Aquaponic Gardening

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I have noticed a lot of people cutting their IBC cages in such a way as to leave jagged posts sticking up and I can't understand why. I always cut mine so as to leave a nice rail on top. Ck out these pics and next time I am cutting one I will take pics or if I have the patience, a video.

This of course is the top. Now I'll find a cut view.

What I do here is cut the post just above the rail at an angle so it leaves a nice rail again. They end up at 2 ddifferent heights but that works out fine as I stagger them up and down and run the plumbing under and over every other rail. I have only used the round conduit cages for GBs so far and the square I use full size for FTs. This next pic shows the height difference between them:

Hope this helps if you are about to start that cut

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Replies to This Discussion

Hey Rupert.

Yup that's one way in the video and I watched it and downloaded the IBC book 9 months ago and learned things from both. To me the GB over FT is perhaps a good starter project but having your GB 4 feet in the air had no appeal to me whatsoever and it is too shallow to boot. You want 12" of gravel with plenty of lip above your siphon and the rail above that and using the lid for your siphon location is a big pain in the A in my opinion. I wanted it in easy access top and bottom.

The PDF is a great intro to all sorts of systems but I found it very short on details as it is really a sales tool to get you to buy the info from each system owner in the booklet which is fine. But details are very few and far between. Every one should have both in their library I agree. My system is very different from both your examples starting with the GH with a separate fish room (for temp reasons), cascading full size FTs, and GBs that are at a nice height that is easy on the back and allows for 7' to 8' tall plants.

I never use the metal bases under the GBs because if you use 2 GBs per FT you quickly run short of pallets and they tend to suck the heat out of the GB in Winter anyhow. (I say that as I sit here listening to Blizzard Sandy howling outside:-) I found that the rougher grade deck planks at about half the price from Lowes make wonderful bases that should hold up well given the constant wet conditions in the GH and spaced right allow for all the plumbing.

I personally have learned more on this forum than either of those wonderful sources. I am a member of 2 other AP forums and rarely visit either one any more. While it is good to point to both of those I think we have a treasure trove of info we can point to right here on TAPGC

I don't know how Sylvia does it but this is without a doubt the most user friendly forum I have ever had the pleasure of joining and I am a member of at least a dozen on other subjects beside AP. From quoting other posts to uploading pics it is amazing how intuitive it is here. Other forums should eat their heart out. I still can't upload pics easily at either of the other AP forums and gave up some time ago. (I visited one today and half of my posts have disappeared to boot.) They aren't viewable until posted and always end up out of order. Must be an Aussie thing I guess. Anyhow take a look at what I mean about tall plants:That sucker in the back there is at least 7 foot. I need a ladder to pick my peas!! If those started 4 ft in the air, then what? Learn from others but design for yourself Raging blizzard outside and so peaceful and green inside! Now if I can just figure out Sylvia's smiley faces They tend to change my words to blue after posting and I can never access the "| more" page. WHAT, NO BLUE. What has changed I wonder?

RupertofOZ said:

Here ya go guys and gals... how to build an IBC system... (without jagged edges).. from start to finish...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WYFM...

 

(sorry, couldn't get it to imbed)

 

And you can find the video.. and the free 187 page interactive PDF manual here...

(downloadable, but currently being put up online)

 

http://ibcofaquaponics.com/

 

 

Perhaps it is time to put our own pdf primer together. There is something different about the people on this forum and it would be cool. We should review what BYAP has done and do our own version. Personally I don't think their 3D gadget is worth the trouble. Good pictures tell all along with a good description.

Wow Jim... quite a reply... hopefully it wasn't provoked by a sense of some sort of implied criticism of your suggestion...

Because it certainly wasn't meant that way.... it was just meant within the context of the thread itself...

 

I posted the video.. to show how an IBC can be cut.. avoiding the "jagged posts" you referred to... agreed it's just a simple grow bed on top of a tank scenario....

 

But it's entirely valid...

 

Likewise.. the link to the IBC manual.. was intended to show how many diffeent configurations of systems.. including several essentially similar to your own... had been constructed by aquaponicists worldwide... and almost all without the "jagged posts" mentioned...

But I am going to correct you on a couple of things... not to "flame" you... but in the spirit of friendly reparte...

