Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, posting up my first system, a constantly flooded system, incorperating a 1100l polymaster tank, 2 1/2 ibc growbeds and a bathtub growbed, all flowing into a old fridge sump. All circulating with a 5000lph submersible pump in the sump.
Scoria was the media of choice, due to both cost and availability, also a lighter weight option than blue metal or the likes.
i currently have yabbies stocked in the system (sump), and a couple of silver perch from my mates dam stock, he always stocks natives, so it was no worries for him to order a few more for me which was a great help.
My original intentions were to stock murray cod, but with the aquisition of the silver perch, the cod will be put off for a bit. I will look into sourcing some tandanus catfish soon to coinhabit the tank with the silvers.
On the vegy front, i currently have planted in my growbeds:
tomato
chilli
beetroot
spring onion
leeks
strawberrys
basil
cauli
broccoli
cabbage
spinich
dill
tansy
coriander
eggplant
brown onion
garlic
oregano
cucumbers, burpless
Butter bean seeds sown yesty, yet to germinate.
and possibly more, probably forgotten lol.
Edit... suppose i best add corn and capsicum to the list...
heres some pics of said system, i didnt get a great deal of pics of the build, was too busy building ...

Jarrod.

More pics...

And another..

A few more, one of the lids before they got covered, showing the slo and spray bar, and one of the spray bar working away.
and one of the system when it was first roughed in, at this stage i posted a few pics on facebook and got some helpful comments from people on there, and fitted inline taps between ft and gb's.

Nice and neat wooleybugger

I managed to scrounge up a few more pics that i actually had forgotten i had taken during the build, one showing the ibc cut in half, one showing one of the ibc frames and another of the fish tank in place pre plumbing ect.

Had our first storm since the system has been started last night, weathered it well, pity i wasnt the same, i was a nervous wreck, outside at 2 am checking the system...
Did water tests this morning, had a slight shift in ph, 7.4 down to 7.2, i suspect due to dilution from water ingress as the rain was significant and the gb's are out in the open, as is the f/t and sump.. Will test again this afternoon and see what its doing. All other readings were within acceptable levels. Water temp 15.5c.

Im seeing significant temp fluctuations from day to night, sometimes in the range of 5-7c different in the mornings to the previous nights readings, so im going to construct grow bed surrounds this coming weekend and insulate both the f/t and gb's, and possibly look at pipe insulation if that doesnt settle things down. The silvers dont seem to mind the temp shifts tho, feeding fine, very active and healthy, same to be said for the yabbies.

Will post water test results tonight if anything has changed, but i suspect it will come good over time by itself.

Jarrod.

..
Good to see another system up and running..

I do wonder about two issues..

FIRSTLY - the depth of the Grow Beds..
In my way of thinking, you have about twice the depth preferred..
My thinking is that you are feeding from the edges, and this water will flow to the center "Stand Pipe" and overflow as return..

My concern is that there will be next to no water movement down deep, creating the risk of (the SECOND issue) - stagnation and anaerobic zones..

I would be thinking of extending the GB platform, and make another two beds and halve the media to make four beds..

I also worrie a tad, about the constant flood, and discounted that in my system, because of the desire to have NO Anaerobic possibility..
I also have a NOISE issue as my system is outside the Neighbour's bedroom, and so "Run Silent" is the need..
I periodically flood the beds and let them slowly drain through small holes in the standpipe..

It would be good to hear other's thoughts..
..
.
PS - IF you use Flood and Slow Drain, then you can ditch all that waste pipe, distributing around the perimeter... a total waste of space and limits the GB area..

PPS - What AIRation system are you using... Is it just the return water dribbling back to the FT..
I would think that as it gets warmer, such would be grossly inadequate...
I would consider using the return water to turn the FT water, and add air-stones at the center "Waste Lift".. such air movement would suck waste to the center more efficiently..
..
.

Constant flood is tried and tested to have no issues at all so I wouldn't worry about that.

Also, I wouldn't worry about the depth of your beds, they are fine. As were these below..



p.s. nice system.

Thanks Charlie... but is there any benefit from that depth.. What benefit to the normal produce to be grown under AP, apart from growing trees.. What is the minimum depth and when is extra depth just wasted..?
..
.

Thanks for the replys, any and all comments/advice greatly appreciated.

@ buidoi aeration/gas exchange occurs via spraybar to ft, and also by return flow to sump which sees a 15 odd cm drop to the water level in there, also some areation would be provided via the many holes i have dumping water on the gb'sand wherever else the water is moving and spilling ect throughout the system.

As for the anerobic zones, only time will tell, will have to wait and see but as charlie stated already, shouldnt be an issue.

also constant flood is more than acceptable as a form of ap, from all my reading there doesnt seem to be much difference between cf and f&d but i am only new to ap and are open to any advice to the contrary.

Jarrod.

CF rocks, its what i also use. Really not much we cant grow with that. I remove the standpipe every now and again to give it a good run through as well - doesnt hurt

the GB,s - are fine. 30cm is the figure bantered around as the optimum by some (i use that cos it works for me) but 1/2 an IBC, a full IBC or 15cm will also work.

Silvers are kewl, but if your going to run trout, throw more air in the system, they love it

and I am not much newer than you, Jarrod..

I am just working on ALL the comments about the nitrification cycle and how O2, extra O2 and then more O2, is the need..

I saw commercial systems where even the flooded (raft) beds had lots of air stones..

I just re-looked and noticed that you seem to be using SCORIA, and so perhaps it's not that bad..
I just saw 400L of unnecessary clay balls or near $400 per tank..

At least, IF that depth IS working as Charlie suggests, then you have that volume of material for bacteria//
ie > 1500Ltr of media = 50 fish capacity (if you can grow vegies fast enough to remove the nitrates)...

It will be good to see how the whole balance pans out..
..
.
..
.

Hi, nice setup.
Is the mesh lid made of galvanised steel?
If it is I would recommend to change that. Try to avoid any zinc leaching into your water.
That's all, the rest looks really good.
Cheers

BuiDoi, deeper beds benefit from a larger BSA and waste storage for mineralisation for a smaller foot print, but how deep is too deep Im not sure. Outbackozzies deep beds were very controversial and I believe he proved that they work and work well. The system is shut down now unfortunately so no more data can be taken from it. Those full IBC beds were on a flood and drain.

Minimum grow bed depths are a juggled between temp stability and root stability. Too shallow and there can be issues with freezing plants or cooking plants, depending on time of year. Also if too shallow there isn't enough for the plant roots to hold onto to stay upright. Obviously a shallow GB is reducing your BSA. Ive seen GB depths work well at 100-150mm like Freoboys below..



There are also studies done on the benefit of anaerobic zones within grow beds which produces other forms of beneficial bacteria which further maximises the ecology of a aquaponic system. Check out the RSG (really smart guy) thread, there is some interesting stuff there.

search.php?keywords=RSG&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

Hi ben yes it is. I didnt actually think the gal would be an issue, i chose it due to its corrosion resistance propertys, as i didnt want rust dropping into the tank from a raw steel mesh.

I was toying with the idea of using a plastic trellis or similar, but chemical leaching was somthing i was concerned with from a non food grade plastic. Just didnt cross my mind that gal would do the same

What is a recommended mesh material for ft lids that wont leach metals/chemical into the water ?.