Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm designing my first system.My property has 2 mountain streams and a fresh water spring or 3 that originate at a higher elevation before crossing my land.

Would it be possible to run a pipe from a catch basin, utilizing a ball valve to regulate flow, to supply my fish tanks? When the fish tanks reach the fill level, the run off would then feed the grow beds. The siphons in the grow beds could then dump into the original stream's flow and continue on. Would the water be too cold to grow most plants? Would there still be enough effluent in the discharge to upset the eco-balance in the stream (cause algae growth?) and harm the trout in the creek? I plan to grow trout, which are native here. I know water cress can handle the stream's water temps, but I would like to grow all kinds of veggies.

Thanks for your help.
Frank

what's the temp of the spring?
you'll probably have to deal with some regulations if you utilize the streams, and discharge any kind of waste into them..
aquaponic systems are considered "closed" systems.. pretty much zero discharge.. you could probably use the spring to fill and top up, but you'd want to know the water parameters first.. like is the ph high or low, is there high iron content, is the dissolved oxygen low.. lots of things to test..
if i had a cold water spring, i'd look into doing a flow through pond for trout (if the water is cold) but some initial water testing can tell you quite a bit...
if it were me.. hmmm.. i'd use aquaponics to raise supplemental (i'd rely on commercial feed as primary food source for the trout!) feed for the trout that i raise in the pond (crayfish, scuds, minnows, shiners etc)... and enjoy the benefits of how well the veggies grow