 

The PDF is a great intro to all sorts of systems but I found it very short on details as it is really a sales tool to get you to buy the info from each system owner in the booklet which is fine.

 

The manual does contain links to various BYAP magazine subscriptions Jim... but there is not a single link... suggestion.. or requirement... from a single system shown...

 

That requires you to "buy the info from each system owner"...

 

You can freely find all the detail of each system featured.. on the freely accessible BYAP forum... you don't even have to register...

 

The IBC manual is a free publication... on a free website... featuring pictured system freely provided by the respective system owners...

 

 My system is very different from both your examples starting with the GH with a separate fish room (for temp reasons), cascading full size FTs, and GBs that are at a nice height that is easy on the back and allows for 7' to 8' tall plants.

 

Sorry Jim... but there's 60 odd different system configurations included... and many are similar to yours... including some with attached, and/or seperate greenhouses or fish rooms... Arkantex ( a US Texan member) is a case in point...

 

To me the GB over FT is perhaps a good starter project but having your GB 4 feet in the air had no appeal to me whatsoever...

 

The example was a "simple one IBC.. fish tank and grow bed example... there's no need... and a quadzillion examples of other ways to configure IBC systems that address any particular requirements/constraints...

 


and it is too shallow to boot. You want 12" of gravel with plenty of lip above your siphon and the rail above that

 

As Faye said in the video... the depth of the grow bed can be any depth... from 8-12"... 12" or more... there's even systems shown that utilise the entire IBC volume as a grow bed...

 

12" of gravel/media depth.. is the accepted "norm"... but it is not.. and never has been.. a requirement... for aquaponics success...

 

And why do you need "plenty of lip above your siphon"???... you should never be flooding higher than 1" below the surface of the media... let alone above the height of your siphon...

 

and using the lid for your siphon location is a big pain in the A in my opinion. I wanted it in easy access top and bottom.

 

Sorry.. but I don't understand your point... using the lid in the video shown.. is perfectly valid... and accessible...

 

Sure.. if you're placing your grow bed nearer ground level.. then having the siphon nearer an edge makes logical sense in terms of accessibility... that's just a no brainer...

 

As to...

Perhaps it is time to put our own pdf primer together. There is something different about the people on this forum and it would be cool. We should review what BYAP has done and do our own version.

 

Well yep.. nothing stopping you re-inventing the wheel... there's a lot of it going on lately... but why???

 

There's only so many ways an IBC can be configured into an aquaponics system... and most of them are shown in the manual...

 

And it was always intended to be revised.. and expanded in future editions... why not work with what exists.. and have a single repository of information???

 

Personally I don't think their 3D gadget is worth the trouble

 

You'll find an aweful lot of people... including many here on this forum... that disagree with you Jim...

The "3D gadget".. is free... and actually when you become accustomed to using it.. extremely powerful...

It has the ability to scale draw... solar orientate.. rotate... seasonally adjust.. shade render... load images to a shared library... and do much more than just design aquaponics systems...

And did I mention that it's free... in case you don't know.. it's not a BYAP product.. it's Google Sketchup...

As to the various forums.. and formats... each has it's own idiosyncracies....and each it's good points.. and annoying points...

 

By the way... the other forums do have a way to "preview" your post before actually posting...

 

As to ...

I personally have learned more on this forum than either of those wonderful sources. I am a member of 2 other AP forums and rarely visit either one any more. While it is good to point to both of those I think we have a treasure trove of info we can point to right here on TAPGC

 

Well yep... there's some good information on this forum.. and some poor information...but it's certainly improving all the time...

But the vast majority of the good information... is provided by members who cut their teeth on the older and mostly Australian forums... which have been going for over a half a decade...

 

And building IBC systems... before most of you guys even knew what an IBC was...

 

Every one is delighted to see that aquaponics is being embraced with a fervour in the US & Canada... and we're glad that you have a forum resource to address your specific location... climate... fish species etc...

 

We just wonder why it took you so long....

 

But hey... please don't dismiss your "southern aquaponic cousins" so lightly Jim... they have been doing it in their backyards...  for a lot longer than those of you above the equator.. commercial DWC excepted... (and those many Northern members who actual frequent/frequented the OZ forums...)

 

And as has been pointed out in other threads... with the exception of some location/climate specific questions... there really isn't/hasn't been anything asked.. or posted here.. that hasn't been previously asked/posted/replied to... on the older forums...

