Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello All,
Having studied the information on Aquaponics I am keen to design and probably build a system. However there is one
aspect that I have not been able to find any data on, and that is:- does pumping of the fish tank water into the growing beds carry on continuously, or does it cease during the hours of darkness? Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
pramsec

Usually its continuous, although I turn off my system at night because its in my bedroom and is a bit noisy.

Many people use timers to control the flow of water into the GBs, depending on the size of the pump and the required turnover of water rate. If you've got a small pump you may have to run it continuously, if you've got a bigger pump you can run it less often and still have the same volume of water per time period pass through the GB.

If you're not overstocked, it's quite likely you can have "quiet periods" when the water flow can be reduced or switched off completely, this must be balanced with need to keep the water oxygenated so an air pump may be required. It's ok to allow GBs to drain down but they should never be allowed to dry out.

Look for terms like "timed flood and drain" , "continuous flow" , "continuous flood" when doing your system design research.