media in grow bed is river rock, lava rock, slate gravel, 1 1/2 inches of expanded shale on top. All of that is really heavy.  Water heater is home made 1500 watt 120 volt hot water heater element controlled by Ranco ETC-111000-000 Digital Temperature Controller. Maintaining 70* for time being. All of this is outside but short poly tunnel being worked on. Gold fish for this newbie. For aeration, using two 5 inch dia. stones each glued to a furnace brick and hooked up to a dual outlet air pump. (same air stone we use to keep live shrimp when ocean fishing). Been cycling at 70* for about 4 days, water is clear, Ph is 7.4 and ammonia 4.0. Looking forward to a little warmer March, been feeling like a mud dobber last few days

@Vince, post a picture of that bad boy!   About the 9 inch grow bed, I wouldn't worry to much, The roots are going to grow regardless, people just like to have extra room for them and from what I've read the average people want is 12 inches.  You may want to try planting something that doesn't have a huge root expansion (though I haven't researched roots on plants yet).   Just remember you'll need to cut off the water  two inches below the media so the top of your media wont be wet.  So you'll actually have 7 inches of root space.  You can also try raising the height of the GB by building up some type of walls to add a few inches if you are really concerned about it.

Hi Vince, I really recommend you go with Affnan's bell siphon formula which for an IBC is , once again:

1" stand pipe (down tube) with a 2" adapter on top. I do that with a 1" - 1 1/4" adapter topped with a 1 1/4" - 2" adapter from Lowes or such.

You then use a 3" bell pipe with cap and knob. Leave room for depth adjusting collars made from 2" pipe.

and a 4" gravel guard.I use a 3 rows of a spiral saw cut pattern which does really well with the gravel. Better than holes. Takes me about 1 min. on a chop saw.

1" male threaded plumbing adapter into a 1" female ELECTRICAL adapter and an "o" ring will get you through the bottom of the IBC cheap and in style. Again, never had a leak. Nice clean 1" hole please or you will have to go with a 10.00 wider flanged one.

Hey, do what you want but I don't want to hear about problems if you ignore this proven formula. That vastly increased spillway 2" funnel makes ALL the difference in my opinion. 9 mos now of continuously running 5 siphons and not one glitch. I have 31 of them that I have sold now and not a single complaint.

Your short GB should be fine. Save the carrots for your next deeper one Have Fun. I know I am. And remember: "Measure twice. Cut once"

And here's a thousand words:

Matt, thank you for the reply and the information about GB depth. Pictures will be posted soon. Most of our raised beds had 8 inch soil depth and they did ok and the bugs liked them too. Thanks fro remind me of the 2 inch cut off because I was planning on 1.5 inches but the setup is out in the open and after the last forcasted frost (April 9th) we will probably remove the plastic hoop tunnel.  So there would be sunshine on dem rocks.  We're using an old 6ft. square pump house (roof removed) for the set up and removed one layer of bricks to keep the GB from being so tall, but it is still kinda high.  The GB is setting on one wall and the other end is resting on a 2 x 8 which is also resting across the pump house and provides the much needed support. Had water circulating for about 4 weeks but the heater only operating for 5 days. So we figured the official cycle started then and 70* may still be a slow   cycle time. The weather is forcasted to be better here so clean up on that schedule.

Jim Fisk said: Hey, do what you want but I don't want to hear about problems if you ignore this proven formula. That vastly increased spillway 2" funnel makes ALL the difference in my opinion. 9 mos now of continuously running 5 siphons and not one glitch. I have 31 of them that I have sold now and not a single complaint.

No kidding. I don't know if I had already ordered my fittings online or if I h...

Having trouble finding those adapters in the big box stores here. The ones they have here are a different shape. Not the funnel like in his pics.

To change it around will cost a fair amount of money, but i might be forced into it.. (I'm a tightwad) And my wife is already giving me grief for all the money I have spent so far...and she doesn't really know how much that is....

What a refreshing and comforting feeling it is for an AP newbie to have such experience available to them in the start up period. All of the advice and suggestions regarding the Affnan's bell siphon formula are welcomed and come at the appropriate time and as time permits, will go to it. If I had that valuable information several weeks ago, I'd already have it installed. Thanks to all for the help. 

Hey guys, just got back from a service call. Here is a pic of my check valve which as it happens uses the exact same adapters which work perfectly with the ping pong ball and the Lowes part numbers are listed.

