Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If you have it timed, then you may need a slightly larger sump for accommodating more water.

The problem I see with the set up above is that if you don't have enough pumping power to move solids at the moment then you are going to need a bigger pump no matter what, just adding a settling tank won't make the solids move from one place to another..

Pump timing usually has more to do with water turn over and the available pump timer. Most commonly the increment is 15 minutes just because that is what most inexpensive timers give you as an option. So most people will run 15 on and 45 off to do one cycle an hour. However, when cycling up a new system or whenever water quality needs a boost, you can just turn the pump on and run constant flood for a while till things improve.

The water movement along with fish movement is what will get the solids to work out of the system. If solids build up. Get a bigger pump.

This thread finally gave me the "understanding" of how a Aquaphonics system works! Thanks. I was scratching my head for days!

TC's got a really helpful web site too you should check out.

this is amazing i now know about how a aquaponics system is supposed to work the diagrams were very helpful thank you :
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how do you subcibe to a thread

up near the top just above the first post on the page on the left there is a subscribe/unsubscribe link

Hello TCL thanknyou so much for the diagrams.
I'm interested in the first diagram from page 5 "another simple system"' two GB going directly to FT.

I'm curious about the "pump off the bottom of the FT for safety reason": could you please explain what these reasons are? My coming-along system is exactly like the one in the diagram only it's CF...

lifting the pump off the bottom just makes it so that if something goes very wrong with the plumbing (like pipe knocked out and pumping water out of the system, at least the pump won't be able to suck the fish tank all the way dry and leave the fish dead. And hopefully you will come along and notice before the fish do die and maybe you can fix it in time.

Wouldn't that lift less solids/waste?

Yep that would be the drawback. but I've found with an air stone and making sure the water circulation has a little swirl to it and the fish stirring it up, you can actually get much of the solids to move on through the system anyway.

I have a vertical pipe with a small hole in it as the inlet to my pump, the theory is that if the water line goes as low as the hole then it will suck air and break the vacuum meaning the pump won't pump any more water out. A small hole will lose some suction but not much and I hope it will do the job if necessary, but haven't tested that.

Very rough schematic of a CHIFT PIST raft system with a gravel bed filter:



Blue pipes are gravity fed, red is the pressure pipe from the sump back to the fish tank.
(link to various sizes here.)

And how do you keep it up from the bottom? Hang it?

I think people usually put it on a brick or crate or something.