Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hello all, new to Aquaponics, loving this site. Question: I have encountered a problem where my grow bed never drains, so my plants are in water all the time, to correct this issue i set a timer that will pump for an hour and stop for an hour to drain the grow bed and then pump, each hour, around the clock.(i have not set up any air stones or air raters)
do you think the fish will mind?

Hi Lexiegr8, welcome to the forum, need a little more info on your set up to help out.

Your GB must drain some how? How is it set up?

Whats your FT volume, GB volume, how many and type of fish, draining set up (auto syphon/ flood and drain/ timed flood and drain)

Pics always help too.

hello Charlie, very simple IBC set up, flood and drain, nothing special, only the time that stops the pump for an hour to let the thing drain

What does your stand pipe look like?

90mm storm water pipe with lots of 6mm holes to the height of the GB, with a smallerpipe inserted into the drain hold suspended by a pice of rubber (to keep it at the the right level to stop the water getting any higher).

Do you have any holes in the base of the standpipe to allow the grow bed to fully drain when you are not pumping?

yes i copyed the plan from the backyardaquaponices manual on this site, im wondering if the fish will cope with one hour with no pump going and followed by an hour with the pump going and so on, so forth

Maybe... but without some sort of additional aeration... out your way in summer... they could become oxygen starved...

In summer... I up my time intervals to 15/30... or 30/30... in winter I usually don't pump through the night, to keep from pulling the cold air down through the beds... but I have external aeration...

ive noticed with the warmer weather my tank water is starting to warm up, so ive ajusted my cycle timer to pump every 1/2 hour between 6am and 6pm during the day and hourly during the night. hope that keeps the water cooler and fish happy

It may... but if you're flooding and draining through your grow beds.... you'll be continually pulling warm air through the grow beds into the water....

You may be better off running the pump continually... and maintinaing your grow beds as "constant flood"... during the day... and switching back to interval timing during the night...

Why are you trying to cool your water... are you holding trout??

Yep, length doesn't matter... but width might....

Hiya..

Sorry, I want to jump in.. Rupe you said that you would constant flood During the day then go to normal cycle during the night..

I have a question.. I noticed that my GB is Drained in 30min.. Should I change the cycle time from 15min on 45 off to 15min on 30min off..?
I'm wondering what is the best time cycle..

Juergen..

If you're looking to pull the temp down through the night... by pulling cool air through the growbed... then I'd probably flood 15/30...

I realize this thread is about 2 years old but perhaps someone will pick up on the post. I was wondering if one could just slow the flow down to lengthen the time the beds fill rather than cutting the pumps off and on? Using a bell siphon and slowing the flow seems to me that would be allow dry times in the beds and then fill them before dumping? Maybe I do not understand the setup however. If you did not want to restrict the pump one could just allow part of the flow to return to the source.