Hi!
This is Jonathan from Melbourne Aquaponics.
In this video, I would like to talk about the sump tank.
So as you know, in most of my videos, I show you some setups that are composed of only
one fish tank and a growbed.
The growbed is basically, most of the time, sitting on the top of the fish tank.
That is the easiest way to build an aquaponics setup because you only need two tanks, and
it works with gravity.
But today, I would like to show you another way of building an aquaponics setup using
a sump tank.
If you want to start your aquaponics setup, don't forget to get the free guide from the
description of the video just below, that's a six-step process to build your own aquaponics
set up.
It’s 100% free.
I just designed it for you to help you to build your own aquaponics setup.
So use it.
It's going to avoid you a lot of problems if you follow my recommendations.
So get this guide from the description.
A sump tank presents two main advantages.
The first one is that the level of water into your fish tank is always the same.
It's constant.
You know that in a normal growbed aquaponics setup composed of only one growbed and one
fish tank.
The fish tank level is always decreasing and increasing such as the growbed, it needs to
release the water for the growbed, and then when the growbed flushes, when the siphon
of the growbed flushes, the level of water into the fish tank increases.
So that's -- the water level into a normal growbed aquaponics without a sump tank is
always going up and down.
Several times per day.
Using a sump tank allows you to have a constant water level into your fish tank.
For example, here we got a setup in a restaurant.
So we are still building the setup at the moment, but I just finished to cycle and to
put in place a different component, and what we want, one of the requirements here is to
have this fish tank.
You see that's quite a nice fish tank.
The water level of this fish tank is always going to remain constant up to the top.
The other very interesting point when we work with a sump tank, it is the fact that you
can have your growbed and your fish tank at any level.
For example, here they are almost at the same level.
You can see that the fish tank here is almost at the same level with the level of water
at the top of my growbed as you see it here.
That’s basically, the two main advantages of having a sump tank.
A sump tank is also very interesting because here we have the pump so that all the technical
equipment of the setup that is placed into the sump tank.
So if we have a problem, if we want to maintain the pump or anything, we just have to go into
the sump tank, and therefore, we are not going to go into the fish tank and disturb the fish.
So from this point of view, it's really good.
It's better for the fish because you don't have to put your hands into the fish tank.
You don't have to disturb the fish.
You don't stress the fish at all.
You just have to do whatever you have to do into the sump tank which is a technical area
where no fish are living.
It's also a really good place to install some filters.
You know, if you want to put a mechanic filtration such as some moss, you can definitely put
some moss into the sump tank and in this case, you're going to avoid all the large particles
to go and to plug the pump.
So you're going to extend the life of your pump, and also, you're going to minimize the
quantity of maintenance you have to do on the pump because here you're going to filter
the water so you don't have to clean it as often.
And the sump tank is also a really good area to introduce the minerals.
You know that in aquaponics, we need to add some minerals to maintain our plants, our
vegetables to be strong, green and healthy.
I made a special video about it.
It's a bonus video that you can have from the description of this video here, all the
minerals that you need add into your normal aquaponics setup here.
In the classic aquaponics setup, we add the minerals and the iron all that into the bell
siphon.
So that's where we get a good mix.
But in a sump tank, you can directly add the minerals into the sump tank.
In this case, you're going to add the minerals.
They're going to release slowly into the whole setup and you are not going to create a big
wave of minerals.
They're going to dissolve slowly which is the best.
You can also add all your minerals, the eggshells, all those kind of things that you use to increase
the pH.
You can introduce them into the sump tank.
So that's a really good area to place all these minerals and all the fertilizers that
you want to use.
You can definitely introduce them through the sump tank.
So now, I'm going to explain you exactly how it works and how you can put it in place in
your setup, if you wish.
The idea is that we're going to have some water in our sump tank.
So here, for example, in this setup, the sump tank is on the very bottom.
It's very often the case in aquaponics when you got sump tank.
It's often the lowest point of the setup where all the water is going back by gravity.
So the idea is to build a setup with the sump tank but with only one tank.
Right?
That's very important.
You decrease the water consumption.
You can work with different pumps but try to minimize it as much as possible.
Right?
You always, if you minimize the number of pumps, you always reduce the power consumption
of the setup which is very important for sustainability purpose.
Okay, so behind me is a sump tank here.
You can see a sump tank.
You can see the water level here.
In this sump tank, it's just basically, a reserve of water.
Right?
So in this sump tank, the sump is an empty tank, and there is only one pump into the
sump tank.
So here again, you know that I’m very worried about sustainability when I design an aquaponics
setup because I think it's the real purpose of aquaponics.
So here, I'm again working with a 20-watt pump, which is extremely low.
The pump is here.
This simple 20-watt pump is going to supply the whole water flow of this setup.
So it's still a very efficient setup.
Even if it’s inside, we always try to optimize the power consumption of the setup with the
attachment with the aquaponics setup.
