Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm new to aquaponics and looking for any suggestions that might make this a smoother ride.
I'm presently building a 500-600 gallon fish tank with growbeds on a 1:1 ratio.
It's going to be a flood and drain system inside an existing in-ground (3ft.) greenhouse which is attached to my barn.
As of now, I'm planning on using growbeds with solite (expanded shale/slate) topped off with river pea gravel.
I am thinking about bluegill from a local grower.
Any suggestions specifically to pump brand/size and my mixed media idea would be appreciated.

Just make sure that the pump can handle the volume of your fish tank. You need to circulate the fish tank through the growbeds at least once an hour for flood and drain. If you bought a 250gph pump at lowes and you have a 600 gal. tank, see where Im going....
Also check for the max. head lift.(how high the pump can distribute water vertically.
What type of system are you doing, simple flood and drain or chift- pist (constant height in fish tank, pump in sump tank.

I've been planning/building for flood and drain because I had never heard of constant flood (water basically always at stand pipe height until last week. Now, I'm thinking about removing some of my bell syphons and just trying the stand pipe. Seems like people have good luck with just the stand pipe. I'm hoping to begin my cycling this weekend if my pump (Danner Mag Drive Supreme 18) arrives in time. I tested my fish tank water yesterday for the first time (water came from my underground reinforced concrete cistern) and the ph level was around 8.4.

If you have the bell siphons I would recomend that you go ahead and try them. The results of flood and drain are better for the plants. Just takes a little fine tuning to get them dialed in. Too fast flow from inlet to growbed and the siphon wont break causing the bed to empty and not fill only continue to drain through. Not enough flow and the siphon wont kick in, it will still drain but not fast enough to empty the bed all at once. Put some valves on your inlet to open or restrict the flow to get it just right.
Concrete will cause water to have a very high ph level.

I've got valves on all 13 growbeds. As for f&d vs. cf, I'm seeing all sorts of reports that cover the full spectrum. Since I have no personal experience, I'm sort of at a loss. With the syphons already built, I'll probably try to use all of them. If I have some huge problem getting them to work, then maybe I'll go to just cf. In contrast to all of my past endeavors on my little farmstead, I'm determined to take a more laid back approach to this latest project. BTW, I'm going to use fishless cycling and see what happens. It appears that ph levels usually drop once you go through your cycling.

if you put your pump on a timer 15mins on 45 off with two 6mm holes at the base of your standpipe the beds will flood and drain and any time you want to switch to constant flood its just the flick of a switch

Yes, well put Nat. The little 6mm hole will help you should the power go out and your grow bed is full of water. Works for cf and ebb-n-flow. The holes at base of stand pipe will allow water to eventually return to were it is supposed to go and not sit in bed soaking and rotting the plant roots.

I'm in southern Indiana also. Just wondered where you are located. I'm near French Lick.

I'm in central Indiana and thinking about building a small greenhouse. Do you heat yours during the winter months? If yes, how and is it very expensive? I am debating a greenhouse with an AP system or just setting up my AP in my cramped basement to not have to deal with heating.

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