Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I would say, ditch the water plants, unless they're edible. Put a sump under the grow beds, and then pump up into the fish tank. Then the water would flow down into the grow beds. Don't worry about the solids clogging the grow beds. Worms will make their way into them to help keep them clean. The sump will naturally be pretty clean because the grow beds will do a good job at cleaning it out. The type of fish does not determine the type if waste, what you feed them does. Stocking density is the term used to know how many fish are ok to have. There are many threads dedicated to it. Did you get a chance to read The IBC's of Aquaponics? After reading it I had all of the answers I needed to get started.

The waterplants will expand the ecosystem by attracting new animals. Edible ones will be preferred, but all plants have their uses. Its not only about growing food for the human being, it is also about giving as much life as possible an environment to be happy.

The ibc is a very good guide indeed. Thanks for the advice.
Plans have changed however, we might have an expanded system as the teamwork with the neighbors is evolving. The bushes dividing the gardens will be removed.

Do a search for SLO

Fish poop sinks, so you want to shift water from the bottom of your fish tank to the grow bed to make sure you take all the solids away. In a design like that, it is probably worth sloping the bottom of the fish tank so solids collect into one spot so your SLO can remove them. In a round tank, solids can be easily encouraged to the centre by creating a whirl pool.