Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

***UPDATE***

Got 2 IBC's delivered on Sunday taking my total water capacity to 5500 Litres. This system is getting bigger and I haven't even started building it yet! lol.

Milne came over on Saturday and we went over some very basic options. After discussions I decided its necessary to have a sump, and another fish tank so I don't have the dreaded wait between "fish seasons". I think this will be a huge advantage to my setup. Im not sure If I can get away with the single pump, but Im hoing the experts can comment.

After discussions with Milne I think this is the setup I am going to go for. I have drawn a basic diagram in paint with some descriptive on whats going on in terms of water flow, etc. I think this resembles our discussions Milne?

Please remember that the diagram is drawn according to my landscape, so the secondary tank is on the highest ground, growbeds in the middle, and primary tank and sump at the base of the property.

Just a note the reason we put the fish tank and sump at the lowest point is the whole backyard is 1 metre fresh fill [i could see a 3500 litre fishtank full sliding down the hill and ending up in next doors backyard ]
the 2 fish tanks run chift pist

Is that a good idea pumping dirty water from the sump (which will be coming from the primary 3500L FT) to the IBC FT. The water in the IBC will never be clean if it's only gettting dirty water pumped into it. Would pay to filter the water before it gets to the IBC.

Mines been running like that for 2 years no problem i had reason to empty the sump and there was no junk on the bottom

Your right F&F, the pump will keep all the solids out of the sump. What I thought might be a bit harsh was all the poo and nasties from the big FT being flooded through the other IBC FT. After a while won't the water in the IBC end up being the same as the large FT since it doesn't get filtered.

Imagine the IBC is empty. Pump 1000L out of the large tank (which is high in amonia and nitrites from the fish) into the IBC. Then throw in 50 odd trout. They are not going to like it. Then you turn he pump on. It starts pumping water out of the large tank in to the IBC. The water quality won't change in the IBC.

I remember you saying before that you ran your system like that. Are the volumes the same in your system.

In that case I could simply swap the roles of the sump and the fish tank.

So have both Primary and Secondary tanks at the base, overflowing to each other and then pump up to the sump.

Any thoughts of weather 1 pump will make this system work? I am concerned that the overflow of the tank at the top will not feed the grow beds fast enough to flood.

Good point but in a recurculating system over the whole system there would be a .009 difference in the readings i have got a good electronic gage that reads ph temp and ec you can check your readings in 10 different places in the system and theres no difference
mine runns 2 ibc/s to sump that them goes to beds and the other ft as per adzza,s drawing and test any where its all the same

I suppose if water is constantly moved, it does not make much difference at all as you say.

But seeing how this is a new system, and I have the option to get this right from the start, I am guessing that I would be best to have both fish tanks down the bottom, and the sump up the top?

I should also mention that I have the advantage of having a down-pipe right above my sump/secondary fish tank at the top and could possible use filtered rain water to help top my tanks up. Thoughts on that?

Milne, what did you say those good airstone pumps were called?

Not quite shore [sump up top ] sump is the lowest point
air pump try guppies http://www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.a ... at_75.html

Would something like this be sufficient in each tank?

http://www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/air-pumps/electromagnetic-piston-pump/electromagnetic-air-pump-70l/min-x-10-outputs-aco-05/prod_46.html

Or would 1 do all three tanks?

Or I could get a bigger one, say 150L/H and use 1 for all 3 tanks?

Adzza, it comes down to how many airstones you intend to have and what their total flowrate is. All good airstones should have an estimate of flowrate in litres/minute. The two need to roughly balance.

So, if your pump is putting out 150 litres/minute and you've only got 2 airstones with a total flowrate or 20 litres/minute, then obviously something is gunna go wrong as the mismarch is too great.

For your sized system (and good to see the planning going into it BTW) the 70l air pump will be heaps. I had over 12000l of water, and was only running a 20l air pump as backup. Put around 6 air stones spread between your tanks, and you will have plenty of air. Probably overkill

The 20l air pump did over 450 fish for over 12 hours quite easily. I just pulled 2 trout out of an IBC that has had no water flow for the past 24 hours (thought it was empty of fish) with only 1 air stone, and they were fine. Water was at 25 deg c too. Airstones do a very good job of aeration, despite what is often thought.

Yep the 70L will be fine... split it between all three tanks...

Would it be possible to put some grow beds between the primary fish tank and the sump? This could greatly improve the quality of water being pumped from the sump up to the other fish tank. Or possibly place a few grow beds above the second fish tank to filter the water coming from the sump?