Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Im not sure if this is the best place for this post but here goes.

There is a lot of great info in this site and forum about different systems and the Galleries have pictures of members systems with basic descriptions. However the pros and cons of different setups and system components are hard to find i.e. why have a sump?, why pump 24/7?, why use timers? These question and answers are often repeated in small bites in members threads and other posts.

If it is not to much work, it might be more efficient if a few of the more experienced members provide a breakdown of their systems, mentioning all the system parts and how they function. Most of it is probably already written in your threads. Newbies could then be pointed in this direction and then use the search function to find how to build/buy the various bits.

For instance many think that CHIFT (Constant Height In Fish Tank) PIST (Pump In Sump Tank) is the best way to go. However I have seen several variations of CHIFT PIST. Some use standpipes, and some use syphons. In some the water flow goes: Sump to Fish Tank to Grow Beds. In others water flow goes: Sump to Grow Beds to Fish Tank. Some use venturi drains others use pumps. Some don't do CHIFT PIST at all.

A breakdown of some established sytems under the following headings would definitely have helped me.
System Overview
Advantages/Why Did I Do It This Way
Disadvantages/Things I would have done differently.

While it hasn't been done quite to the extent you suggest - particulary the pros and cons stuff, a number of the system summaries in the small, large and medium systems area should be of some use. For example, see the one for my first single bed chift pist system (now gone).

viewtopic.php?p=61234#p61234

also, a couple of us, with the longer system threads have put links in the first post to make it easier to navigate through the rest of the thread

System Overview - System one is CHIFT PIST of 1000l tank, 200l sump. Pumps from sump into FT which overflows into 4 x 1/2 blue barrels. Barrels are water in the top, water out the bottom - no syphon. FT Has water from pump into the top of tank splashing, drain is from just below inlet, running to the bottom of the tank. Ratio is 1 : 0.4 with 11 trout and 10 goldies.

Advantages/Why Did I Do It This Way - This is the system I trial everything on. I have tried constantly flooded beds, doesnt work. I have tried flood and drain with bell syphons, works well. Have trialled 150mm pvc cut in half, doesnt work for long. Now running constantly flowing. After 3 days the beds are staying evenly wet, and plants are still happy. This is by far the easiest sort of system to build. Water filtration is also excellent.

http://wa-donaghy.smugmug.com/photos/289299519_hH466-L.jpg

Disadvantages/Things I would have done differently - Hmmmm.....Bigger sump is #1 on the list of things to do. Apart from that all is good.

System 2 next

System 2

System Overview - 4000l of buried IBC's, 2 x 4500lph pumps, 2400l of 1/2 blue barrel growbeds with syphons, 250 fish. Pumps running off a timer, for around 12 hours a day. 2 hours on 2 hours off. All tanks have airstones. All plumbing is 25mm poly pipe.



Advantages/Why Did I Do It This Way - I simply used the cheapest available materials I could. 24 individual bell syphons and 24 individual flow control taps into the beds = very adjustable water levels to suit different plants.

Disadvantages/Things I would have done differently - Would not use buried IBC's - I would simply dig the biggest hole I had space for, and line it. Also I would try loop syphons, to reduce the amount of space wasted in the beds by bell syphons. 24 bell syphons take up a fair bit of room, and $$$ of plumbing.

Thats the spirit.

I agree, links on page one are great and I was thinking about the galleries in particular when I first wrote this. There are really good pictures and some descriptions of components spread throughout. What I couldn't always find however was "Why did you do it that way in your particular situation"? Would that work for me?

There is also a lot of banter between members about syphons versus standpipes, timers versus floats etc. Perhaps an explanation of all these issues and how members came to the decision is what I thought would be useful, particularly if it was in an abridged form and in one place.

a fusking edit button would be handy

Is a bit like Fords vs Holdens. Tis something that we are unlikely to ever agree on. I'm a Ford man, Joel is a Holden man (well I'm not so sure about that, but I am a siphon man and he is a float man ).

Just cos you can't swear properly on your first attempt

Toyota man actually.... Luv me hilux... http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/episo ... ode5.shtml
(click "Indestructible truck" on the right)

This would be a good topic for the wiki..

Anyway..

Flood and drain, best oxygen to root zone, plants do not get to wet and almost anything can be grown this way the media supports plants completely most of the time. Flood and flow, aka standpipes are very simple and very effective. The advantage is: simple, most any pump works when hole in bottom of standpipe is made using a drill through pipe and fitting so you can twist and adjust outlet. Only dis advantage is that you MUST watch the weep holes at the bottom as a root or crud can stop it up and the bed will not drain, water-logging your plants.

Loop Siphons Are simple and fast, but must be matched with inflow rate (valve on inlet or timer to shut off pump when full to prevent over flow if using large pump) and to small of a pump and it will not kick off and drain.

Bell Siphons, no experience here. They also must be matched with inflow rates.

NFT, not real great, solied must be filtered before going to root zone, does not provide biofilter.

DWC (deep water culture), required air stones under each plant, is best growing but everything must be tied up and required large water container under plants (not fish tank as fish eat roots).

Spray, prone to technical failure QUICKLY, stops up, everything must be tied up, a pain in general.


CLIFT PIST allows one pump to be used and when, like me, planning on stocking a lot of fish in the tanks allows the water level to remain almost constant in fish tanks. I suggest a sump large enough to hold surplus water over what is required to fill your grow beds. if you can not lift your fish tank above the growbeds then you would have to pump to growbeds then return to fish tank if your fish tank is lower than the growbeds. If not then you might need to add a sump and another pump to return the water to the fish tank..


What you choose depends on what you have to work with. I.E. can you lift your heavy growbeds high or place on a hill above the fish tank, can you lift your heavy large fish tank above all other system parts, can you only do it on level ground or with limited lift. Generally, the fewer active parts the less of a problem if there is a failure. Like a small sump, two pump system. If the pump fails then all your water will spill out and be wasted if the sump is to small. Also, two pumps means twice the chance of failure. The advantages or disadvantages are often not as much of a factor a your resources or location so shoot for simplicity and function using what you have in your give situation.

I choose CHIFT PIST because Im on a hill and my fish tank is above the growbeds. I dug a sump below the beds. This allows me to do maximum fish stocking without them being packed together when water is pumped out. It also guarantees that if there is a failure in part of the system the fish will always have plenty of water. LEss chance of a HSM from system failure

Hi FF,
DDM summarized it pretty well, I am using CHIFT PIST but since I can't easily adjust the heights of things in the basement I have it fish tank, overflow to sump, pump up to four beds with loop siphons, back down to fish tank. It is better to have beds right after the fish tank because then the solids are under control by design. Ideally with enough vertical fall available you can have it fish tank, overflow to beds, then sump, pumped up to more beds, then down to fish tank.

I use loop siphons because I wanted to use a small continuous pump instead of a bigger pump on a timer, and because it is cool. The tradeoff is that solids are not picked up with the alacrity that a nice big sump pump would do.

My current plans involve continuous pumps for water circulation/watering of beds, and designing the sump/tank for solids concentration that is pumped out to beds using a large pump on a very occasional timer. I think this would be the best of both worlds, low power use but not losing oomph to get the solids gone.

I think there is a general consensus that a CHIFT PIST setup is the easiest way to go. It prevents fish crowding, and simplifies pump plumbing.

F&D is also pretty much a consensus.

The only real area of contention is timer & standpipe vs. autosiphon. And really, it depends on what your constraints are. If you have a large volume requiring a very large pump, it's probably more economical to use the timer & standpipe. If that's not an issue, autosiphons are just plain cooler . Both are fairly low-maintenance after setup.

My opinion anyways.