Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm in the planning phase of my first AP system and I wanted to get some feedback. Did I leave anything out? Would you do something different?

The greenhouse is wood frame and 580cmx150cm. Covered with twin-wall polycarbonite.
Each GB is 140cmx66cmx30cm. 280 liters each x 3. Constructed with wood and lined with DuraSkrim.
FT is a standard 1000L IBC.
Sump is same dimensions as the GB and sunk about 20cm into the ground.

Blue pipe the gravity feed from the FT to the GB. 2" PVC and regulated with a ball valve at each outlet. Do I really need two lift pipes? Most of the systems I see in my research have two but I can't think of a reason other than redundancy.

Green pipe feeds the FT from the pump in the sump. 1" PVC with a circulating loop back to the sump to dump excess pressure. The FT side has a venturi (pink) to maximize dissolved oxygen.

Yellow pipe is a 2" PVC overflow back to the sump.

Temp where I live high of 24 degrees C in the summer and low of 0 degrees C in the winter.

I will be raising rainbow trout. How many fry should I stock to start off?

Please resize your pics to 800 wide at the most. Your text is unreadable due to the pic size.

If the system is going to be in a greenhouse then the trout might not make it through the Summer. You'll need to watch the temps. Fall, Winter and Spring you might have the occasional warm spell but should get them through OK. You might be enough cooler there to get through Summer as well but don't count on it at first. Buy trout in large enough that they can grow out and be ready by the end of Spring. You can always keep them growing if things aren't getting too warm. How long till you hope to be operating?

Think of how you plan to ventilate the greenhouse during the Summer. With something like your planning I probably just make it so you can lift the sides and let the air flow through.

Roughly 5 ft x 19 ft greenhouse? How tall is this to be? The grow beds just run along one side of the greenhouse?

This should help with the fish stocking - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6646

Also this is another way of looking at it -

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Posted by Guitarwes - came from this thread - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21701

From what info I have gathered, safe stocking capacity in an average system could be from .63 lbs to 1.56 lbs of fish per cubic foot of wet gravel. This is total FINISHED weight of the fish and this is if you feed them at a rate of about 2% body weight per day as adult fish. This is if you have:

1) fish tank water exchange of 1 - 1.5X per hour.
2) adequate aeration
3) removing fish solids and uneaten food.

.63 lbs/cu ft is if you have only #1
.94 lbs/cu ft is #1 + #2
1.56 lbs/cu ft is #1 + #2 + #3
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I haven't really looked at the piping because of the picture size in the editing window so I don't know what to tell you on this.

Cheers