Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey y'all I'm an aquaponics noobicile. Soon to be Air Force vet here moving to Lincoln from Omaha, and I'll be setting up a system in my new basesment. I've been doing a lot of research all over the internet, and I am going to setup a hybrid continuous flow system with rainbow trout. FT to media-filled gb to dwc gb to sump and back to ft. I'll have air stones in the ft and both gbs, and I'll be juicing up my sweet crops with MH and HPS lights. I'm always open to suggestions, help, and criticism! Also, if any of y'all live in my area and know of any hydro/ap shops please let me know where they are!

Welcome to the forum .

Nebraska gets pretty hot in the summer and really cold in the winter, you might have troubles keeping trout alive depending on where you put the system and how it's built. Freeze up in winter if this is outdoors will also be a possibility.

Oh trust me I know! I'm going to be setting up in the basement it stays pretty cool all day down there.

Glad to hear it, I missed that in the first reading, that should work well for trout . I started out with trout in an unfinished basement with a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. This worked pretty well but I wouldn't do it like that again. Based on that experience, IBC size is the smallest tank I'd use for trout and I'd look for one in a lighter color, my impression is that's easier for the fish to see and judge distance, particularly important if they are spooked. It's also easier for you to see the fish and tell if ones being a bully or if they are having troubles.

Make sure you have a cover on the tank, trout really like to jump.

Probably don't need the airstones in the media beds but they might speed up mineralization. You can do a lot for aeration by changing the relative heights of the different components within the system or having a venturi or spray bar going into the fish tank.

Start a system thread and post up some pics. You may have to explain what you mean by hybrid continuous flow?

Cheers

I'm going to try to use a 300 gallon Rubbermaid, but I'm not sure yet if I can get it down there..if not I'll find something that will work!

I might just have to put a spray bar for the return now that you mention it..I didn't think of that before.

I'll definitely post pictures once I get it built, I'll be starting at the end of September. In the meantime I'm just trying to tweak my design to make it as good as possible.

Poor wording on my choice...what I meant was hybrid media and Dwc design using continuous flow

I do like the Rubbermaid tanks and have quite a few of them so give it a try if you already have it. You may find that when the lights come on, turn off or the fish see you they ram the side because they can't see it as well but it may just have been my lighting conditions and the lack of adequate space .

When you get your design if you want some feedback post it up. Looking forward to some pics .