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Comment by Adrena lee on May 2, 2012 at 7:57pm

Oh the barrels are expensive where ever you are. Here you can find them on craig's list usually for 15 or 20 dollars. Also stores sell them for about 20 dollars new. I want one of those pools and I have another question. How many gallons of water does it hold. I have mine at 600 gallons and if I replace it someday I hope to get something like that. I have 50 Tilapia for it, but a little work to do still before I move them to it, because I changed it a little bit this year. Also I kind of made mine upside down because I didn't have any material last year to raise my beds. 

Comment by Chris Carr on May 2, 2012 at 6:35pm

I like the idea of using barrels for the grow beds and will try and do the same when I build a system. I was only referring to the wood frame and liners for the tank and/or sump. It would be comparable in price to IBC totes and a great option for when you cant get an IBC for a tank. I recall from another thread you said you did not think you could find one locally.

Comment by syazwan on May 2, 2012 at 6:20pm

Thanks Chris for the info, I will try to check if it can be found here in Brunei. I used barrels as it was easy to find here, at the cost of $40 each. I visited one of my acquaintance here and he used barrels for aquaponics which has been going for years (if im not mistaken) he's not on this forum though, but on the practical aquaponics forum. If it was easy to get IBC, I would prefer to use them instead of barrels, but its difficult to find one. 

Andrea lee, Thanks. The fish pool I bought from a Pet store, around $200+ Bnd. Its hard plastic, I am not sure what it is made up off actually. some type of plastic. :)

Comment by Adrena lee on May 2, 2012 at 4:30pm

Oh I like this one a lot. It is very nice looking. What is the material used for the fish pool.It is all hard plastic? It makes me think of mine only this one is better. 

Comment by Chris Carr on May 2, 2012 at 1:02pm

She is using what appears to be a Bagster (a disposable miniature version of a garbage dumpster, similar to a tarpaulin/tarp) This is likely polyethylene and UV resistant and in the shape of the tank already. The inside is, I believe 6mil poly vinyl (Not UV resistant, but food safe and waterproof) Provided you can block most/all UV from the inside of the tank with a cover or roof, you should be ok since the poly vinyl is protected from UV from the tarp. Both materials however are likely not nearly as thick as a proper liner and can puncture easily.

You can get pond liner grade/gauge UV resistant vinyl but it will be hard to find and expensive. I like the idea of doing the above because it is practical and affordable but it will be difficult to say how long it will last without actually having one break down and need to be replaced. Without any experience I like this option second best, next to IBC totes + UV resistant paint. Pricing out both seem to be about the same in material costs.

Comment by syazwan on May 2, 2012 at 8:44am

Thanks for the link, i saw the picture and her system is quite nice. simple. I think the most important thing for aquaponics growers are the food is safe to eat and to ensure that the system works. I think I need a quotation for a liner here in Brunei. I heard last time that it was expensive, but I am not really sure. so what are the best materials for Liner? Do you know? Is it safe for growing food? 

Comment by Chris Carr on May 2, 2012 at 7:26am

It's no problem. I understand what you mean just fine. I hear broken English everyday :) The one good thing with the loop siphons are that they are external so it does not take away from your grow bed space. I guess with them inside the grow bed they are likely to be more reliable and protected though. Since you mentioned before that you were not able to find IBC totes, maybe this design by another member may be an option. If you cant get a UV resistant liner though, you will have to cover it. I think this inexpensive design at the least is a great backup option for emergencies or if a system needed to be drained for maintenance or improvements and you need to keep fish.

Comment by syazwan on May 2, 2012 at 6:50am

welcome, this one is just for my backyard. I am hoping to make one that looks and produce more plants better. just need the budget to do so. its hard to find materials here in Brunei, so I have to make use what I have. Regarding the loop siphon, they do work, just that i have to do a lot of adjustment of the water flow to my grow bed. In the future I may want to make a U siphon, but with a gravel protector, just like the one with a bell siphon. just to make sure that gravel don't go into my PVC pipe. sorry for the english mistakes, english my second language here. Hope you understand easily

Comment by Chris Carr on May 2, 2012 at 6:45am

Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

Comment by syazwan on May 1, 2012 at 10:21pm

one of them is at a different angle as i don't have enough gravel to fill up the grow bed. :p so i just adjust it in an angle so that the top of the water level is lower. there is 4 siphon here actually, the two are at the back and drain back to the bigger PVC pipe leading to the fish tank. 

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