Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everybody Hope you all doing well. If you are in this forum more than sure you've been bitten by the aquaponic bug, hopefully your bite hasn't got too infected and you can treat it with knowledge to keep on going as for sure you'll get bitten more and more with this bug.
I got bitten! Don't know a thing about this so took my time to read as much as possible of the basics.....and started dreaming.

I'm thinking 5 FT, all interconnected to level the water. 5 ST, which I'm thinking will have small fishies also. 36 GB.... yes, 36 grow beds. Everything is IBC. The GBs are Half an IBC, everything else is a full IBC. It will be a CHIFT PIST system. Every GB will have there own ST in the buttom of it, rows of 12 ST will be interconnected to flow towards the bigger ST. What do you think This would be my ideal system for the space
I got, but any specs can change.... I could go with three lines of 10 GBS. As well as I could double the amount of fish tanks

This is just a dream. But as we speak I'm trying to get the materials to pull this through. Today I went to a river and got river stones by hand yeah, I know its going to be hard work to get all the river stones. Giving it 20 days to be able to do it little by little.

The only thing I got atm is a structure that is 17'by 40' and the eagerness to get it done. Any help will be taken gratefully.

Of course, I will start a small system in the site with only 1 FT and 4 GB as soon as possible. This will have ST also. This will be my start up, but hopefully by the end of the year I got all this figured out and will be running at least 48 GB, as I have 2 of those 17' by 40' structures and I think the minimum GB each structure should have is 24 ( but they could handle 36, so I could finish with 72 GB this year).

Ok, this is just to let you all know that I'm full on in doing this system and that I need help to figure out what amount of IBC with FT I will need to succesfully grow plants in this system; I will get into pvc tubing width and the pumps later on, but thinking of using only one huge pump per structure.

Hit me with a reality check please, let me know if anything Im saying makes sense. Worst thing that can happen is that I will be going back to the drawing bored, which is never a bad thing. Also, I'm not computer friendly; but I will learn what I need to get where I want.

Hope you all have a good 1, peace.
Simplyorganic

Mind blown!
That sounds awesome to have all that space and the ibc's available.
I would recommend avoiding one big pump for the whole 24-36 system.
1) That's alot of piping and figuring out the flow for all tanks in one pipe.
2) If the pump fails, blockage, major leak, etc....everything is affected. Think of losing every fish in every tank and how you would feel. Isolated systems means one failure is only a percentage of loss.
Figure out how much water you're moving in total (24000-36000 lph) and what combination of pumps you can get for the best price.

Thank you.... I could go with 1 pump for each line of 8 to 12 IBC. Still don't know much about water pumps but will get there hopefully in a couple weeks (learning which would be best, safer, affordable)... hopefully by the time I need to get my first I will know which one to use. If anybody knows of any good pump that could work for moving 8 to 12 GB (all with there own ST) as well as 2 extra IBC for Sump tank and at least 2 FT (IBC too) please let me know. I know this would be having 6 ST and 6 FT per structure, but I think it would be the better way to get enough nutrients for the amount of 1/3 of the GB.
Thanks a lot for letting me know your concern Mr. Rollins, I will surely take it into consideration and act upon it.

I forgot to say that all my systems will be with SLO or venturi (same thing).... Thinking that the cascading effect from the GBs to the buttom ST should be enough oxygenation for the water, and I'm not thinking of putting aerators.
Thanks again Mr. Rollins for the fast reply. Waiting to here from diff. people in the forum to learn more from you, and in time be able to help also. For now, back to gathering rocks (only three hours a day, I would like to be a parent some day ). Have a good 1 guys/gals ^___^
Simplyorganic

Too much rain today over here to get the rocks at the river or work with my plants (at least for the moment. Oh well, nice time to keep on learning.

wow, good luck

So, what about a biofilter. Think i might do a couple since river rocks are so soft, and don't grab as much beneficials. My head went spinning yesterday and thought i could use every small ST in the buttom of the GB with a higher level in the on the drainage and add red claws or something (little amount of course) think this might work, but it would create sediment on time. If my calculations are right, I will only need 250 lt +or- for Each ST and could have at least 200 lt + or - for maybe a couple red claws or fingerlings.

Start thinking about backup power. It will cost quite a bit to move house if your old house has 15 ton of dead fish on the front lawn.

And +1 for breaking it up into smaller systems. Along with the benefits of only losing 10% of your system if anything goes wrong, it also means that it's viable to have a spare pump on hand at all times in case one fails.

LOL, funny thing was that you write this down today and was just thinking bout that... electricity went down for a couple hours today.
Yeah, gonna have to think about how many pumps I will really need; thinking maybe buying them bulk.... well, little by little everything will get solved... Thanks so much for pointing out all the problems I may have before they happen. I will take all this into consideration.

Reality check for the moment. River rocks are heavy on my car and the most a dare put evey time I go to get them is 400 pounds which is merely 8 full 5 gal buckets... I'm thinking at this rate I will be filling up 1 GB every 3 days, so it will take me a whole year to get all the rocks I need for at least 48 GBs....lol, lots of work. At least the rivers are gorgeous and have a great time for the 2 hours I'm there daily... since if I don't add pictures is the same as a lie (from what I've read at this forum) I will start posting pics of my work so that you all know how Im moving slow as a turtle, but steady. Good thing is that I will be able to start my first system in at least three months, so my huge system will end up being the sum of a bunch of little ones ^___^ and any problems that happen on the way will help me with the next ones

how do you add images?

Why don't you pay some local kids with buckets and have a big day carrying rocks ?

You can link to images if they are hosted somewhere like photobucket.
I normally just use the attachment upload section below the reply box.

1. Browse for file (click button)
2. Add the file (click button)
3. Insert image inline (click button)