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Comment by Paul Westberg on January 10, 2012 at 8:37am

Learned several things about backup tanks and water levels. 1. having a one pump system that pulls from the main tank can stress the fish when water levels get low. I like the systems I've seen where the fish tank remains constant height while the backup tank is the one that gets lowered. Found out right away that backup tanks and mosquitoes are not a fun combination; you can get mosquito fish for free from multiple outlets in San Diego. I got mine from a koi place in Escondido. And yes, free means free. They bag them up and hand them to you. Don't forget to feed them once in a while, they will starve with just mosquito larvae.Probably the biggest thing I learned is to not put tanks out of sight under a table. This whole setup will be reconfigured when I get the yard work done on the soil beds. It's gonna take a while, (one man, lots of work). If I was to do it again from what I know now I would have my growbeds under vertical hanging towers and have the beds drain to a sump tank (with float valve) that would somehow keep the main fish tank at a constant height. A real biggie is to not (and I mean NOT) glue all your joints together on the PVC. this makes taking it apart a nightmare. they will drip a bit at first but then stop. Yes, you do see some glue in the photos. (how do you think I figured this out?) 

Comment by Russ Grant on January 8, 2012 at 6:48pm

Hi Paul,

I'm actually working on a backup tank now. How are yours working? Any suggestions or lessons learned? I have a 55 gal drum and I bought a float valve off e-bay. I worked on gathering all the plumbing today just need to put it all together.