Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Howdy everyone. I'm new to AP and just setup my first system. I reside in the Texas gulf coast area, so I believe I live in the perfect climate for a year round outdoor AP system.

The system i have now is an ebb and flow system with a quick ebb and slow flow. It is built around 3 x 13 gallon food grade water barrels, as they are what I had on hand. I think I spent a total of $20 building it since most everything was recycled. My next system will use 30 gallon barrels for grow beds and a 300 gallon IBC tank for the fish.

Hay there and welcome

Welcome to the madness.....

looking forward to pics and diagrams of your system

jT

G'day Mate,
Welcome from 'Downunder"
......Bid...

Attached is a very simple diagram of the system I came up with. The fish tank is at the bottom with a sump pump pushing water up through the green pipe to a reservoir tank. The red pipe coming out of the reservior tank siphons the water to field lines on the grow bed. The grow bed has a single drain pipe that allows the water to slowly fall back into the fish tank. Since the grow bed fills quickly but empties slowly, I'm calling it a quick ebb and slow flow system.

That works. So long as you flood and drain, the bacteria and plant roots get good aeration

Well, think I have my system read for some grow media and some fish. The ebb and flow cycle takes about 10 minutes, with the water in the grow bed going from about an inch deep, up to 6 inches deep and back down.I'm thinking of adding a field line in the middle to help remove any "wet" spots due to the drain being at one end. The fish tank varies by about4 inches during the cycle, so I think that's acceptable.

A couple more images for your viewing pleasure.

This was built around the KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple Stupid). I had a hard time introducing air into the siphon to break it. It kept letting in just enough air so the flow rate down to the bed was the same as the flow rate coming from the pump. Fixed the problem by drilling a pair of 1/4 inch holes near the end of the siphon tube.

I really like your oxygenation ladder. If you can figure out how to make them swirl in a figure-8 you should be close to max DO for your temperature.

It doesn't do the large figure 8 like the cast blocks I've seen posted here, but it does hold turbulence between the water leaving a pad and water coming onto the pad. It could be better with what is already there. Don't know how to do a figure 8 as cheap.