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Help to expand our system please.
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Author:  cookie2630 [ Feb 18th, '17, 12:48 ]
Post subject:  Help to expand our system please.
We are new to Aquaponics, only started Dec last year.
We used the IBC PDF to build our first system but expanded it a bit.
We have 4 x bottoms, joined together with 50mm pipe so water flows between them.
4 x tops (200mm deep) each with a standpipe flowing into the tub below it. We are on constant flood for our system.
In the right hand end is a 5000L pump. It pumps up into the pipes on top, floods top down both side.
In the 2nd from left bottom tank is another 5000L pump. It pumps to the pipe under the growbeds and essentially is only delivering air into the bottom tanks.
Fish are Barramundi. We live in Brissy so it's warm enough for them. We have approx 70 between the tanks.
We have small gravel as our media. Over the back of the tanks we have vine plants doing well.

So my questions are:

Can we have more Grow beds? We can't add them where they are as they are positioned on our verandah but can add them to the right out in the sun. We don't have a sump tank.

Can you grow plants under the rocks eg carrot, onion, beetroot etc in a constant flood setup?
We have just added a lot more plants in since pics were taken.

The black tape on the top pipes are covering holes. We drilled way too many holes in the pipe and it wasn;t flowing all the way to the end.

Thinking we can divert the second pump through a second set of 4 grow beds then drain them back into the tanks?
Would love some ideas please :lol:

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Author:  scotty435 [ Feb 19th, '17, 03:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: Help to expand our system please.
cookie2630 wrote:
Can we have more Grow beds? We can't add them where they are as they are positioned on our verandah but can add them to the right out in the sun. We don't have a sump tank.


I'm not entirely sure I understood the setup but if you are running Constant Flood then you should be able to add more grow beds. You'll need to add the piping and enough water for the additional beds and piping.

cookie2630 wrote:
Can you grow plants under the rocks eg carrot, onion, beetroot etc in a constant flood setup?
We have just added a lot more plants in since pics were taken.


Yes some of these do really well, like beets, onions, and Leeks but I prefer to setup wicking beds to grow root crops. Wicking beds also complement grow beds pretty well because they warm at different rates. Check out Food & Fish's (aka Milne's) thread on the wicking beds he makes in IBCs. Here's another thread showing a wicking bed build but I think Milne has refined it a bit since then - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23402.

Food and Fish's thread http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=663&start=2175

Decal's by JT has some nice wicking beds as well - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12933

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cookie2630 wrote:
Thinking we can divert the second pump through a second set of 4 grow beds then drain them back into the tanks?
Would love some ideas please


Yes that would work. You could also split and have two systems
Author:  dstjohn99 [ Feb 19th, '17, 14:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: Help to expand our system please.
I run an 800 gallon system with 10x 100 gallon growbeds, 2x 100 gallon DWC tanks and no sump. I also have a 15' NFT tube that I'm not using right now. I usually run flood and drain but sometimes I'll switch a bed or two to constant flood.

The only way I can get by with flood and drain on so many beds without a big sump tank is by switching between 3 zones. So technically it's a timed flood and drain, filling each zone for 20 minutes each hour, but I do run bell siphons to return water to the fish tank faster than a typical weep hole. If I didn't split into 3 zones it would be impossible to keep a reasonable water level in my FT. But with the zones my water level only changes about 4 - 6" (28" deep tank) and still has the capacity to contain all the water if the pump shuts down.
Author:  dlf_perth [ Feb 20th, '17, 08:41 ]
Post subject:  Re: Help to expand our system please.
if one aspect of your vegetable growing is lettuce etc then you can set up a couple of beds as DWC's. These are constant flood and are easy to run. You will probably get better growth for some plants as well with just baskets.
Author:  dstjohn99 [ Feb 21st, '17, 04:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Help to expand our system please.
dlf_perth wrote:
if one aspect of your vegetable growing is lettuce etc then you can set up a couple of beds as DWC's. These are constant flood and are easy to run. You will probably get better growth for some plants as well with just baskets.


This is exactly what I did, except my DWC "grow beds" are downstream from some media beds, so hopefully I get one more step of solids removal by the media beds before the DWC. FT - RFF - Media - DWC / NFT.
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