Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have recently gotten into aquaponics, and started my own system over the weekend. We live in an apartment so we don't have a lot of space. Currently just to get accustom to running a system, and now the whole process works. I have converted a 10 gallon fish tank, trying to grow lettuce. I have one koi and two goldfish, using expanded clay as my media. After my second day I had a spike of pH to 8.4. Im using a planting container that runs the width of the fish tank, about 3-4 in deep, draining directly into the fish tank using two drainage holes on the bottom. The water pump is rated for 10 gallon, but it just seems really cloudy in the water.


Also im curious about water levels in the grow bed. I not sure whether i should allow water to fill the bed and stay there or just have it continously empty into the bed and drain out. any advice would be great!!!

If you have to ask then the answer is yes.

Bit hard in an apartment though.

Pictures help us to help you.

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A simple system like that can work..

I am relatively new to AP, but long on with aquariums and fish breeding ..

I have a kinda similar-to-yours system working, in the form of a small Koi Pond.. ( volume similar to larger aquarium)
In it, there are 10 fingerlings.. The sump pump goes to a canister BioFilter.. the filter feeds two 100mm flooded tubes that end at a waterfall back to the pond..

I would expect the cloudiness is from the clay balls, as could be the initial Ph spike..

On my main AP system, I use Agricultural Fabric Tubes over the GB drains, and they have to be changed every few days.. that red dust just keeps coming, despite the balls being very old..
That system is a flood and drain, and I suspect that such dust comes from the relatively continuous movement as many balls float via entrapped air..

I understand that the critical thing with full flood systems, is lots of oxygen,( as it is for the whole outfit.)

I have strawberries and lettuce growing in the tubes, back at the Koi Pond..
the strawberries ARE struggling as they really don't have enough sunlight, as it is all under a cream opaque polycarb roof..

I hope that the Lettuce will do better..

Back to your plans, if you want to persist, then I would think you could have a stand-pipe at the drain end, allowing water to overflow back to the aquarium ..
The likely most important issue is to get water flowing through ALL the bed.. 100%... so that there are no dead areas that can result in anaerobic patches.

The best thing about flood and full drain, is that it naturally sucks air back into the bed.. reducing so many problems with stagnant patches.. that I understand can readily happen within a root-ball....

Your problem is that the aquarium may not have the capacity for the ebb and flow of flood-n-drain, but this could be done via an external sump... but... this might mean two pumps. . try to persist with what you have... I think..
You have to build a system which CANNOT. owerflow under ANY fault condition..
If you want to try an auto siphon and Flood-n-Drain, you can calculate the rise and fall of the aquarium by the GB needing about 30% of the clay ball volume... ie. 30Ltr of clay will need 10L of aquarium rise and fall..

With the water entering the flooded bed... that could be at the bottom of the trough.. if you can get your hands on some Agg-Fab, you could make a filter for the pump inlet, and this might help with the dust etc..

If you can tollerate the rise and fall from a flood and drain, then it does not likely matter where you fill from..
Eg.. fill and drain at the same end.

The NOISE from fill and drain may be an issue inside the house, but that can be seriously reduced.. easily..
One issue that you may encounter, is LACK of nutrients from a small system...
My main AP system does not yet have fish and with artificially added nutrient, I can find that everything quickly goes to ZERO...

Have fun...
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PS... the other possibility for a first system, is to try a Wicking Bed, and either use some of the clay as the flooded section (adding real Bio filtration) ... you can store the excess clay for Ron.. Later ron...

Many long "Self Watering" pots could be readily used, with their drain hole flowing to the aquarium..

Search for. WICKING BED..
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I don't think the clay is creating an issue. is the most suggested media to use. Its the hydroton. I rinsed off the clay to prevent any issues with the dust. I truly have a lot of confidence in this portion of my system, of course i could be wrong. pH has already slightly went down. Nitrite level has rose two levels and Nitrate has went up one. i know i need to find a way to add a siphon, or even just a way to control water level inside the grow bed.

Right now it flows through one spot into the grow bed, in the middle, and flows out two drainage ports at the bottom. both sides seem to have good flow, about the same on both sides. I just feel like there isn't enough water staying in the grow bed to promote growth, at least for the seeds. I can't say for sure though, the clay is about 3-4" deep, i don't want to disturb my recently planted seeds, so I am not 100% how much water is actually retaining in the grow bed.. REALLY WISH I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TO MEASURE!

I already intend on changing the water distribution. Going to use some pvc to run a line up from the pump, and create a tube that spans the entire width of the grow bed. This should solve any water distribution.

To be honest, after the slight turnaround on my water condition, i feel the only issue that the small stature my system has created is for one of the fish. the pump seems like its too strong for one of the fish AT TIMES. I have three 3, 1 koi, 2 goldfish. all three are pretty small 3-4" max. the Koi doesn't have the issue, but one of the goldfish continuously gets sucked onto the pump. You can tell he struggles when he gets real close to the pump. Im going to try to use some aquarium decor, see if i can change the water flow to the pump, break the "currant" the pump has created.

i do appreciate the insight given so far, i will definitely take ideas into consideration. any further help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my system

I have a similar system with a larger set up. We're using a small planter with gravel as medium. How is your tank doing now?

I do not think the system is too small. Of course I am a believer in that there are no absolutes when working with AP.

How high was your PH on day one? If your tap water is like mine, it was probably high to begin with. I wouldn't worry to much about the high PH since it will be conducive for beneficial bacteria growth. I would recommend a high PH while the system cycles. Once it cycles you should start seeing a fall in the PH. You will see spikes along the way when cycling withe fish. You will have ammonia spikes, nitrite spikes,etc... It is part of the game until the system matures.

As for your cloudy water. Try putting some kind of mechanical filter into the water column. Maybe a sponge or polyester fiber fill. I would also recommend a deeper container for the grow bed.

I have two aquariums that uses grow beds to manage nitrogen. Both grow cabbage. After trying several media choices, I have opted to lava rock. Mainly due to overall weight and surface area. I use timed flood and drain with a mechanical timer. So far it works good for me.

Here is a photo of my 29 gallon tank. It is flood and drain and I am using CFL lights. A mix of 5000 and 2500 kelvan CFL bulbs.