Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey all,
I am rather new to this idea of backyard vegie gardening! My dad introduced it to me.
I live in an apartment, so that's also an additional challenge with any gardening system. However, I am determined to grow lots of my own fruit and veg!
I currently have a 160L tank. Its a small system to start with, but I've noticed how much growing room this can actually sustain. So far I've got 5 shubunkins and 4 comets in the tank. And i've also got an oxygenating plant and water chestnut plant.
I'm a bit impatient so i haven't waited for the bacteria to grow, and have just been playing around with seedlings.
I have an unusual system in that the water is manually siphoned. I have a hand powered siphon hose which I use three times a day to flood the seedling trays. The seedling trays are on a metal rack on top of the tank, so the water just drains straight back into the tank. My grow bed media is a mix of perlite and hydroton, with the use of muslin to stop any perlite from escaping into the water.
I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about something I can add to my plant trays to help retain some moisture in the grow beds while I'm at work during the day. The current system isn't drying out completely, but I feel like as the plants grow it will be harder to stop them from feeling a bit thirsty. I've contemplated submerging the grow beds into the top of the tank as well.

My idea is to continue to use a hand siphon hose rather than move to a pump system.
I also intend on adding a filter pad from my dads pond (which has been well established for several years) to try and assist in the bacteria growing.

Does anyone have any advice about this system, or have tried something similar?

Just get a solar panel and a big enough pump to get the water to the grow beds. Have the grow beds at a angle so gravity forces the water backto the pond with the fish