Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Wow, It's been a while. I had tried to do this a few years ago indoors but my systems never took off. We just got back from vacation at Disney World and in Epcot they had a ride that toured a greenhouse and at the end they had an aquaponics system! So I have caught that aquaponics bug again! After finally settling down in a permanent home and getting permission from the Mrs I'm giving this one more shot. This is my first attempt at setting up an outdoor system. I know it's late in the season so my goal is to get everything up and running so I can hit the ground running next year. The location is not ideal, it receives very little sun.

System Specifications: CHIFT PIST. I am a big fan of this design since it protects the fish if anything catastrophic happens. I plan on getting some Blue Gill mostly because they are free and hardy fish to work with, I just got to catch them first. I have two half blue barrel grow beds filled with hydroton and another two beds I'm going to try as raft/floating beds for herbs. I have buried a 50 gallon rubbermaid tote in the ground as my sump tank. I am using loop siphon for managing the flood cycle of my beds. I have tried bell siphons in the past however ran into so many issues getting them to work. The blue barrels curve at the bottom so keeping the media out of the pipes was an issue and plus I don't like how much room they take up inside the beds. I believe the fish pond holds 40 gallons of water and I tested the grow beds and each holds 10 gallons of water when the siphons start. So if I can get those beds to cycle twice an hour that would be ideal. I'm using an old garden hose for all my lines, I believe the ID is 5/8.

Issues:
1) Siphon won't stop. I believe the pump was too big so I tried another one and added a valve to control the flow. However it still won't shut off. I believe the stand pipe is too low so it's constantly sucking water no matter how slow the bed is filling. What is a good stand pipe height for a loop siphon?

I'm not sure but I think part of the loop has to be around grow bed level and yours is too low so the siphon is continuing (it's been a long time since I've used these). Someone else probably knows for certain.

I think when the bed empties you get the air break and it occupies the top of the loop, then as the bed fills to above this part of the loop it pushes the bubble out starting the siphon. With the loop below the grow bed I can't see it working right .

Update:

I have completed the installation of my new system. There a few odds and ends to tidy up the look and feel of it but it has been running perfectly for a few days. I still need to put up some lattice to keep the pets and kids out of the sump tank. Last night I was able to get some power out to the pump without running an extension cord out under the garage door.

I eliminated one of the raft beds and was considering removing both and just running two media beds only. I was looking through my notes about Fish and Plant ratios and I don't think my system could have supported 2 grow beds and 2 raft beds. I'm following the 1lb of fish to 5-10 gallons of water and 1lb fish for 1sq ft grow bed. It's a 40 gallon pond and my plan is to catch some sun fish, hopefully around 8 of them. Maybe that's too many to start with, I'm not sure. My grow beds are half barrel drums so 20 gallons of grow bed space each with a total of 40 gallons total so that's a 1:1 ratio FT to GB. I added one raft bed made out of a half barrel which holds about 20-25 gallons. The sump tank is a 40 gallon rubbermaid tote that I got from Walmart, I bet there's about 30 gallons of water in there. So I believe I have enough water in the system for the amount of fish I want to support. So based on my grow bed specifications, there is 24 sq ft of total grow bed space which would require 24lbs of fish with a fish tank size of 120 gallons. My tank is only 40 gallons so perhaps I need less fish which means I have too many beds? Those sun fish can't be a pound, maybe .5?

I was able to solve my loop siphon dilemma. I was trying to be fancy and let the loops keep going with the garden hose to the raft beds which was causing issues with the hose having "humps" which caused the siphons to keep draining. I removed a raft bed so only one media bed is draining into it while the other is draining directely back into the sump. I took off the pvc end attachments, again trying to be fancy with 90 degree angles and a valve to stop the flow in emergencies however I found that the hose needs to be angled directly down. So the loop siphon does work.

I believe my pump is way oversized. My cycle time is 1 complete fill and drain being completed in 10 minutes. It is taking 3 minutes to drain and 7 minutes to fill. I have tried to throttle the hose with a valve but it doesn't do much. I have calculated that my grow beds each filter 10 gallons of water during each cycle so 20 gallons total every 10 minutes is 6 cycles an hour so my 40 gallon fish tank volume is being turned over 3 times an hour. I don't see that being an issue with the fish however the roots of the plants may be too wet. I am thinking about getting a smaller pump but I might just see how things go and get some plants put in there.

I added some ammonia the other night which is the exciting part so I have started my fishless cycling process. I can't wait to start taking water tests! Debating about putting some plants in there now with some maxicrop but I can't seem to find it.