Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi i am in the process of making the above mentioned system,

now am i correct in saying this chop is better than chop2 as the latter seems quite stupid to me
as the first version seems to be so much simpler and energy efficient but hey correct me if im wrong.

I choose the first anyway (chift pist ?)

what i plan is this 1 1000l fish tank with slo then run into a 220l barrel for a solids filter then using fall feed the 3 grow beds which have affnan style syphons that drain to a 700l sump then pumped back to the fish tank.

Fish tank will have air pump running as well.

grow beds will be ibc that have been cut bed depth will be 300mm of chosen media.
i think they where around 260l each cant remember, have to go measure them again

Scoria will be my media at this stage, Will size matter i can choose between 10,14 and 20mm sized, Seems to be good as has high iron content and plenty of trace elements.

I also want to run using fall from fish tank a nft channel to grow strawberrys and some herbs these will also drain to sump so should be maintenance light.

Just finished turfing the backyard 204 sq metres so i will get back to this soon.

Jade perch as the fish when im ready and if all goes well might try some other varities.

also on a side note can i grow duckweed in a half cut drum with stagnant water or does it need flow though it?

thanks for reading

either way with duck weed... just not too much flow if your going to do it that way as it doesnt like it

love the user name, and welcome to the forum

Cheers, Hubby.

Unless you have heating in your FT jade perch will struggle over winter in Sydney. Rest of the plan looks great

Why not let your solids just go straight to your grow beds????

Got any pictures Lancalot?

Yeah, simple chift pist will see you through pretty well there I would think from your explanation. Duckweed will do fine in a still pond.

so what would be the ideal fish for the sutherland shire area
yeah i have pics but there just bits and pieces at the moment
still need 1 more ibc and a barrel

Silver Perch are virtually bullet proof... Jade Perch are a possibility...

Of course there's trout between now and late November, early December...

hey rupertofoz do you have a marine fish tank by any chance?

Hi lancalot, why restrict your grow bed to 300mm when using a IBC, why not just cut it in half. Some people (OBO) uses a complte IBC for grow beds. Think of all that extra filtering area that you are discarding. Just a thought.

As in... an aquarium style tank??

No....

well thanks to a stupid right of way on my property im going to start putting this thing together
where the right of way is seeing i cant build on it at the moment.

some pictures to come soon...

heres some pics still need a few barrels and another ibc but you can get the general idea.

general area


where the growbeds will be, raised on concrete blocks to get the levels i need


close up of drain parts




and my super dooper paint mock up of what i have plans of, nothing you see here is to scale or has falls or levels correct.

quick question ill now have 4 grow beds ft and sump am i better off without solids filter and just put some worms in the gb's

i would require less plumbing this way a s well

what do you think

Solids filter would depend on fish load/stocking density.

Stocked correctly all you should need is some worms in your grow beds.

Suggested maximum stocking rate is 3kg (harvest weight) per 100 litres of grow bed.

ok little bit of progress

so i managed to get 2 more ibc's

cut 1 up for grow beds and made one my sump
heres the hole only got about halfway down is solid stone under that lil bit of dirt
managed to break about 3" worth then gave up


filling with tank water got just over 1000l in it



and the end result a half buried ibc full of tank water



now need to get some concrete blocks and lumber and sort these grow beds out