Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Back on the forum after a bit of a hiatus.Anyway, I want to set up a system with both sump and FT buried.I only have one pump so the FT will be a bit higher than the sump, the FT will use a SLO/venturi to drain to sump which will the house the pump going directly to the GB's.The grow beds will drain via gravity into the FT.

The only problem I can think of is what will govern the GB water level, I assume the pump/timer will need to be set as not to overflow the growbeds or am I missing something?

Also, the drains are 1-1/2" , should I use 4" pvc as a standpipe with 1/4" holes on the GB's?

The system will be a 35gal FT, a 35gal sump and 2-15 gal GB'S, I will be using goldfish and don't believe I can achieve tolerable water temps unless I bury the tanks..Thanks

Use overflow box "modified" for your needs to do the fishtank to sump

http://media.photobucket.com/image/diy% ... erflow.jpg see here

Then do autosiphons from growbed. so it does like this. Sump ---> Growbed --- Fishtank --- Sump or in other terms Pump ---> Autosiphon ---> Overflow Box -- Pump...

Motto is keep it simple so its impossible to fail or at least in theory. I can send you a shot of my 1 and 1/2 inch overflow box I made. Its powerfailure tolerant.

http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public ... nics09.JPG actually you can see part of my overflow box here. It makes it so there is no need for drilling and water leakage it rawks!

Ohh note in mine I had no need to use the T as in the image above. However you can use a T and make it so that the overflow box drain can go anywhere any shape pipe be it mated to vinyl or whatever no big deal. I had no need for this thus no T. However if used on the back of a fishtank for instance the T would allow you to drain to a sump with a hose neatly

Would not let me edit my post :/

Make sure you keep the no-holes-overflow accessible. It seems reports are that they will lose priming in the chamber sooner or later. So you'll have to reset the overflow from time to time.

I have run a overflow on my fishtank for months and never lost priming?

Hi brydon2:

I used this kind of setup in the basement, the FT overflowed into the sump, the sump housed the pump up to gravel beds which siphoned back into the FT. The downside of this kind of setup is solids building up in the sump.

One thing you might try is to fill the sump with gravel, with a cavity to house the pump. Then you could grow plants in the poopy gravel. I ran this kind of setup without plants for a few months and it worked OK. The pump was continuously-running to keep the water moving from the top to the bottom of the gravel-filled sump. If the water can stagnate at all then the whole thing would fall apart really fast.

Instead of burying the fish tank you should seriously consider doing a real CHIFT PIST setup, but with insulating or adding more thermal mass around the above-ground FT, maybe by putting blocks or bricks around it or otherwise adding a masonry or dirt buffer from the air temps to the sides of the tank. The FT would only have to be just high enough to provide enough fall to the GBs then the sump. If you don't mind burying the sump really deep then both the GBs and the sump could be buried, rather than the FT and sump.

I fear with such a small system, even with digging in the fish tank and sump, the water temps in your climate may be difficult to keep very cool. How deep can you really dig a 35 gallon tank into the ground. If you are only digging in say 8 inches, you are barely getting below the heated surface ground.

I agree that lifting the fish tank out of the ground enough to do a real CHIFT PIST with the grow beds getting the water direct from the fish tank then they drain into the sump will probably provide for better water quality and less sump and pump cleaning.

I think putting bricks, blocks, sand, dirt, or gravel around the outside of the fish tank and grow beds then insulating around and over that will probably help you out as much as sinking the small fish tank into the ground.

FWIW I had a tiny <20 gallon setup on the deck last Summer and the water temps were up and down wildly all the time. Had three goldfish in there then 2 then 1, but he survived OK. Put a piece of wood over the FT to try to keep the sun from heating it up so much. If you use goldfish they just might do OK, especially if you can shade them well and cool the tank with dirt.

Thanks folks, I need to see a pic of this overflow system, I'll do a search, I can't visualize whats going on with it.I'm going to bury the tanks entirely about a 28" hole, I' gonna dig the hole a little large then insulate both tanks with sand or something.I'll cover the hole with a large piece of plywood and drill some large holes for some light for the fish.One concern is regulating the GB drain, since I'm new at this I'm not sure, I have one plumbed with 1-1/2 pvc fitting, not sure if I need a large piece to surround the 1-1/2" or just drill holes in it.I guess people use in-line ball valves to control GB drainage but since I never used an AP system I need to see it in action..........Sorry about the lag, I forgot to check the "notify" box.......Thanks again.

There are two primary ways that people control flood and drain grow beds.

First you could have the pump run all the time and use an auto-siphon to cause the bed to flood and drain.

Second you could use a timer to turn the pump on and off and use a stand pipe for drainage of the grow bed. Usually this type of drainage has some small holes near the bottom of the stand pipe in the grow bed that will allow it to drain when the pump turns off and the top of the stand pipe should be set at or just below the desired "flood" level in the grow bed so that once the bed is flooded, it won't overflow over the sides or even over the gravel.

Here is a simple CHIFT PIST diagram that uses a loop siphon to drain the grow bed.

I will get you some information on the overflow box. It works on the idea that water on both sides is equal thus cannot drain out on either side.. once water is applied to one side it flows out the other. this allows for "overflow" and constant siphon being there ready to go. This prevents having to drill its quite nice.
http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/overflow.html
Simple example however it can be done with PVC far cheaper.

As for the draining of the grow beds. I think the most simple method is flood/drain with autosiphons. That is where a hose is down in the growbed and once the water level reaches that it cuts off the siphon. Its pretty neat and works really well I used it in my garage system with Autosiphons.

http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public/autosiphon.jpg
http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public/autosiphon1.jpg
http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public/autosiphon2.jpg

End result?

http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public ... growth.JPG

You could also do NFT

http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public ... gstuff.jpg

LOL!!! that was insane..

http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public ... sanity.jpg that was behind...

O.K. , I'm gonna keep this one as simple as possibe and use a timer to flood and gravity drain.Can I use the 1-1/2" as a stand pipe or do I need to go up?

The digging out here is brutal, you need to use a pick-axe to break up the "ground", it's all compacted sand/rock.Took about 3-hrs to get 8" so far, I need to around 21".I figure I need to go 2-4" deeper on one side for the venturi to function.
Any thoughts on "insulation" in the hole?, I have no faith in keeping water temps out here above ground, none! , hence the digging.

If you're using the dirt as a heat sink then I wouldn't use any insulation. The idea is to increase the thermal mass over your actual water mass, which is very small and would fluctuate hugely. Maybe if it is sand you could wet the sand (with water from the hose on hot days) so it stays moist and evaporates and gets cooler than without it being moistened.

I used a no-holes overflow on the little system, had to get air bubbles out of it every other day at least. This one was simpler than the ones that have a lot more tubes, which probably have more of a safe zone. Any air in the water from aeration or splashing or algae outgassing would build up in the top, threatening to cut off the vacuum. I wouldn't use one again if there were other alternatives.

viewtopic.php?p=125191#p125191

How about lining the hole with heavy plastic and filling the hole with water around the tanks?, don't know how much evap would occur on standing water if I covered up the top well with 3/4 plywood and possibly adding 1" foam insulation to the plywood?

Insulating over the ground and tanks should help but make sure there is still air exchange for the tank. Wetting the sand will help since sand does not have as good of heat transfer properties as some other types of dirt.