Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I may have put the cart before the horse here. I am new to AP and new to the forum, but I have gone ahead and dove in setting up my first system before asking all the questions I probably should have.

I decided to go with a wood structure around 4ftx8ft, with a 300g tank directly below a 1ft deep grow bed. I will line the tank and bed with a pond liner, and run the whole system on one pump and bell siphon. I tried attaching a picture.

So.. better late than never, I wanted to finally reach out to the community to ask a few questions and see what I may be doing wrong.

A few specific questions I have:
- What size stand pipe should I use for the grow bed (3.5 x 8 x 1 ft)?
- Is it related to the size of the pump? (I was planning on using a simple 300 gph pump)
- Am I doing anything wrong?

Really appreciate the input, and looking forward to learning about this great hobby/science.

I would go up a size on the pump to probably 500 gallons. You will loose some due to the lift height, and it is better to have to much pump than not enough. You can always divert some water back to the tank using a valve. A 1" stand pipe and drain will be good enough, I would make the siphon a afhnan style by putting a 2 inch adapter on top of the 1" stand pipe.

Not sure what you made your grow bed bottom out of, but gravel and water get very heavy. Might want to reinforce it now, make it way stronger than you think it needs to be then make it a little stronger than that. What are you lining the grow bed with?

Nice looking start to the system!

I second Helo's guidance on the pump size.
Any pictures of the framing below the growbed?

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely take the advice on the pump and afhnan style siphon. With a 2 inch adapter on top, I presume I would want a 4 inch bell (to follow the double double rule?

Here is a picture of the grow bed frame design. Only the 2x4 cross pieces are in place today (in yellow), but I was planning on just laying a few more 2x4s the length of the bed (in white), then some 3/4 plywood.

Thinking about your comments, do you think I should replace the 2x4s (in yellow) with something more substantial? 2x6 or 8?

Thanks again!

I think this will be plenty solid.