Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Okay, so I am creating a thread here now that I think I have a workable design in my head.

The fish tanks is going to be a galvanized stock tank (lined first) with about 185 gallons of capacity. It is round and 4ft across and 2ft deep. The grow beds are going to be the top and bottom 15inches or so from an IBC. I haven't gotten the sump tank, but if you guys have a good idea of what size I would possibly need there, that would be great also. The fish tank is going to have an overflow into a tee joint to the two growbeds. I will be putting valves to each grow bed since I want to stagger the planting of each when the time comes. Each GB will have a bell siphon in the center with drainage to the the sump below and in between them. The pump will then send water back to the FT on a cycle based on what it seems I will need. Hopefully 15 on, 45 off or something similar to that. Attached a pretty ugly picture as well to let you guys see what I am talking about.

Any opinions would certainly be appreciated.

Will provide pictures once I start putting the stuff together.

HI Steve

If possible I would put the sump closer to the fish tank, the shorter the pipe is between sump and fish tank the more efficient your pump will be.

15 inches of IBC x2 is I suppose about half an IBC worth. I would look at another complete IBC as your sump. That would give you heaps of room for expansion when you want more grow beds

You can use bell syphons in a timed system but they are usually used with the pump running full time. A timed system would normally use stand pipes with a small drain hole at their base.

Hope that helps.

So I finally got enough stuff together to get the basic system setup. I still have a couple of things to do to finish up but the majority of the system is in place at least. I also had a chance to grab a few pictures to show you guys what I am trying to accomplish. The metal tank will be the sump tank with a doubled over 6mil black plastic liner. The smaller part of the IBC is the initial grow bed. Overflow from FT to grow beds will be tee-d off to allow for expansion to additional grow bed in the future. Bell siphon in the GB will be used with a constant flow from sump to FT. Comments?

Wow those IBCs look dirty. What was in them before? That sump looks like it would leech a lot of metal into the system but as long as it's covered in plastic, it should be okay.

If you are using auto siphons then you don't need a timer. If you are concerned about electricity use running the pump 24/7 I can tell you that it really doesn't cost much. My bill for my 70w 1000 GPH pump moved up less than $10. I assume you will need an even smaller pump, so the electricity cost will be negligible.

Yes, the IBCs are dirty, but I have pressure washed them and they were supposed to have just had mulch coloring. I did some research and it appears as though mulch coloring is usually just iron oxide, but I am not positive. I have finally sealed up all the leaks today and hope to get the whole thing running. Will need to plumb the pump from sump back up to FT tonight. Planning on splitting that off and having a ball valve on the piping back up to the FT so that I can regulate the flow. Most of it will probably get pumped around the sump. Does anyone have anything I can put in the sump that might make effective use of that water or just let it be a sump and cover it up to prevent algae from growing?

i've seen some fresh water mussels in sump tanks..
i might consider crayfish, but thats just me.. i found that they like to have hides (just 1.5" short sections of pvc, and a couple fittings) - but they need "cleaned" occasionally..

but for the most part, whatever you put in, will be a part of the total "bio-load"

Picked up the Hydroton today. Hopefully the rain will hold off enough for me to get it in and washed down and I can take a few more picks of the entire system up and running tonight.

Okay so got everything in place and working on tweaking the bell siphon and flow rate. I have 9.5 inches of hydroton and I am having issues with the bell siphon levels. If the flow rate is on the high side, the siphon seems to break at approx. 4 inches. It would kick in at about 7 inches. This seems to be a little to early on both counts. If I slow the flow rate down it goes down to about two inches but seems to be stuck there as it seems to continue to flow out as fast as it flows in. The stand pipe and outflow are 3/4" PVC. I have also tried a piece of electrical conduit that was 3/4" but was enlarged to 1" from the top down to about 2". The bell part is a 2" piece of PVC with an end cap glued on. I have also tried a 1 1/2" PVC pipe with an end cap glued on. What is the best way for me to get the bell siphon to work properly? I have tried several different types of stand pipes and bells. Maybe I am doing something fundamentally wrong. Thanks for any suggestions.

Hey steve, search for an 'affnan' bell siphon, there is a blog and youtube stuff and plenty on this forum too. A couple of easy modifications and your siphon will work just fine

Your system looks like a beaut, will be nice to see it all up and running, good luck :]

Finally!! System seems to be running properly finally after addition of a simplified affnan siphon. It took some work to try and get flow rates straight but it sure is nice to see the start and stop as planned. I have a few more pictures as well now that it is all running and full of hydroton. Next step is to get some tarp or something to cover the FT and ST. Algae seems to be growing pretty quickly in there already.

Real satisfying seeing your siphons up and running all by themselves never gets old, just sipping a cold beer and watching the siphons work their magic. Good stuff

By the way, you should get your hands on an aquarium test kit to test for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates so that you can monitor the system.

Happy farming Steve

Good point. Got PH and Ammonia already. PH was above 7.6 (highest the card went) and there is no discernible ammonia yet according to the tests. Fish seem to be doing pretty good except for the ones that have gotten sucked through the solids tube. Gotta get something that will keep them out but not clog up or just wait for bigger fish.

LOL! dude that tube in my system is reponsible for 9 of the 10 fish that have died in there so far, got to get that done, its a vicious killer.

I've used a metal netting, however, tightly wrapped fish netting, so that there are no folds for the fish to get stuck in, or like a plastic soda bottle with little holes in it for the water, really small holes that is, can be cut in half and fitted around the bottom and top, wherever you have the need.

pH is a bit on the high side, anything above 8 and the nutrients can't be absorbed by the plants, if your grow media is limestone/marble based then you ahve to get rid of it as it will buffer the pH too high permanently.

Ammonia is zero, thats a good thing really if the fish have been in there for a few weeks, means the system is cycled and ready to grow

Just using Hydroton for grow media. I think the PH will come down a bit as things mature a bit. Fish have only been in there for two days so I don't think ammonia has spiked just yet, so still waiting on that. Just feeder goldfish in at the moment so they are pretty hardy and hopefully will be able to take the ammonia spike. If not, fortunately I can get some more fairly cheaply. Seeds were sown two days ago as well. No sprouts just yet.

Now you play the waiting game buddy, time for you to break out the beer