Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I Have a 23 acre farm at the end of the earth here in Maine and i'm changing over from growing standard outdoor and greenhouse vegetables to Aquaponics in the greenhouses. I'll be combining two 32 foot long by 16 foot wide greenhouses into a scratch built system for raising trout and a rare vegetable grown in Japan that is in high demand from the fish culture. I Have the following equipment to get started with and mostly need a idea of design and placement.
1. one 2000 gal. 12 ft. fiberglass tank
2. three 650 gallon conical bottom tanks
3. 22 -55 gallon blue barrels (syrup)
4. two 60 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks
5. one 350 gallon square stock tank
6. 9-35 gallon round stock nursery tanks
7. windmill powered air pump
8. ram pump for fresh water collection.
9 one 7000 gallon water storage tank.
10.various supply of Pvc, brass Pex fittings and valves and several different pumps

So i'm thinking i should put the one large stock tank on one end of the greenhouse out of the way and work everything else out in a line on one side in a board lined trench for the drains and access.

Any ideas/suggestions would greatly be appreciated. BTW, The fish production part of the operation will be donated to our Towns community food pantry. Thanks in advance, Tom

So many options... There's not really a right way to do it as system design will depend on so many factors, and with those bits of equipment if you ask 50 people on here what they would do, you'll get 50 different designs...

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Life on the road

Hi and welcome to the forum

Lots of components to work with

If you are going to use the barrels as siphon growbeds think about linking a few together running on the same siphon to save costs on plumbing and water pumping costs as it takes a certain amount of water to run each siphon .

Or run them constant flood

I would build two systems , a big one and , a small one for your replacement fingerlings so you can quarantine your new fish

Don't overcrowd your green house you need good access to manage your system

Start a thread in "Members Systems" so you can record your build as it progresses

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My System
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12070

Hello all friends, Im new here too! Hope I will find this community really amazing and this knowledge of Aquaponics will help me with my future tanks

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Darmowe zwroty akcji są zwykle dostępne podczas grania w prawdziwe gry gotówkowe. Darmowe spiny https://www.slotozilla.com/pl/darmowe-spiny - free spiny bez depozytu to coś, co wielu graczy znajduje jako pierwsze.

I would like to chime in and suggest you research iAVs/sandgardening before you get too deep into F/D, siphons, filters, etc. Much simpler, more forgiving, and a larger variety can be grown.

ignore the spammer above iAVs has never been proven to work not have they ever publish nutrient level data until they do its just a scam.

What will be your water source and how will you keep it flowing for the trout? They are very particular.

Really? Tell that to the commercial operators in the Middle East who have converted ther operations to iAVs/sandgardening. So, just keep on sucking your ganja and your mind closed to progress.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1318946951452383/

Oh come one, they have 22 posts. They must be an absolute expert on all things by now.

I am enjoying the benefits of changing to sand. I have a couple of AP systems that I operated for 7 or 8 years? One is completely converted to sand for about 6 months now and the other is in process with 4 of 10 beds converted.

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800 gal sys 2016
IBC sand-ponics system 2021, 3 IBC GBs

9 kW Solar Electric 2011 - Upgraded to 12 kW 2019

"Aquaponics...solar-powered nanotechnology that produces fresh vegetables and meat, while purifying water..." - Rick Op, Houston Texas.

Enough experience to know in 35+ years they have never posted nutrient ppms but claim it provides all the nutrients you need. Well thats not possible to know if you never test for it. Its also not food safe having fish waste ontop of the sand as done in iAVs it doesn't and can't past food safety in the US. Its never been proven and it doesnt do what they claim.

Simply repeating ad nausium that a 3rd world farm is doing it still doesnt address the facts that it does like all systems need supplements and is not food safe for most nations at a commercial scale and doesnt prove and of the nutrient claims. It also is much easier for insects like fungus gnats to inhabit with the wet soil at the top. We have also see people have issues with grasshoppers and crickets at higher rates as well in public posts due again to teh sand. Many sands also contain heavy metals which release over time as not all sand is strictly silicon dioxide so your really taking major liability risks with this kind of setup thats completely unproven outside of a few die hards who continue to avoid proving any nutrient numbers.