Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hey everyone, i was wondering if anyone can offer up any advise about system design to convert an old aquacultural system for AP.
I have posted a couple of pictures of what i'm working with. Here is what i am thinking so far- the individual barrels are going to be the growbeds that will drain into a 300 gallon fish tank. I was planning on using autosiphons in the beds to flood and drain. the thing i am needing help wrapping my head around is how I am going to manage the water level of the fish tank when the beds will be draining at different times. I know that a sump would be a logical component of this system but i can't seem to figure the best way to apply it.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
g

Hi Mountainsky,

welcome to the forum. It is good to see a photo with lots of goodies in the background (I'd like that kyak, not that I've got the water to use it)

Since you have your GBs arrayed in two "bays" you could use a similar design to mine. Have a small sump that has walls up to the same height as the GB (so that the sump dosn't overflow) with a pond pump continously running. The pump pumps into the fish tank which overflows into GB1. When GB1 is full the overflow into GB1 closes while the overflow into GB2 opens. At the same time the drain from GB1 to the sump opens while the drain from GB2 closes.

Mind you this setup is a new one and you may prefer to go for something more traditional.

Alternatively I've had an idea on how to make the 2nd gb the sump of the system thereby eliminating the need for a separate sump.

This will be an interesting one to watch

sounds interesting
any pics, Stuart?

frank

Pics of construction in progress in my thread "spc's system"

Welcome MountainSky!

I like this setup, it will be interesting. So there is 200 gallons of barrel volume? The water to gravel ratio of systems people have seems to be around 30 or 40%, so if you plan that the 200 gallons of barrels will require 100 gallons of water to be all full then the fish tank will drop by 1/3. With the barrels being on their own random timings you could assume that it averages to half that drop, so the fish tank will be down most of the time by 50 gallons which isn't too bad. I think you should just do it without a sump for now, until you want more grow beds then that will force things to having a sump.

What is water height of fish tank relative to top of growbeds? If it is at least 6" (15cm) higher you can set it to siphon/suck water/sludge from the bottom without using a pump (which can clog).

You could have a shallow sump under all your barrels, drain them separately into it, put your pump in the sump, and voila! CHIFT PIST!

Welcome to the madness! Where in CO are you? The mountains in the picture look familiar, but I just can't place it.....

thanks everyone for the input.
Stuart- I see what your saying but my setup is not really conducive to having the tank above the growbeds. I've got a truck bay with a large drain directly below where the growbeds end/drain so I am probably going to try to pump directly from the tank to the beds (if the level in the fish tank does not fluctuate too much).
Also, the total volume of the grow tanks is 150 gallons and I've got a 300 gallon tank.
Can anyone offer up some good ideas to maximize poop collection and with either a submersible or inline.
thanks again.
g
P.S. I am in Fort Collins for the guy in Cali

The tank dosn't have to be above the GBs just the top of the FT and the FT's overflow need to be above the GBs.

Poo collection in a small tank is not a problem - the fish keep it stirred up until the pump gets it

You will only be missing 60 - 70 gallons of water from your tank at the most.

Yep: if your FT water level is just a few inches higher than the surface of the growbeds gravity works fine.