In June my aquaponics water feed pipes started having a lot of sludge. On inspection it turned out that the plexiglas wall had come loose from the sludge separator. This was great evidence of how helpful this simple equipment was. The loosening of the plexiglas was likely due to the expansion of the plastic bin when loaded with water causing stress on the sealant.
The solution was to mechanically attach the plexiglas. This was accomplished with the white rectangular implement shown on the top of the bin in the first photo. Using these nylon items along with nylon screws ensured that no metal would be imparted into the aquaponic water system. Any such fastening technique can be used -- I got these particular parts from Orchard Supply Company.
I did a modification to the original design at this time putting in a second bar at the influence that would cause the water to "roll" over it and onto the plexiglas. The effect of this is material is improved sediment trapping in the first compartment. Note the lengthened effluent pipe was removed eventually -- it did have the interesting affect though of allowing the depth of water in the second compartment to be set (due to the vacuum affect of water leaving).
