Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So I figured I would start a planning thread to start gathering my info. My area to work with is 23x13. I have confirmation to get free IBC's from a friend that contained roundup. I have read that power washing combined with soaking with ammonia and another rinse should make these safe to use.

This will be my first attemp at gardening period and am not totally sure how much and how to plant what we are wanting. I'm looking to support my family of three and at the moment my wife will not eat fish. I haven't decided to do ornamental or go ahead with a fish to eat and sell them locally.

Can someone direct me to the difference between flood and drain vs constant flow? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all that contribute ideas and answer questions.

Wanted to add that while I'm new to gardening, I have the fish part down. Been keeping fish for 15 years and recently converted my saltwater tank to fresh and planned on using my water change water on our garden next year. But then I read about aquaponics.

I would give it several wash outs with warm water and detergent, finish of with a white vinigar and Bicarb scrub. Then wash out with fresh water. Throw some photos in as you are building.

I would personally try to find another source for IBCs. Roundup is not something that I would want the slightest chance of getting into my system. I would also question the validity of he statement that they would be fine to use after washing. Polyethelene is a great material, but that does not mean that Roundup can't permiate it, only to leach out later. I hate to be the one to spell doom, but Roundup and it's parent company Monsanto stand for everything I am against.

On a happier note, if you are thinking about making money with your system, ornamental fish can fetch a pretty penny if you are growing a fish in high demand from good brood stock.

Then wash it out one more time for luck, then throw it away and get another one....

Personally, like Ron, I wouldn't use anything thats had roundup in it.

Well crud. I may have to get a new plan. Where do you get the blue barrels at?

Ronmaggi I read through most of your thread today and really like your setup.

Thank you, I acquired my barrels from a barrel and tote recycler. I found them on Craigslist. I guess there take a lot of closet APers in S.D. because he knew about Aquaponics. He had both the barrels and toted segregated between food grade and non food grade. The totes were even washed. The barrels still had some Gatorade or Hawaiian Punch concentrate in them. No mater how much I washed the barrels, they still smelled like fruit punch. Not too big of a concern, as fruit punch is generally considered non toxic.

So for now due to money and time of year I'm going to setup a small scale system. I have several aquariums laying around. I've noticed some comments saying people's water level may be to high. How deep should your media be and how deep should your water level be? Planning on a 20g FT, 10g sump if needed and will be looking for a container for my grow bed. Hoping to find 2x3ft ish. I would like to try some herbs and a tomato and maybe pepper plant. Thoughts?

Growbeds: Concrete mixing tubs from Lowes/Home Depot, Half a blue (or other coloreed) barrel, old bathtubs or spa's, half an IBC tote, make your own and line it with EPDM, concrete drainage pipe sections lined or painted with fish safe paint, etc...
You are only limited by your imagination. Too bad we don't have a US division of BYAP over here. Joel can get some real nice growbeds for his shop over there.

Should I run constant flow or flood/drain?

Constant flood is fine for a small system, especially when the tank is close to the bed's volume, so it doesn't lose too much on flood.

I made a small system from two aquariums, if you have them already you can use one as the bed. This requires a no-holes overflow (search the forum for that). I can post a link if you'd like.

Any advice regarding gravel depth and water depth? Also what is the purpose of the bell siphon? Can you not just make the water flow through from side to side?

I have already drilled most of my tanks as they were previously used as sumps or similar purposes. An aquarium for the GB would work but I kind of want more sq/in for planting.

For full-sized plants you typically would want about a foot deep for the gravel, the water level maybe a couple inches below the top of the gravel.

For flow you want to be careful to not have dead spots that can go anaerobic. For example if you are putting in water from the corner of a bed, you would want to pull out the water at the opposite corner at the bottom.

A siphon is one way to make flood and drain happen, instead of turning the pump on and off.

If you are only talking about a 20 gallon system you won't be growing very much, I had a 7' tall tomato plant fed by a single goldfish in that system which was pretty good for such a small thing.