Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've been studying this topic and came across a video that was interesting. The link is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wZ9PQepQYI

Could this be immersed in the fish tank? Maybe? I'm not a physics kind of gal, so I'm not sure.

I agree that if you already have something working, PLEASE share and post a video and/or written instructions with a diagram.

I'm working on gathering all the materials to build my first system and would love for it work without electricity. I will be buying a pump soon if I don't have this figured out by the time I have everything else gathered and built.


Bridget

Well you could move water uphill without electricity. It requires power mind you but not electricity. Anything that provides a turning motion (windmill-solar motor-magnetics etc) could power an Archearchimedes screw.

That said why don't you cut a peice of lexan to devide your current tank into seperate sections for fry and mature fish? You could make holes in the lexan to allow smaller fish entry-exit and large fish would not be able to enter. In fact why not split it in three with progressivly larger holes. the fish would then be apt to "migrate" from fry to harvest size.

Just a suggestion from someone researching how to get started:)

hey Bridget, welcome to BYAP.

You could mount a siphon in your FT (Fish Tank) I guess as a control of the water level and making sure you don't empty it. Some of us use bell siphons (or afnan siphons) in our GB's (GrowBeds) to create a flood and drain setup where the water builds up to the required height and then drains to a low level.

There's a lot more info on the Board Index page under basic Info and FAQ's and there's the free IBC of Aquaponics available for download.

if one or the other container is sealed you can set up a thermosiphon but that won't work for an aquaponics system so much but could be of use as a aquaponics system heating element.

Sorry, no pump free aquaponics system. SOMETHING has to lift the water somehow.

if I'm wrong someone please correct this but last time I checked you can only siphon for higher to lower the whole idea of siphoning action depends on gravity. The only way I could see a system like that to work would be using check valves and a sealed container for your fish. Then adding air pressure. (But I'm not sure how safe for the fish that would be.) But the idea is that the check valves allow flow in only one direction. Air pressure forces the water up past one check valve and into the grow bed. Then after the pressure is shut off and a valve opens on the tank allowing air to escape. The second check valve allows flow from the grow bed to the fish tank. I think it would be much easier and cheaper to go with a small pond pump and some timers.