Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I see how it's coming together now!

Can't wait for more.

I am getting worried with my pond being so far below grade. How will I insure that my flow system will never pump it dry? Perhaps some type of safety switch? Low water level switch which shuts the pump off?

Always wanted a Sieve

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Good morning

I guess I always wanted to say, “It leaks like a sieve.”

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One of the many things that is different in my aquaculture slash aquaponics system is that my pond is so far below grade.

Most aquaponics systems use a sump tank that is the lowest volume in the system. With the sump tank lowest, gravity does the work of taking water out of the fish pond. The fish tank is coupled to the sump tank via an DIY anti-siphon device, which stops water flow out of the fish tank when the water reaches a set level.

I’ll need some other method for making certain the water is never pumped out of the fish pond should some other piece of plumbing fail. So calling out my Arduino / Raspberry Pi programmer friends: I’ll need a device that will determine water level and shut a pump down if needed.

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Yep, love that we’ll have a white Christmas, but wish those untreated rafters were painted.


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So, let’s look at a sieve made for straining water as in aquaculture.


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From what I observed at the Mora Fish Hatchery these sieves are pretty simple with no moving parts, as well as more or less self cleaning.

Dirty water from the fish tanks simply runs over the sieve catching large particles which slide off the sides a small percent of the water to a holding tank.

I asked at the hatchery what they did with the fertilizer byproduct? They said the sludge did not act like a fertilizer. After researching this issue I think I see why their byproduct isn’t fertilizer.

They are not converting ammonia (fish pee) to nitrates in bio-filters and grow beds. Their sieve is removing debris before the bio-filters.

That is the difference between aquaponics and aquaculture as I see it now in the early stages of my research.

Still it was pretty cool watching water from dozens of thousand plus gallon fish tanks come over the sieve.

I’m still gathering information and learning about aquaponics, which is fascinating to me. The main issue is keeping the fish alive and well. The grow beds are a big part of this symbiotic relationship. Healthy fish and water surely means healthy plants, but the two events are not mutually exclusive.

Plants may not look healthy, but they’ll probably survive. Fish can suffer sudden death before we know anything is wrong and this for obvious reasons is a massive setback for a fish farmer.

Anywho, life goes on, thank goodness for this.

See ya all I hope again for tomorrow’s Christmas Eve BMN

Brian Fish in a Barrel Rodgers