Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,

Long time reader, first time poster

I have seen all your systems and it has inspired me to give it a go, I started with a few different ideas which consisted of alot of planning but alot of procrastinating, but at the end i went for the trusted and tried method.

Here is my setup, i have started with 7 small gold fish and lettace and a tomota plant to start of with in a Flood and Drain system.I'm using a standard timer with a 15 min on off interval every hour to a aquaone 103 pump, into a flow controller into a T bar to the two tubs. Then using loop siphon out into the a basket, which has cloth to help filter solids. (I used this because i didn't wash the hydrotron till clean )
This basket also sits above the water, so when the water falls out, i assume it will put more O2 into the water below






One issue that i have is that during the flood and drain cycle i can never seem to get it to drain at the end of the 15 minutes. So sometimes one or both tubs will be half full of water.

Does this matter? If not what methods do people use to do this effectively?


Thanks

Hi adrian,

well done with the pics first up. It helps with ur drain query.

You don't really need the filter now, most solids will be in the gbs. I am not sure of the purpose of the black pipes out of the top of ur gbs. The only exit u should need is the loop siphon.
Anywho:
the black drain piping is superfluous. Join the black pipe between both gbs, horizontally. At least this will equalize water distribution between the gbs.
puncture a little hole in the black frame border at the top of ur gbs
tie ur loop siphon to this so u have a bigger loop. The loop will then be parallel with ur gbs instead of at 90 degrees like they are atm. Siphon will kick in once water reaches the top of the loop
let each loop drop vertically into the fish tank. This will aid aeration and it will assist the proper drainage of ur gbs
siphon will stop once water falls below the point of the green drain hose

Little bit of fiddly work, dasall and easily fixable.
Enjoy the board, lotta good stuff here. I am on my first 'proper' system and it has taken me since the end of February to get it happening. There will be little humps and issues such as the drain problem you are experiencing. Once u get a handle on things, it really is easy. Read up on fish, nitrifying bacteria, water parameters etc, the plant side of things will then look after itself.
Welcome, good to have another big V on board

Could always leave them there as emergency overflows....

Agree with TT.... raise the loop in your loop siphons.

Adrian, have a look at the 1st two systems posted here, Artistic_Mill and Janet's which show how they have there loop siphons
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... php?t=1618

great, i will need to join both grow beds to help stablise, and i will need to redo the loop system to the one pointed out. I bought some double shielded tubing which will help bending of the hose i'm using currently also.

The black tubes are for overflow just in case the siphon system fails.

So when flooding do i flood the entire bed? ie covering the plants as well? i was thinking that flooding up to root system would be sufficient?

So with the timing of the draining, is it a matter of trail and error to get it to drain at the right time? I can see with the tube between both growbeds this will help alot.

I will try get some done next weekend and update you all

It's been found that flooding to about 1" (25mm) from the top of the gravel is optimum.....

Some flood to the top when germinating seedlings, if they have that sort of adjustment - or just water from the top occassionaly. Most people probably don't bother

Many people use a ball valve to adjust the inflow.... with two good siphons going the drain time will be pretty quick.

Hi Adrian123
Welcome to the site and great start. Learn all the basics with your small system before your next bigger one .
How long has your system been running for?
Have you started testing any water parameters yet??

You could always set the timer to drain down for 30 minutes before your next pump cycle.
Don't forget with smaller systems, things happen much quicker than larger systems, monitor closely
LB