Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Pretty straightforward flood/drain system. The tank on the left is the sump, the one on the right is the FT. The left GB currently drains back into the sump but I may plumb it to drain into the FT. the GB on the right drains into the FT which overflows back into the ST, and that completes the water circuit.

I finished setting it up 5 days ago but as you can see I did a terrible job of washing the gravel. I might set up a temporary filter system to get the suspended solids out, if it's going to cause issues.

So far it's been a very straightforward build thanks to all you trailblazers on this forum I simply couldn't have done this without the accumulated knowledge here.

I've added some ammonia to get the nitrogen cycle started and a little seasol to get the seeds going. Now it's just a matter of monitoring the water parameters until it's ready for fish...





Some seeds have already popped!... I couldn't have imagined I'd be so excited about cucumber and spinach sprouting, it's almost like when my missus was expecting our first kid

Nice work, I used crushed gravel and it took ages to get it clean. The best method was to keep the tanks draining, fill the GB to the top and then pull out the standpipe. After about 10 rinses the water was running clear.

Nice work!

Well I think it looks good. I have a two ibc set up and it works well. My plumbing is a tad different to yours buts it's not too dissimilar.

Anyway, good luck and keep posting those pics.

Thanks, will do.

BTW, your system was one of the biggest motivators for this one. I've really enjoyed following your progress. I'm still amazed at how quickly everything grows compared to my dirt garden!

The general opion about having your piping into the garden being buried under the gravel is the roots will very quickly grow into them and clog them up, watch them if you plan on leaving them buried. Good looking system but, all three of them you have running.

Thanks for the tip, I'll watch for that. It should be easy to keep an eye on it as the poly pipes only just go into the gravel, enough to not have a wet surface. They're still (only just) above the flood level when the siphon kicks in.

Is the drain from the FT to the sump a SLO or is it just off the top of the FT? If not a SLO is easy to setup and will give better water circulation.

Nice system. After looking at your three I think I will have to revisit mine..................

Not a SLO just yet, that's on the to-do list.... that to-do list seems to grow as fast as the veggies, I've noticed.

Update...

The spinach is like candy! it grows so incredibly fast that we are harvesting enough for a family of five, 2 or 3 times a week now. I never imagined I'd get this excited over spinach.







After conquering a bout of powdery mildew after all the wet weather we had in Sydney, the apple cucumber is now growing at an alarming rate! it's putting on a couple of inches a day of growth, I've never seen this sort of growth rate in my cucs before. We've harvested a few cucs and they are absolutely spectacular, but the bulk of the fruit is only just setting.



I trimmed a long-ish side branch that got away from me off one of my toms in the dirt garden, it had just started to grow its first flowers, but instead of composting it I trimmed off most of the leaf area and stuck it into the growbed. It's now growing like a weed! It's the big tom in the middle of the bed, surrounded by much smaller toms that sprouted from seed in the bed at around the same time I planted the cutting. I can't believe the growth rate of this thing, and the quantity of fruit it's setting.





And the surprising part is that there's no fish in the system yet! all these are growing on a squirt of seasol and a scoop of aquasol once a week, so I suppose it's really a hydroponics rather than aquaponics system at the moment. I'll be up at Port Stephens in a couple of weeks and will pick up the fish from the hatchery on the way home.