Okay, so here you’ve got the sump tank.
Now, I'm going to show you – I’ll just show you that there is a pump into the into
sump tank so the water that is raised from the sump tank is going directly into the fish
tank.
So here obviously, the water is dirty because I just put the water in place and I worked
with clay balls.
If you’ve got my book, you know how to get rid of this dirt without any issue, without
any problem, without having to clean all the balls by yourself.
The water coming from the pump is coming through this pipe here.
There is a little pipe and basically the water is coming into this fish tank.
Now, when the water reaches a certain level into the fish tank, it's connected to the
growbed, and it comes through this little pipe, but here I just put a little cage on
top of the pipe because I don't want the balls to go into this pipe.
It will be a dramatic because it will decrease the water flow coming into this growbed.
In this case, it will basically clog the evacuation of this tank and the water level would increase
and it would overflow.
So it would be -- not really good for the restaurant.
So that's why we always take --. We always put this kind of thing in place.
So here, you get a nice growbed.
You see?
And in this growbed you got one siphon, a bell siphon.
And here, I got just another flow, just in case there is a problem.
But here I got the the bell siphon and the bell siphon is going to basically -- you see
it's on at the moment.
And it's going to allow the water to come back into the sump tank.
So that's really how this setup works.
Each time that you follow this operation is that the water that is falling down into this
tank and the water level of the sump tank increase, obviously, this one is going to
be empty.
The bell siphon is going to stop and the pump is always still on so it's going to raise
the water to the fish tank.
Water is always coming so the water level here is going to increase again.
And that's the principle of a bell siphon.
Right?
It's going up and down several times per hour.
I mean, at least twice, I want to have the water level up and down per hour.
In this case, I got a good oxygenation for my bacteria into the growbed.
So when you design your sump tank, make sure that you place an overflow inside the sump
tank.
So by overflow, I mean a pipe that is going inside the sump tank that is raising up just
maybe five centimetres below the top of the sump tank.
So if the water level is too high, if for some reason someone adds some water into the
fish tank, the level of the fish tank is going to remain the same, but the water level into
the sump tank is going to increase.
So you don't want to have if your aquaponics setup is inside, if it's an indoor aquaponics
setup, you don't want to have the water that overflows everywhere.
So in this case, you just put an evacuation in place with the pipe going inside the sump
tank and raising up to up to five centimetres below the top of the sump tank.
In this case, if you put too much water, the water is going to drop into the overflow and
be evacuated.
It will be drained out and not flowing over to the sump tank and therefore everywhere
on the floor.
So that's really how you work with a sump tank.
And here you can see this setup is going to be a very nice setup because the customers
of this restaurant, a really nice restaurant, it's going to be a really nice restaurant.
Still a lot of work to do, but the customers of this restaurant are going to be able to
sit on the table here.
I mean, not on the table, to sit on the chairs to have lunch on the table.
And they're going to have the fish tank just near them, and they're going to have the growbed
with some vegetables that are growing in front of them.
So they're going to be really in contact here with aquaponics and they're really going to
-- hopefully, they're going to understand how the system works.
I think that's really good to have those kind of things in place because it's really good
communication and really show people how you can produce food with the waste of the fish.
It's really sustainable.
It's in the principle of permaculture, and I think it's a really good project.
I'm very happy to have worked on it.
On this specific project, I worked with another company who is really specialized into doing
some customized tanks.
So I worked with them to design the tank.
So they built the tank for us, and then obviously, we designed the system by itself and we put
the bell siphon and everything in place.
And now it's running.
So we are very happy, and if you are interested, if you want to see this, that means if you
want to come and eat into this restaurant, the restaurant is called the Lillie.
It's in Melbourne, in Prahran very close to Chapel Street.
If you are watching this video on YouTube, you will see that on the description of the
video just below you will have access to some free gifts.
First you have access to a six-step process to be able to build your own aquaponics system
in good conditions.
I developed this six-step process because I found that too many beginners basically
start in aquaponics with the wrong design.
So if you want to build your own aquaponics setup, please, just follow those six-step
process.
It's completely free, but I really designed it to help you to build your setup in good
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The second gift is for people who already have aquaponics.
A very common problem we have in aquaponics is that we got the leaves of the vegetables
that are turning yellow.
And the reason why is because basically, in aquaponics, we sometimes need to add some
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Otherwise, the vegetables have some deficiencies.
So if you have this problem, I made a special video about it as well and you can have access
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It's the free bonus video.
If you are very interested into aquaponics, you can also have access to a webinar, a free
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Finally, you are probably aware that I wrote a digital aquaponics manual called The Art
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So don't forget that you can have access to those four gifts on the description of the
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produce your own sustainable and healthy food in good conditions.
Bye-bye.
Thank you so much for watching the video.
I really hope you enjoyed it.
Don't forget to get your free gift from this screen.
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I really hope to see you soon, and I wish you a fantastic success with aquaponics.
Have a good crop.