Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am trying to come up with a way to use a timer to flood the grow bed, then have the bed drain slowly into my fish tank. I am wanting to cut the cost of electricity from the pump, but have the water in the fish tank being aerated continually. Has anybody done anything like this?

Only issue is water level fluctuations: if your gb volume is 2x the ft volume, you are going to be putting about 2/3 of your water into the GB and your fish will complain. The idea works well if you have a very large fish tank (with low fish load) compared to your grow bed.

I was wondering about that. I know the gravel will take up most of the volume of the grow bed, but I am not sure how much. If I have 200 gallons of pea gravel in a grow bed, how much water does it take to fill the space bewteen the rocks? I may have to do an experiment tonight and see...

Thanks,

Johnny MAX!
www.BrewCrAzY.com
The Podcast for those of us who Brew Our Own Damn BEER!

Hello. I am new, but I read this thread and would like to get that information as well.

As in the thread DD posted, it typically takes about 1/4 to 1/3 water to fill a gravel growbed. ie: if you have a 12 liter gb it will take about 3 to 4 liters of water to fill it.

This forum has a huge amount of info already in it, and any questions you might have have already been thought of and answered several times at least. Try a few search queries to see of your questions have been addressed by someone already (the blue link next to the FAQ).

Exactly the principle that Joel uses in the systems outlined in his manual.... and the basis of all the BYAP kit systems....

Those who pump continuously... merely substitute a bell or loop siphon for the standpipe drain...

So that is what isin the system.. and I thought I thunk it up myself. Day late and a dollar short. LOL

They say .. "great minds think alike" Johnny...

And there's some great minds on this forum... must be... coz they all think "alike"...

My small test system is up and going FINALLY!



I hope it cleats back up. I had the fish in there for over a month and the nitrate level was getting too high. The pump turns on every hour and runs for 15 minutes. Then it shuts off and slowly drains. It seems like every hour is too often. How few times can I flood the tank per day and still get good results?

The water should clear once you're cycled.

What makes you think once an hour is too much??

And looking at your water after a month... what are your test results??... I'd suggest that you stop feeding... immediately... and post your results please...

P.S.... Nitrates are not a problem to most fish until levels exceed 500+....

Perhaps put something around your fish tank to protect it from the light a bit to help with the algae you got going.
And yes, test results please.

Water usually does clear up once cycled so long as your stocking is in accordance with what the grow bed can support, looks like you should be fine there.

Every hour for the pump running should be fine so long as the gravel does drain during the pump off time. Once the system is well cycled and clearing up, you might be able to get a way with fewer pump cycles per day but I wouldn't try to reduce pump cycles until things clear up. Monitor water quality and fish behavior carefully if you start reducing pumping cycles.

Actually, the water was very clear right before I hooked up the grow bed. You could read a news paper on the other side.
The sides and bottom were covered with the bacteria that was cycling the aquarium. It looks greener in the picture that is really is. I did scrub all the bacteria off the side so it will be pumped into the grow bed.
I just got home and I decided to leave the pump on for a while to transfer all the bacteria into the grow bed. After a few hours I will switch it back to timer. I may do that the next few evenings until it is all in the grow bed. I rinsed the gravel, but it still clouded up the water.

ah yea, new gravel, no matter how much you wash it, seems to cloud the water for a while. Once it is cycled, it should clear. You may still want to protect the aquarium a bit from light and probably also that grow bed could use something to hide the sides of the gravel from light as algae will love growing there and steeling nutrients from your plants (otherwise algae growing in a flood and drain grow bed probably won't cause too much trouble besides being unsightly and using nutrients.) Too much Algae in water can compete for O2 at night and mess with your pH.

Anyway, looking good. Seems that you have the basic idea down. So what are your plans for the next bigger system?