BTW , don't forget Lowes.com. Also, if you bring those numbers I gave you to Lowes they will find them. I bet they have them. Items can be right in front of you there and yet very hard to see. Drives me crazy.

Also I see we are over 50 members now. Let's make an impact by every member giving a "Like" above. That could cause a stir

Also, start new topics and ask questions. I promise to get some more IBC stuff on here soon as well. One thing that could be helpful to new addicts would be what have you paid for your IBCs in your area. I'll start a new topic, or anyone, on prices, if members want.

I've been looking for an IBC, to use as a fish tank, the problem is here in AZ the only price I can find is usually $120+ for food grade.  I've seen some totes on craigslist for 50 bucks, but they aren't food grade.  If anyone can help on this money saver I'd be more than interested to listen....

Hey Matt, I would worry less about food grade than water soluble. I have used Round Up ibcs and they were by far the easiest to wash out. I believe we covered a lot of that under "washing that ibc" Food grade that have been used to store old motor oil I would not even consider. Keep in mind they sell for about 5-600.00 new. Keep cking Craigs list and ask all around. Drive thru every ind. park around and spy on their backyards. Snap On uses veg based cutting oil just as an example.

Keep in mind that most barrel resellers pay nothing for them at least around here. I stopped at a local used barrel dealer and asked about IBCs and he told me there was no market but he sees them all the time. I offered him 25.00 and he got me 4 330 gal tanks pronto. Ask around. They were all veg based cutting oil. Harder to clean than you think but non toxic so not as critical. He sells them now to others at 45.00 and can't keep them in stock. He'll still sell them to me at 25.00 because I turned him on to them. Pretty sweet. Haven't seen any there lately though and I need 2 more.

Jim where are you located at?

Hey Matt, remember to just click on a person's avatar and you learn all about them. Having said that, Near Bristol (raceway) TN.

Doh! my bad.. 

Hello all,

I am fairly new to aquaponics and new to this forum.  I have a small barrel system in my basement but am planning on building a large IBC tote system in a green house this spring/summer.  I have 12 IBC 275 gal and a 900 sq ft greenhouse.  I haven't installed the greenhouse yet otherwise I would start building now.  Anyway I just finished reading all the threads here and saw Jim's diagram of a check valve.  What is that used for?  I have not seen anything like that before.

Hi Cliff,

That all sounds very exciting indeed. Let us know how you found all those. I was on a trip to N. Maine last Fall and pulled into a rest area about 3 am and parked next to a Cummins Ram just like mine and he had as I recall 40 IBCs between his truck bed and a huge flatbed trailer in tow. He was fast asleep so I never got ask where he was headed. Still haunts me

The check valve is used to prevent backflow during power down. I have a branch off the sump bypass line headed for the woodstove heater coil that would instantly loose the prime (flow backwards and empty the pipe) and need special attention every time to force it up over a doorway again or risk melted pvc pipes. Valve corrected that perfectly so far. Ck out the little blog I wrote on it. I love making most everything myself. Working on a swirl/bio-filter right now from junk parts. Pics soon. Mostly cause I'm cheap

Your GH is twice the size of mine so have at it. I figure my set up when completed should feed a couple families so yours should be commercially viable. Simply awesome!

I got the IBCs from an add off of craigslist.  The guy was selling them for $75 each but since I bought so many he agreed to sell them for $40 each and deliver them to me.  The guy is out of Crystal Lake, IL which is a suburb of Chicago.  If anyone in the area needs IBCs I can ask him if he minds me posting his contact info.  He told me he sells about 1000 IBCs every year so he has a continuous supply. 

As far as the greenhouse goes I am pretty cheap too.  I bought it used for $1600 and had to disassemble it myself which I did last fall.  I plan and constructing it this spring/summer.  I am a newbie to aquaponics but a long time gardener and I have raised fish before in the past.  Eventually I would like to turn this venture into a business but for now it is just an experimental hobby.  I plan on using 4 of the IBCs as a rain collection system to fill aquaponics and to water my non-aquaponics grow beds.  The remaining IBCs are for the aquaoponics and I have been toying with different designs using google sketch.

anybody use ibc that stored liquid soap, can they be cleaned out good enough for fish tank? 

Soap can be very difficult to rinse completely out of containers and it can be very deadly to fish.
(This is why they say never to use soap of any kind to clean an aquarium.)

If you already own the IBC then you might rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse it until it doesn't bubble or sudz anymore and then rinse it some more. 

I've heard some people say then you should use vinegar, I'm not sure if it will make much difference.

