Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, am setting up a system in bendigo, So far 4 bath tubs, the 5th bath tub for a sump, one 2500 litr ex biotreat sewerage tank..fish tank : now clean.. is befor i rush of to no name hardware, what pump volume to use ie what pumps. one a pump to pump from the fish tank, and a pump to pump from sump, (will have to say that really quick after a few reds)
would put some pics up but havnt worked out how yet. any advise would be most welcome

To post pics, you can simply use the browse box located below the submit button while you post. It is good to make sure they are not too big 800 by 600 is an appropriate size that allows for good resolution while keeping it small enough that one doesn't need to scroll sideways to read the posts on the page.

Have you already figured out your system design or are you kinda going as you build? You might not need two separate pumps if you have enough fall in your system to get gravity to work with you.

Good luck!

my setup dosnt allow for gravity return. the fish tank is too high 1.4 mts, 2750 litres. The bath tubs are beside the fish tank, and the 5th bath tub, the sump is in front I plan to fill the beds with 14 mil river pebbles.. The fish are in 1000 20 mil perch that i got from the local res.. I guess they will start to eat each other, that will bring the numbers down hopefully still trying to work out the stand pipe thingy, plumbing and stuff.the fish tank is at one end of the glass house,and the 4 bath tubs are at waist level in the other longer section

sorry Rod, the perch probably won't eat each other!

may bee a stir fry on the way . These red fin are very cannablistic, they eat the squished ones, hmm dont know about the live ones

oh Redfin? I don't know about those ones. Maybe Jim might know.

Did you sort out your water path?

sitting at table mon morning thinking where to start, will post photo of progress so far, getting there bit by bit just figering how to make stand pipes 4 four bath tubs , then pumps then hopefully the first set auuaponics I come through your way at christmass on the way to perth, just stopped for the night. pizza, motel.. was good Pity only a newbee would have loved to see your system, but was back home befor discoverd aquaponics, oh well you get that any way off to feed the red fin, they are getting used to chook pellets do you think i should put an air pump in the fish tank
cheers
Mizzie

If you don't have any grow beds hooked up to pump through, definitely get an air bubbler in. Or if you have a small pump on hand, you could run that making a little fountain. Actually, you could even hook up a temporary gravel bucket and pump through it. Anything to start some cycling happening. Having fish before your grow beds are hooked up and full of gravel is well, kinda like the cart before the horse.
I hope you already have your test kits and are ready to do water changes for those fish until you have your grow beds hooked up.

I'm a little confused about your description of the layout. First you said the tubs were beside the fish tank then you said they were in the other end of the greenhouse.

At first when I mentioned only one pump, here is how that might work with a tall fish tank like you have. Run a venturi drain from the fish tank, (will require a hole at aprox the height you want the water to be in the tank and you run your plumbing to feed the grow beds from there.) So long as the tops of the grow beds are a little lower than the water level in the fish tank, you won't need a pump to go from the tank to the grow beds. Then hopefully you still have enough fall for the grow beds to drain down to you sump where you put your pump. This would be a CLIFT PIST system (Constant Level In Fish Tank, Pump In Sump Tank.) Handy bit is you only need one pump and the water in the fish tank maintains a constant Level. Drawback is you need a fairly large sump tank (needs to hold enough water for all the grow beds plus a little extra.)

Other method might be a small pump (but it should be big enough to handle solids or as solid as fish poo is) to take water from fish tank to the grow beds and a sump pump that operates from a float switch though there are risks to such a thing. If the sump tank is not very big and the power trips off when the grow beds are full, then the sump will overflow as the grow beds drain into it.

A good rule of thumb most people use for figuring out how much water a grow bed will hold when full of gravel is 40% of the grow bed volume. If you want a safety margin on Sump size, then figure 50%. So a sump should be just a little over half the size of all the grow beds it is serving to reduce the risk of overflow. If one were to set up their system with the Golden Ratio of Grow bed To Tank Volume of 2:1 then that second tank you have would make a perfect sump. Most people don't start out with a 2:1 ratio though and they just stock less fish to compensate.

Sorry, that was a long winded post. I'll just say it's been windy here today.

sorry for the lack of clarity, this is so far, hopefully by the end of the week beds will be full of washed river pebbles and running, water testing good ,fish 10-15 mil

Is that the fish tank in the background? If so, you could easily do gravity feed from the tank to the beds! There is something called a venturi drain that can suck solids off the bottom of the fish tank without risking siphoning all the water out of your fish tank. Then your only real issue is going to be your sump, what kind of pump to put in it, and how you are going to control things. Siphons, timers, float switch etc.........

Good luck, looks great so far!!!!!

i was thinking this might be a sump.lol but maybee not.Haw does this venturie drain work

HI i have set up and running exactley what you are trying to do

what i want to do is pump from the large black tank at the end, out to the 4 bath tubs that you can seethen drain back to sump then pump back to tank

Run it shist pst you only need one pump and running that way if one pump fails you dont loose all your water