Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi
i am a
i am looking at setting up a system and would like to know the basics like

how may fish to beds
how do u work out the bed size is it how many letters of media or is it how much water u can fit in that media
whats the pump size needed
what is the best way to get the system cycling
how many worms do i need to a bed and what type
how much salt and why
and is there any other thing that i need to know i been ready a lot about it and there so much to learn and just need to know the basics

i want to end up running 100 fish ( i plan not to start with this number to the system is more stable)
and start eating them when they get to a ok size like about 300g+
i will have 1 or 2 ibc 1000L FT with about 1500L media volume beds
i plan to have a 2.5k pump and dont know what size air pump yet
and a battery back up system on a 240v dead switch to tern on 2x 12v 500 G hour

Might be worth doing some reading for a while zane and get your head around everything.

You seem to have an idea of how you want the system layed out, so thats good.. thats a start. My best recomendation for now is to visit the IBC of Aquaponics website which will answer a lot of your questions.

But I will give you a few answers your questions..

How many fish per bed? Always calculate your fish stock to filtration volume (GB volume), here we recomend 25 fish (grown to 500g) per 500L of GB. To stock to this level humanely you need 10L of water per fish.

500L of GB means 500L of media. The media is your filtration.

What pump size is needed? Your pump size is measured on a few parameters but a simple rule is you want to try turn your FT volume over every hour. Other considerations is pump head height, pipe sizing and plumbing option. There is many factors included with deciding on a pump and not an easy question to answer. Its a goos rule that most pumps that claim to produce x amount of flow is generally half that. Something to keep in mind.

Whats the best way to cycle the system? There is many ways to cycle and you will get many different answers. I always recommend fishless cycling but thats just me. Go to the IBC of aquaponics website for more info on cycling.

How many worms? There is no magic amount, I simply bought a box of wrigglers and put them in but you will find that they will actually just apear in your GB after time... amazing creatures.

How much salt and why? Salt is added to systems for a few reasons but primarily it is to promote fish health and mitigate against nitrite poisening. The amount depends on the reason you are salting. Search "salting" and you will find heaps.

Hope this helps a bit.

yer it dose a bit thanks

as for reading more i been reading for the last week and there' only so much i can take in with out talking it out with someone i learn better that why for i can ask why to thing thats not so easy when readin