Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All , I am a 30 year old photographer in South Carolina and am beginning to build an AP system (after reading about it in the NY times !) I have always had an interest in farming, both sets of grandparents were farmers (dairy/beef&grain) and I'm fascinated by the idea. I've tried planting a garden in the past, but have had trouble - my wife however is constantly getting compliments on her plants..

So - I'm building an 8x16' greenhouse behind my garden shed, with a corrugated plastic roof and screen walls with wood planking for the bottom 3' (for protection against bumps & animals) It's a CHIFT PIST system, using a semi buried IBC sump with a IBC fishtank on top. The growbed will be a 10" deep woodplank and pondliner creation, 3' wide and 12' long.
If all goes well I hope to be able to add a second bed exactly the same on the other side of the greenhouse. I also want to add a floating "lettuce bed" above the FT and possibly a PVC pipe with strawberries. So I read as much as I can about AP, but still have some (pretty bizarre) questions, that I'd love your opinion on..

1) Does an IBC FT need a IBC for a sump ?
2) Is it possible to have too powerful of a pump ? I have a recycled fish pond pump that pumps 5 gallons of water every 40 seconds ? (in like a 2" solid stream)
3) Has anyone ever used wild caught fish to stock an AP system (I'm thinking bluegill or catfish) I can catch dozens of 2-3 inch long fish from a local pond ?
4) Is pumping water from the pond into an IBC in the back of the truck a sane idea, or should I just wait for rainwater ?
5) The greenhouse is going in an area with partial/dappled shade but does have direct light all day - is that ok?

1) Does an IBC FT need a IBC for a sump ?
No - lookup chift pist sump needs to handle just enough water for growbeds. Some setups do not even use sump. Sump could also just be a rubermaid tub - what it is made of does not matter.
2) Is it possible to have too powerful of a pump ? I have a recycled fish pond pump that pumps 5 gallons of water every 40 seconds ? (in like a 2" solid stream)
Yes - with to much pump you can overflow things quickly. As I have done with my first system, you can redirect some of the water back to where it came from, but that is just a waste of power IMO.
3) Has anyone ever used wild caught fish to stock an AP system (I'm thinking bluegill or catfish) I can catch dozens of 2-3 inch long fish from a local pond ?
That is my plan...gearing up to go catch bluegill April 4th

4) Is pumping water from the pond into an IBC in the back of the truck a sane idea, or
should I just wait for rainwater ?
I would not use pond water as it may contain all kinds of nasties you may not want. Use tap water and just bubble out the chlorine.

5) The greenhouse is going in an area with partial/dappled shade but does have direct light all day - is that ok?

I'm probably going to be repeating most of the answers already given by Deja here.

1) No the sump does not have to be the same as the fish tank, however it is kinda handy as if you manage to get enough grow beds to do the 2:1 grow bed to fish tank ratio, a sump the same size as your fish tank could be very handy.

2) Yes it is possible to have too powerful a pump. It is actually good to have a pump that is a little more powerful than needed so you can expand but if the pump is so powerful that you are having to direct most of the flow directly back into the sump, then you are probably using far more electricity and you need to.

3) Yes people have done wild caught fish. Only drawbacks might be fish that are not pellet trained are hard to feed and you don't know what other random things might get into your system with the fish/pond water.

4) Pond water into back of truck, hum, don't fill it up very far or you might have trouble with the truck? If you are getting fish from the pond, I don't really see that you are any more likely to bring in unwanted things with the water so it will be your call. If you tap water at home is treated with chlorine, then you can simply fill the system with it and run it for a few days and the chlorine will outgas and you should be good to go. If your water is treated with chloramine, that is a different story and it doesn't dissipate as easily but I've never had to deal with it so am not an expert. I'll tell you to get a report from your water company to find out what your water is treated with before deciding what is best to do.

5) Dappled shade. In summer I would say light bright dappled shade is probably a good thing. In winter, hopefully the trees drop those leaves since you will want more sun for warmth then. Can you trim those trees a little bit if you find you need more light or are they not on your property?

Good Luck with it all.

Oh, on your design plans. 10" deep grow beds can work but I would advise going deeper if you can. I also warn that lumber and pond liner grow beds can have termite issues. At the very least make sure the termites can't easily reach the wood because once they do, they to realize the difference between wood and liner till they find water, at which point it's too late and you have a leak.

Thanks so much for the advice guys !
I'll try to get a second IBC to use as a sump, but the idea that it just has to be as big as the growbeds is an interesting one.. kinda tough to visualize without having my hands on it.
It's a good idea to recirculate the water if the pump is too powerful..
I'll skip the pond water, and use rainwater and tapwater.
Good to hear that someone also wants to try locally caught fish !! My uncle in law has a tilapia farm in central florida, but I can't make it down there for a while.. I'll have to ask if he sells fingerlings, i think he's in your area TCLynx..
I'll take some photos and keep ya'll updated on my progress..I'm sure I'll have more ?'s !!