Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So Frank if you wouldn't use any of those methods what would you use, to power an AP system from mechanical means alone (besides standing there moving buckets of water around).

I expect that the "simplest" method of clockwork aquaponics would probably have to be to pump by whatever mechanical/manual/wind means up to some sort of water tower that would be big enough to serve the system with potential energy for at least 12 hours. Then use water flowing from this water tower to drive perhaps a ram pump to circulate water around the system.

Any such mechanical system, I would venture should be a CHIFT type system and have a sump tank that is at least as big as the fish tank if not bigger.

Actually, the simplest might be to have a large water tower/header tank that slowly trickles into the fish tank which would overflow to the beds which might be cascaded and into a large sump tank from where you would pump mechanically up to the water tower a couple times a day.

Perhaps the slow trickle down into the fish tank should spin a water wheel in order to provide extra aeration to the fish tank.

I agree with you, TCLynx.
But, unless there is a water temperature or quality issue, the ramp pump is unnecessary.
And a water tower must be very expensive.
It will take a lot of energy to pump up a little water to this height.
It will stock mainly potential energy.
But is that really what we want?
We will use this energy to circulate water. So we will have to convert this energy back in some way to move water.
The same energy needed to pump water to the tower will pump much more water to a lower height.
So it is better to construct a pond slightly higher than the growbeds.
And then use this water directly instead of reconverting the energy it holds to move other water.
The pond will have the same energy stocking capacity, but much more water which can be used for i.e. growing duckweed and/or live feeds and/or crayfish.

frank

Something along the lines of the manual "lift-the-bucket" method for hydroponics would be the simpliest approach.
The bottom of the beds would need to be about 10" above the tank water level.
Put the fishtank on a sturdy metal platform equipped with 10T bottle jacks or maybe seperate rams connected to a manually operated hydraulic pump.
Raise the entire fishtank 10" to flood the beds, then release the pressure gradually and let gravity do the rest.
Raising several thousand litres of water 10" off the ground using hydraulics wouldn`t a lot of effort..just don`t get your toes in the way when you let it down again

maybe a silly idea, but why not put both the upper and lower tanks on

this way you could alternate the flow back and forth at will if/when needed.
Both could be fish tanks (as long as density at lowest tank content is respected)
solids would be removed periodically and efficiently every few hours.
The remaining tank content (necessary for density respect) would assist in lifting the other tank up.
pumps in tanks would become redundant: all water movement is achieved by gravity.
a hydraulic pump would replace them. I believe these to be very energy efficient (piston or gear pumps) and extremely reliable, as they work with oil.
when needed this pump (or a parallel one) can be manually operated.
This action would only have to take place every few hours, leaving you time for other tasks (or resting).

Have I -we- just missed another opportunity to become filthy rich or what?
should I -we- have patented this idea?

frank

1000L ibc`s have a steel or sturdy plastic pallet attached so a pallet truck would be a cheap solution. You could lift the ibc with just 6 pumps of the handle with the "quick lift" types and then simply trundle it to the next ibc.
It could come in useful as an emergency backup for a system that uses ibc`s.

not sure about the clockwork thing

how about use a header tank. pump from the fish tank to the header tank and have that drain in to the grow bed and then back to the fish tank

the bigger the header tank and the slower the flow you go possibly set it up so it would run for a weekend

and if you use that high volume hand pum from youtube it could only take you a few minutes depending on the system to "recharge" the header tank every day or so

this would minimise the electrical input would consider putting in a air pump which you could get a 12 volt 1 and a solar panel and battery to run it

maybe something to consider at

Mal (my 2 cents)