Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

To start, I am an experienced aquarist, but a rookie gardener. I am currently building my 2nd, much larger, system in my yard (or 4th, due to experimental design variations with my 1st system).

3 of my 6 growbeds will be utilizing a flood-and-drain system, while the rest are using one of my experimental designs from my inside system. (Will post results once system is running, but another time, another topic...)
Due to the terrain of my yard, I am limited with changes to my system design from flood-and-drain to constant flow by removal of the bell siphon from the standpipe. I am filling the beds sequentially, with a 20min on/40min off rotation to eliminate large fluctuations in the water level of the "pond" and reducing stress on the fish.

I do have (what I consider to be) an oversized air pump with a pair of stones in my "pond" (2 buried IBCs plumbed together), so I know the fish won't be hurting for oxygen. In addition, to the best of my knowledge, the siphon action of the flood-and-drain will aerate the water as well as the grow beds and root systems. But because I have heard many stories of catastrophic failure from clogged stand pipes, I may pull the siphons to reduce this risk.

However, doing so will eliminate the aerating effects from the grow beds. So, here is my question: (before I fill the beds with media) would it be in my best interest to run air lines and place air stones to aerate the beds in the chance that I have to remove the siphons?

Thank you all for your input,
Preston

This thread should answer any concerns you have about F&D vs CF

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=8621

Well, it took me a few days, but it was definitely interesting enough to keep me reading all 40 pages.
It wasn't exactly what I was after, but that's a bit of a moot point at the moment, and it was still a good read.

I went ahead and put a couple airstones in the bed, in the chance that I would have to pull the siphons and run CF.
One other mod I made before filling the GB with lava rock was to place irrigation arms in the bottom of the bed (with the drilled holes facing downward to prevent media blockage). The idea behind this was that the fresh aerated water from the FT would fill the GB from the bottom, pushing the older, oxygen-depleted water to the surface, spilling into the standpipe and returning to the FT.

Having filled the GB and started the pump to cycle the lava rock, I have found that I have a couple leaks in both the water feed line from the "pond" and the return line back to the "pond." Not having the time to deal with them today, I have simply stopped the pump for the time being, with the GB flooded to the top of the stand pipe, and plugged in the airstones, so the cycling process is at least started, albeit much slower than I would like.