Then you fill the IBC with water and leave it sit till it grows some algae.

Then you put some sacrificial fish in it to see if they survive.  Mosquito fish are a hardy fish that will also keep skeeters from breeding.  However they may be too hardy since the ones I have will survive things that would kill other fish easily and so they may not be the best fish to use as canaries.

If you don't already have the soapy IBC's I'll recommend perhaps trying to get ones that had something else in them.

Parts to a simple siphon and what they are called. There seems to be some confusion among some as to what the parts are called and it makes it very hard to have a meaningful discussion so I threw this together:

I like it when people say "you know, the tube part" 

The "Down Tube" is also know as the "Stand Pipe" in much of the world.  Granted a stand pipe is also used in Constant flood and timed flood and drain, only differences are in timed flood and drain you add some holes around the base of it and skip the bell and in constant flood you simply skip the bell.

I can cipher "down tube" verses "stand pipe" but when I'm talking about the "bell"and their talking about the funnel as the bell, the conversation gets a bit muddled for a few posts

ya know, I'm talking about the thing that attaches to the whatsit.

Growing freshwater shrimp in sump tanks. 

1oz The size of jumbo shrimp you see in stores.

coty, I suppose that depends on the particular type of shrimp one is growing.

So what are the largest and best tasting and do you raise them alone or in a fish tank? I have 2 IBC FTs that are very under utilized at the moment. Also temps and food requirements. Do we have a good thread already started on this elsewhere? If not, let's start one.

Jim, I'd considered putting these in some of my growbed tanks then opted for the cheaper (free) crayfish.. I was interested until I realized they were temperature sensitive and it would not serve my purposes right now.

Here is the link I found.

http://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/index.htm

This is my new design.  Put 10.00 worth of steel in it.  The front is removable

Looks great James. What size was the ibc? Never saw one done that way before.

Prawn require a lot of space.  1 square foot for 1 adult prawn.  I made this to give me more sqfootage in my sump tank.  There are 10 layers with 10 sqft.  100 sqft of space = 100oz of shrimp in one sump.  I have 4 sump tanks.  thats a lot of shrimp.

330 gallons.

James, I am absolutely fascinated by this. If you haven't already you should upload these pics for all to see at the 10 per day upload section. Posted here I don't think they make it there as well. Please give more details. My daughter and fiance want to raise shrimp on Cape Cod in just such a system. Feel free to draw up detailed plans for sale or barter. I do that at my Ebay store and people love getting detailed plans at a reasonable price. I certainly do. Why reinvent the wheel and learn the hard way all that you have already learned?

3 - 5 photos? I am confused (again). Please help me understand Phil. Putting up a website is asking quite a bit unless you already have hosting as I do. Could do a free blog on the other hand at Blogspot or Blogger or the like.

Oh, sorry.  I thought that he was being asked to load up 100s.  Old post removed.

Pat, thanks for that link. Excellent.

Phil, do you mean the photos are too big because he can certainly reduce them as I do all the time. Actually every time. Perhaps that is what you meant. Surely if he does that there is no problem. On my Mac I simply get the photo to the size I want right in the folder preview and then take a screen dump pic of it and then post it. Command/shift/4 on a Mac. I use that all the time as the cameras are so many pixels now you have to.

Sorry if i did somthing wrong.  I'm new at this.

@Jim. You may have this trick handy for resizing on a mac (http://lifehacker.com/5962420/batch-resize-images-quickly-in-the-os...)

I also use this on windows 7 (http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/image-resizer-powertoy-cl...) Also for those windows users, [control]+[print screen] is how to screen capture on windows. You can then open the Paint program and go to Edit -> Paste.

@James you did nothing wrong at all. That is quite the fascinating rig you have there as Jim mentioned. What he means is that if you upload it to your profiles photo album on this site, Those photos it will be featured on the main page and you may generate a lot of discussion from folks who are not part of this IBC Aquaponics group. We'd love to learn more about it. Is this just bird netting suspended? The prawns are free to swim among the layers on their own I am assuming? I really dig it.

Wow Chris, I cked that out and I can assure you the fast 2 step method I use is sooo much faster (not to mention intimidating ((just read the comments section)) unless you are doing a whole bunch of pics at once. On a Mac these things are so easy and haven't changed in 20 yrs. which is very helpful for old farts like me. You can size the pic right in the folder in preview view, snap a new pic of that and post that screen snap.

James, where did you go? Don't let that scary guy Phil chase you off