Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,
I am just starting on my first AP system after months of reading, dreaming and planning.
My system at this stage will consist of,
3x 450L FTs with SLOs feeding 4 300L media beds.
I will be running CHIFT PIST constant flood as I only have room for a 200L sump tank.
The pump will then feed all three fish tanks.
Before anyone asks why 3 tanks, they are old winemaking tubs that I picked up super cheap and I dont have room for 1 big tank.

My questions are (and I'm sure more will follow!)

What size pipe should I use for the SLOs and main pipe to the GBs? I plan to combine all the SLOs to one pipe as my GBs are about 6 metres away.

What size should the drains from the grow beds back to the sump be? there will be a good 500mm drop from the bottom of the grow beds over about 5-6 metres to the sump

What type of pipe to people usually use? DWV (drain waste vent), Pressure PVC or stormwater?

Any advice is more than welcome.
I am also looking for a 12V air pump to add to the system if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

Could you give us an idea of the amount of room you have available for this project? Also a mockup diagram would be helpful. With these 2 bits of info we could see the general layout to see how feasible it is and if we could improve it before you started building. We would also need the height of all the pieces in your system so we could work out pump, head height, and other flow related issues.

Apologies for the rather crude image but I think you will get the idea.
The fish tank and grow beds are separate due to the sun mainly, fish tanks will remain in the shade full time
while the grow beds will get a good amount of sun. Also power is only available where the fish tanks are (they are up against the side of the house) and there isn't room for the grow beds there as well. the fish tank water level will be approx 1400mm above ground level, the grow beds 900mm and the sump will be at ground level. so 500mm fall from FT to GB and 900mm from GB to sump. both the pipes to and from the grow beds will be buried so there will be a bit of friction loss with the extra pipework. this is to allow me to still have a lawn for the kids in between (the joys of a long skinny backyard!)
Hope all that makes sense.
Thanks

What is the distance between the closest FT and the GBs?

About 5 metres

I can physically see the layout, and I am guessing that you are using your GBs as your only filtration. The only worry I have with your idea at the moment, is. I am worrying that the solids (fish waste) will settle in the piping between the FT and GBs. I know your pump is going to have to be over the 1500ltr/hr, to be able to turn over the FTs once an hr. But I do not know at that flow will it be enough to keep the fish waste suspended all the way to the GBs. I will see if I can get the sites math magician to drop in to answer this. For your other piping question. My system is done completely with pressure pvc. As I like its added robustness. Although it cost more. It also occurred to me that unless you are going to stock your fish very lightly. You may want to think about adding another couple of GBs right off the bat. As for your 12v air pump. Are you planning on going solar? Or is it for a backup?

Yes at this stage the GBs will be the only filtration. I have a pump I was planning to use which will do about
6500lt/hr and I was planning on cycling it on and off to get the right amount of water turnover.
The grow beds themselves are IBCs cut about 300mm tall so approx 300lt of grow media.
With a total grow media volume of about 1200lt and FT volume the same will that provide sufficient filtration (providing it doesn't settle out in between as you mentioned)? As for the air pump it is mainly for
Backup should the power go out to the main pump. Thanks for your reply it's certainly brought up a few more things to think about.

The trick is to get the size of the pipe as large as possible to reduce the friction losses but not so large that the water speed moving through the pipe is so slow that the solids settle in the pipe.

The maths is relatively simple but the concepts behind can take a while to get your head round.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=21129&hilit=velocity+solids