Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everyone.

My name is Carlos Leiton, and I live in San Jose, Costa Rica. I am a network engineer with some experience troubleshooting enterprise level networks, mainly with Cisco equipment (routing and switching and wireless)
I discover Aquaponic on Facebook, with a post somebody published about Murray Hallan, and since I saw this system I got in love with it.

Right now I am studying and reading a lot about aquaponics, because I would like to deploy one small-scale system at home. However I live in the city, and there is not much space here.

The more I study about the system, the more I like it.

My challenges are plenty, of course, the budget to start up, the knowledge to avoid killing all my fishes, the design itself as I will need to raise the water about 3meters (10 feet) from the FT to the GBs, and the support from my family as everyone thinks that I am crazy.

In part they are right, because I do not have any experience at all with planting vegetables or having fishes, I am a city person, and no one on my family has ever had a farm. But somehow aquaponics attracts me even more every day, and despite the fact I have zero experience, I want to give it a try.

So this is my introduction, I hope to learn a lot from you, to get to know you guys, I am a BIG dreamer, and if my home system works well, I have a bigger project that I would like to develop with aquaponics. Only time will tell me if it will be possible.

Thank you
Carlos

welcome to the forum Carlos, there are a couple of Costa Rican members around.

3m lift is quite large but do-able with the right pump. You will have to pay attention to the pump when you source it for such a situation.

Hi Darrin,

Yes you are correct. The submersible water pumps have their limitations regarding how tall you can lift the water.
I am wondering if anyone has experience with air-lift pumps, looks like there are people being able to lift enough water for aquaponics with this system:

http://www.olomanagardensaquaponics.com/?p=269

Anyway, as I said this is one of the challenges that I have, I need to think about my design very well.
I need to keep studying and analyzing how can I use the space I have.

>> I am wondering if anyone has experience with air-lift pumps, looks like there are people being able to lift enough water for aquaponics with this system:

that is one option. There is a guy on youtube that plays with airlift pumps and air-assisted pump systems and he had a video lifting water 2-3 metres. However most tend to be only lifting less than and up to depth of the water. No idea what the pro's and con's are for them 24/7.

There is the odd post around here but not too many seem to be using them. I guess that most sumersible pond/fountain pumps are pretty much plug'n'play so no need to look further afield for most people.

Hi Carlos,

Welcome to the forum! Good to see another Costa Rica connection here! I'm in Heredia and have been experimenting with a small prototype aquaponics system that I am hoping to expand into something commercial in the near future. Looking forward to hearing more about your setup!

Cheers,
Jeff

Hi Carlos, welcome. I love Costa Rica - Pura Vida Tico! I suggest a small system to start, maybe a single barrel or at most a single IBC. I also recommend re-considering the design to eliminate the 3m lift. I'm not sure why that would ever be needed. I know Costa Rica has steep hillsides but not so much in San Jose. Unless the sump is on the first floor and the fish tank and grow beds are on the second floor you should be able to eliminate this.

I use a geyser pump to lift small amounts of water 1.5 meters for my vertical strawberry towers, but it is submerged 1m and only moves about 4 gph using 4 watts of power.

Here is an example of a single barrel system. You can play with fish, veggies, and explore timed flood and drain, siphons, constant flood, water quality, etc. before moving on to a larger system. It's also easy on the budget and space. Later you can build a bigger system. I recommend a conventional chift-pist system with a sump tank. There are also a few barrel designs that are low cost and small footprint (search the forum for barrel ponics).

Good luck and have fun.