Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,
Am new to the forum[3WKS], but in that time have perused every day, and very very keen.
I am in the process of setting up tanks forthe farming of red Tilapia, and came across Backyard while doing resurch.
I am living in Ranong, Thailand, have my own land, and own water supply from deep bore.
The water is drinkable but am in the process of purchasing ph kit to sastisfy my own curiosity.
Before moving to Thailand 2 years ago, I lived in the South West of Western Aus., and ran a semi commercial hydroponics set- up, which was easy to run and very successful.
So, it is second nature to me to be interested in aqua ponics, as I had never heard of it before.
I intend setting up a 2000ltr FT and 1000 ltr growbeds using half 200 ltr blue barrels.
I tend to favour the chift pist system, but can not really work out what parts and mechanism is requiered to drain the beds.
Can anybody please enlighten me?
The other querie I have, is why is there any need to run the system at nite when no growth happens as in contrast to a hydroponics system, which shuts down in the evening?
HELP on this also
Will look foreward to hearing from some one out there
Smithy

Hi Smithy, Nice what area of Thailand are you in?

The system is best kept going at night for the sake of the fish, they need oxygen and they need their water to keep being turned over to convert the ammonia into nitrites/rates.

If your system isn't too heavily stocked you can just pump air into the fish tank at night.

You can chift pist a few ways...

Standpipes in the beds with a timer on the pump.
Autosyphon in the growbeds pump running full time.
Or standpipes in beds, beds constantly flooded, pump running full time..

Welcome to the forum Smithy.
You mention 2000 L FT and 1000L GB's, most people seem to say that you need 2:1 GB to FT.
So a few more blue barrels may be needed.


Dui

You can have any ratio you like in reality.... I have a system with a 4000L fish tank and only about 300L of growbed..

You just need to remember that your mass of fish relates to the volume of growbed/area of plants/number of plants, and not the size of your fish tank. As well as a few other minor factors as well...

Welcome Smithy... Just a word of advice, there are some important differences between running a hydroponics system and an aquaponics system. Do take some time to identify and ask about the differences (like you have here) before going to make adjustments to your system.

Good luck...

Yes definitely read the Basic Info section and Useful info section. They will help you with a few things and perhaps tip you off to more questions you need to ask.

Hydroponics is sometimes more about control.
Aquaponics is more about balance. Sometimes in aquaponics, instead of actively trying to change something, one must carefully monitor and patiently wait for nature to take it's course. This is usually for the benefit of the bacteria and fish, sometimes the plants have to stand by for the other parts of the system to balance. The Bacteria and filtration are the most important parts of the aquaponics system and usually the least seen/realized. The fish and plants are the products we want but none of it will work without the bacteria and filtration to support them both.

As to the ratio, you probably will want more grow beds. Yes a system can function to an extent by reducing the amount of fish to work with the amount of grow bed but looking at a tropical location and growing tilapia, I think you will need as much grow space as possible to keep up with the waste produced by the tilapia. Yes tilapia can survive terrible conditions but they grow much faster with plenty of aeration, clean water, good food and warm water.

Now I'll also recommend that you find a few of the big member system threads to read through completely. Perhaps you can find some of the threads from other people in tropical climates too.

Oh, and welcome to the addiction!!!!!