Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The reason I have a standpipe is the following. Originally I was going to have the water exit into a pipe through a hole on the side of the tank located at the bottom. But I got to thinking that with 50 gallons or so of water above that hole that gravity and pressure would force all of the water out of the tank. But I guess I just don't understand how all this stuff works well enough yet.
Steve, I am going to go with the drawing you did. If I get a five gallon bucket with the lid on it, is that sealed enough or will I need to glue the lid on?

Hi Trox:
If you're concerned about money and your electricity rates are lower at night, then you could setup your light timers to come on at night instead of during the day when rates are higher. If the plants live in the basement they won't know the difference and you might save a little money on electricity. (I was planning to do this in our basement during the Winter).

If your sealed bucket biofilter is at the bottom of the barrel then water will be trying to push its way out with some amount of pressure. That is why in the drawing I did that the pump is located higher up but still below the water line, to reduce the pressure and the likelihood of leaks from the pressure.

Do you have a pump in mind already?

No, except that it will have to be an external pump with the current design. I'm guessing that I will select the pump based on how much head pressure there is and the flow rate (gallons/hour or gallons/minute). So I don't really know how to select a pump is what I'm trying to say.

Sorry I can't help you much as I bought a couple of sump pumps from Sears which would be way too large here. You might look here (was just on that site looking at pumps, their tanks are way overpriced though compared to the same one(s) at Tractor Supply Co):
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fus ... ons/sid/26

I have not given up on my first design but I have come up with another design shown below.
This one consists of a 100 gallon tank for growing fish in. There will be two 25 gallon tanks used as growbeds. The water pump will be sitting in the bottom of the fish tank. The water will be pumped up to the top of the two growbeds. The water trickles down through the rocks to the bottom of the growbeds. The edge of the growbeds will hang over the fish tank. The water will exit a drain at the bottom edge of the growbeds and will end up back in the fish tank.
There will be grow lights hanging above the growbeds.

Hi again Trox:
Works for me, haha. (this is just like the system I am running).
Joel has advised a 2:1 gravel to fish ratio for a fully stocked tank, you should try to plan for more gravel if the tank gets a good load of fish in it as it develops.
I am using a 100 gallon tank from Tractor Supply for $60, and two "plant-tainers" made by MacCourt for $20 each from Lowe's. I am using a 1/6 HP utility pump from Sears (it doesn't have a float valve but that would be nice to have) for about $100, but the pump I am using is kind of too big for my system at this size. I am also using a $12 mortar tub made by MacCourt for an additional rectangular grow bed, but this one has been having drainage problems (might be due to sand in gravel, or because the black drainage pipe slits are clogging too easily, I will be drilling additional holes in this kind of pipe when I use it again). I think that the deeper containers will drain better, although they don't optimize horizontal growing space.
I am using these pieces because that is what I found available, that didn't cost too much. I have been looking for a bigger tank, but $60 for 100 gallons is kind of hard to beat as far as cost per gallon. I am looking for more options for rectangular grow beds. One is to build them from plywood and styrofoam insulation and pond liner or clear plastic. MacCourt has a 3'x5' mortar tub that can probably be special ordered at Lowe's that would be OK, but I don't know the price on it yet. http://www.maccourt.com/products/ponds/mb6012.html From the way the current mortar tub is flexing, it would probably need some kind of support. HTH

Trox, seems like a much easier way to get started

I am working on building the system today. I'll post some pictures soon.

The pictures below are what the setup currently looks like. I still have to put in all the PVC pipes and the lights and the gravel.

Water will flow from the bottom side of the black tank (fish tank) and into the the blue barrel (sump). It will then be pumped up to the blue containers (plants) where it will trickle down through gravel and exit through a pipe in each container back into the black tank.

I love Rubbermaid!

Good job fellow underground fish farmer!

What lights are you looking at getting? I will need some too.

I haven't bought any yet but I looked at some at Lowes. They were aquarium bulbs that help with plant growth. I think there were 2 or 3 different brands and sizes. Ranged from I think $6 to $9 per bulb.

You guys are comming up to winter, yes? Why not just buy a 150W MH.
It gives the most light output per watt, is the closest to atural sunlight, and the waste heat generated will aid in keeping your fish room at temp.

Steve

Thanks Steve, I will look into that. There's no such thing as waste heat!

hydro shops will have the 400W and 1000W bulbs and transformers. Over here the easiest place i found for the 150W ones are recycling yards, they are used extensivly in shop fit outs as lights.

Then again, if your grow bed is a reasonable size then just go for the 400W one, A 150W would cover much more than 3 square foot MAX