Hey Rupert. Hope you feel better now. No way I have the time to answer all your questions. I stand behind what I said and had no intention of starting ww3. Peace.

It's all good Jim...

Hehe...Don't take it the wrong way Jim, but this doesn't even qualify as "the Battle for Fort Erie" let alone ww3.

Rupert did make some very valid points and I'm not catching a "starting a flame war vibe at all". I mean you did kind of bash the PDF on some ill-founded basis... and well, there are details-o-plenty on those featured systems on the BYAP forum and all. Most of those guys/gals are very helpful and freely give of their knowledge and experience...and are pretty entertaining to boot. I really like this here forum, but it's hard (if not impossible) to negate what the man stated and still stay within the bounds of reality...
I'm going to slowly walk away now...I'm keeping my hands where you can see them...


Jim Fisk said:

Hey Rupert. Hope you feel better now. No way I have the time to answer all your questions. I stand behind what I said and had no intention of starting ww3. Peace.

Boys, time to take Prozac.

Hey Vlad and Rupert, now that I am settled into my easy chair I will try and answer better. (Sorry, no line by line response here)

I felt that Rupert was indicating by his language that between those 2 sources "Here ya go guys and gals... how to build an IBC system... (without jagged edges).. from start to finish..." was a little over board not to mention abrasive. I watched every vid and downloaded every pdf and cut and pasted my own 20+ page bible from various forums wisdom before I even broke ground. I actually was in the end disappointed with the details in that pdf while at the same time very grateful as stated above, for all the hard work that went into it. My very simple point was and is: there is a great deal more out there than just those 2 sources and while they should be in everyone's library (as stated above) they are not the be all and end all of AP and as stated: I stand by my statements. I did come to the conclusion that while the pictures were great the descriptions and details were not as complete as I had hoped and I had to do lots more of my own research in the end. 

Oh and I do (back to the original purpose of this discussion) see way too many folks trying so hard to deal with those jagged posts, coming up with all sorts of strange solutions, and wanted to offer an alternative. (just cut them the hell off:-)

I don't think that complimenting this forum, as a member of the other forums as well and seeing the problems there (like suddenly loosing 6 out of 13 pages of a thread), should be taken so unkindly. I like it here. And perhaps that IS because it is Yank based. I dunno. (That Aussie thing was meant as a joke) And I do find the format here much more user friendly The photos for example do show up in order right away in real time. They do NOT at the other 2 forums.

And as to the 3D MS tool, I still found it relatively useless (I know where S is) and if we were to put together a member system pdf I still don't think it is worth all the extra effort that that entails, as impressive as it is. These are my opinions and need not be taken so to heart. Lighten up! 

And yes every one of these forums are based upon a core commercial center and the pdf is designed, while very helpful, to help steer us toward that BYAP forum for more answers and the store or lessons or whatever. And that includes Sylvia's forum. So please get real on that. And again, no harm in that at all but it does explain a few things whether intentional or not. They are paying to host the forums and we respect that. (otherwise I would be pushing my siphons on here just as an example)

Well I hope we can put this edgyness to bed. Taking a post apart line by line I find a bit of an affront. I used to have a friend that did that all the time. Used to If I missed something TOO BAD!

Night guys.

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Hehe...Don't take it the wrong way Jim, but this doesn't even qualify as "the Battle for Fort Erie" let alone ww3.

Rupert did make some very valid points and I'm not catching a "starting a flame war vibe at all". I mean you did kind of bash the PDF on some ill-founded basis... and well, there are details-o-plenty on those featured systems on the BYAP forum and all. Most of those guys/gals are very helpful and freely give of their knowledge and experience...and are pretty entertaining to boot. I really like this here forum, but it's hard (if not impossible) to negate what the man stated and still stay within the bounds of reality...
I'm going to slowly walk away now...I'm keeping my hands where you can see them...


Jim Fisk said:

Hey Rupert. Hope you feel better now. No way I have the time to answer all your questions. I stand behind what I said and had no intention of starting ww3. Peace.

That is it, just hitting Stop Following.

I sure hope my jagged edges didn't cause the dismembering of what could be BFF's ville? If so, I'll do better on my next IBC. That is if I can first grow some bacteria in my first system.

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