Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well this depends on what your goals are for a "system"

Some people will spend huge amounts of time and money creating aquarium "ecosystems" and some even achieve set ups with planted aquarium using the nitrates from the fish aquarium etc.
So if your goal is to try to re-create as complete an ecosystem as you can then that is the whole point.

However, if you want to eat fish out of the system, I doubt your back yard will provide enough space to include yourself as part of a "complete ecosystem" type AP system.

It can even be a challenge to find the right balance to create a veggie and fish producing system using an ornamental pond.

One must figure out their goals in order to design a system that can meet those goals.

Wise words

Well this aquarium is the learning system
Back to research

Learning systems are a very good thing!!!!! There is a fair amount of chemistry you can learn from aquaponics. Just learning to use the test kit and understanding pH are good things to know before you add 100's of fish into a big system. It is also handy to understand the nitrogen cycle and have some cycled gravel to help kick start the next system

+1 TCL

A normal ecosystem is not stocked to anywhere near the density of an AP system and would therefore need to be huge to supply your needs. Once you start consuming fish/plants out of the system, you inevitably become part of the system. If the ecosystem is not big enough to accomodate you, it will eventually fail in some way.

We of course correspondingly then pay a price for this higher-than-natural stocking density - electricity input, food input, and the odd disaster when something happens and the system is no longer held at stability (such as when the power goes out or an air-pump fails).

So just a question if gunk does build up in the bottom of the FT, when and how is cleaning done if trying to keep tank stocked to supply GB with nutrients, especially in chop (constant hight one pump)(in sump)systems where water gravities into GB's?

Siphon or vacuum it out... but you'll severly stir up the sediment.. and compromise your water quality in the process...

Best to avoid the situation in the first place... by... not putting gravel in your tank... and not overfeeding...

We put some limestone rocks of various sizes into front corners of our FT, to buffer pH. Is this a bad idea then & would we be better off putting the rocks into the growbeds?

Or should we just use shellgrit in the growbeds and not use the rocks at all?

In CHIFT PIST (constant heigh in fish tank pump in sump tank) systems, the sediment in the fish tank can still move through the system provided there is enough flow and there is a SLO (solids lifting overflow) from the fish tank to the grow beds or where ever. Normally if there is no gravel in the bottom of the fish tank, the uneaten food and fish poo can be taken up and moved from the fish tank. Often having an air stone bubbling in the fish tank can help keep the solids from becoming sediment and keep the fish tanks cleaner by keeping the water circulating.

Just thinking:

If the gravel is not too thick, one could have an undergravel filter so that water gets sucked through it and keeps things from getting anaerobic. Either a bubbler, water inflow, or water outflow could force water through the gravel. One would still need to clean it and, possibly (depending on chemistry/scent), dump the waste rather than keep it in-system.

Or, as KP points out, a cm or two of gravel could be OK if there is enough current and you clean it sometimes.

It is very nice to have a working, attractive, economical, low-maint, effective system. Let us know if you come up with one!

so my system is small and I haven't started a thread,

but in my growing and expanding ornamental/learning system (tropical, continuous flood and drain)

i have 1-2 in of gravel/shells at the bottom,
and to avoid problem pockets i am using constant water movement and some organisms

I have an overpowered pump that T's back into the tank plus a bubbler using a lifting tube from a gravel filter,
they keep almost everything moving and suspended.

In the gravel I have clams, mussels, snails, nematodes, and some buggers that are probably not as preferred

The clams and mussels migrate from time to time; actively tilling the gravel, breaking up pockets, uprooting plants, and kicking up any leftovers; pretty effective guys

The Malaysian Trumpet Snails are also stirring up gravel, they work like little earthworms digging and forging but I think they only effect the top 1 in of the gravel.

My goldfish still actively dig in the gravel too, pulling up plants and looking for worms.
I tried adding worms to help with the gravel but the goldfish just gobble them up as fast as they can. so just protein

I poke around in the tank regularly to replant things and chase the dragon of aquascaping,
so far I haven't seen much in dislodged bubbles and only a little amount of crap is ever been stirred up

My system is still relatively young, so it's hard to say for the long run, but it seems to be taking care of the gravel's health at this point

of course, my system is stocked more like a traditional aquarium and the 160 gal/hr pump on a 20 gal FT is probably a bit much

Aquarium tanks have gravel as we all know but need to be vacuum cleaned regularly and with water changes. Also they mostly have live plants growing in them to use up some of the fish poop.
My big tropical tank is a jungle of plants with gravel to a depth of 2 to 4 inches on the bottom

No way I would put any in my aquaponics tank though. Different type of system with the plants using the fish waste outside the tank