Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello all, just joined after reading heaps of info on aquaponics. I'm loving this site! Anyway, I am looking at starting a basic system and was wondering if anyone could give me a few pointers on setting it up. I have a 500lt tank, an old sea bouy (spelling?) that I'm thinking of halving lengthways and cleaning, which will end up just under 100lts each and an old bath tub, which from what I can gather, will be about 200lt. I also have a el-cheapo $50 1500lph pump.

Was thinking of using the bouy halves first and then adding the old bath tub later, or using the bath tub as a wormfarm to breed worms for fish food. I really like the sound of the flood and drain systems, but am not sure on which would be better, flood and drain or constant flow. Also, was wondering how to aerate the system with just the one pump. Would the drain back into the tank be sufficient to aerate or do I need a better system? Maybe an aquarium air pump? I would ultimately like to have about 10-15 eating fish in there (not sure if possible or which breed). Also not sure where to get fingerlings from near my area (50kms west of Melb).

Any help is much appreciated. I can see this aquaponics bug becoming a real problem for me, already thinking of bigger and better! One step at a time, one step at a time!

Quachy

welcome to the madness

at 200 litres thats a damn small bath tub

Flood and drain is the way to go. It also helps aerate the system. For additional air get as much drop from the grow beds to the tanks as you can and bypass some of the water to the fish tank to kick up some bubbles.

Welcome to the phun!

Welcome to the world of AP. I had a constant flow for years, and am now learning to do flood and drain. I had OK plants, but I see what others have grown with the extra oxygen at the root system. Get a good water test kit. You will save your self lots of time knowing what water conditions are and save fish too.

Thanks for the input people. I have decided to go with using the bouy halves as gbs and the bath tub as a future gb (once I get things smooth). Flood and drain using beel syphons me thinks. I have done a bit of research and am going with 25mm stand pipe (drain?), 50mm syphon and cap, 10mm syphon break tube thingy and 90mm outer shroud. I am hoping my maths haven't failed me and I think the drainage should be sufficient through the 25mm standpipe/drain. Using my 1500lph pump, I am working on 1000lph due to height of gbs, I should be able to fill the gbs (about 50lts each after gb medium) in about 6 1/2 minutes. I am working on 3min drain time. Of course all of this is academic and will need to test it when up and running. I love Ryan's gb stands and am going to build mine similar. Will post photos when I get started. Too hot to do much at the moment and these power outages aren't funny when you've got two little ones struggling to sleep (which means dad gets no sleep!).

I really want to raise trout (not too sure about this heat though). Any ideas on suitability of this system for trout, maybe 10-15? Do I need to add an air pump or maybe divert some of my flow back into FT with a hole in the pipe to suck air through?

Anymore input/advise/comments? All very much appreciated.

Cheers all

Quachy

Sen-bloody-sational! Just built the GB stand and made the bell siphons! Holy moly they are awesome! Did a test run and it worked perfectly with the hose running at about 18lt/min or just over 1000lph. Here are some photos. More to come. Re jigging my maths, it would seem that my pump may not cut the mustard or only just. Won't know until I put gravel in and do another test run fully set up. Anyway all very exciting.

Any idea on what type of growing medium to use that is relatively cheap and easily available?

Quachy

More pics, sorry for blurriness!

Why does everyones bell siphons look better than mine. Had to kick one to get it going today.
Nice system. Siphons are fun to play with.

That garden supply on gisbourne rd has nice red scoria about 10 mm about $15 should cover it otherwise hydrotron from the hydro store about $60 worth

[/quote]
That garden supply on gisbourne rd has nice red scoria about 10 mm about $15 should cover it otherwise hydrotron from the hydro store about $60 worth[/quote]

Awesome thanks!

Mate, love your design

One thing to watch is the weight of the GBs. I ended up putting my braces in the opposite direction you have yours, to provide extra support as well as bracing.

Otherwise, nice work

Hi Quachy
Looking good!!! provide lots of splash down via your drains and also tee out you supply pipe and add a spray line directly back to the tank for extra aeration.
Another tip is to keep your tank covered with some shade cloth to protect your fish and to help prevent algae buildup until your bacteria builds up.

LB

I put a tee section on the pie the other day and a little ball valve to help regulate the flow. Will constantly be airated now! I was thinking about adding extra bracing. Although the GBs hold fine as they are, better to be safe as I have a couple of little takkers! The tank has a lid and I'm going to fit the lid onto the tank with a sq ft cut for pipes, light and feeding. I like the shade cloth idea and will put it over the cut out. Wait till this weather cools, then off to garden shop for pebbles/gravel then a full test and timed run, cycle for a couple of weeks and bring on the fish and veg!

Quachy

A big thanks to Dean at Growfresh Aquaponics! He has helped get my system up and running with some fish (15 silver pearch) and 100lts of scoria/clay balls! Fish went in, scoria and clayballs went in and fish went in. The pics are of the tank and gbs a day after. The water was pretty cloudy, but after 4 days, it is now cystal clear. Will take more up to date photos when I can. I have put in brocoli and tomatoes. I intend on training the toms up and over the gbs and will train them down a lattice (yet to put on).

Question: The fish food I have been using floats, but my fish don't seem to come up to eat it. After about 24hrs, they sink and then clog up the pump. Any ideas? They love the worms though, I chuck in 15 each day and once the worms reach the bottom, the fish gobble them up pretty quick.

Quachy

Most Perch prefer a sinking pellet Quachy.... but over time become so accustomed to regular feeding that they'll happily take a pellet near/on the surface....

Might not like the "floating" stuff for a while though.... and it might even just be too big for them...

How big are they and what size is the pellet???