Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We currently have a 75G (284L) Fish tank and have been planning to add a sump for over a year, now we can add one and grow veggies!

I have access to a ton of 8 inch (200mm) pipe, and smaller quantities of 10(250mm) and 12(300mm) inch pipe, so I'm hoping I can make use of it for the grow beds.
I'm having to design around the FT's current display height, but I think it's going to work out.

Here is my current plan:
35G (132L) trashcan serving as a sump
FT overflows into sump, FT water level is constant and it's survival is paramount! (or wife will kill me )
330GPH (1250lph) pump has output split up to refill FT, fill GB and most of the water sprays back into the sump to add O2
GB will have a constant slow flow then be dumped by a bell siphon (using this guys design Affnan's Bell siphon)
I'll have the bell siphon in the middle of each pipe.

I'll cut the top third out of the pipe, to get as much depth as I can, and put the pipes three or four wide, with a maximum of 2 levels.

Any obvious problems? Will the shallow depth hurt me if I am careful with plant choices?
I am planing on added two deeper beds later, if the nitrates support it. And the wife would love to get some strawberry towers!

If this part makes sense I'll start fleshing out the details more.

Thanks everyone, hopefully my lurking will pay off!

Chance

welcome to the site.....

are you planning on using a clean water pump or a dirty water pipe.....

if going CHIFT PIST then you would want to pump clean water from your ST into your GB's and then let it drain back to your ST.....

where you located? Im in Wilmington, nc

jT

I'm also in Wilmington!

I'm using a clean water transfer pump, and the plan is to pump to the growbeds from the ST and let them drain back into the ST.

I'm reading through your build thread now, very impressive!


Thanks,
Chance

And you are correct it is a CHIST PIST system, I read over the terms but for some reason it did not click...

You can get better filtration if you let water go from the fish tank into some of your grow pipes and then they can drain to the sump tank. Then the pump could lift water up to the fish tank as well as to some pipes placed higher than the fish tank.

One note, most aquarium medications and treatments are not meant for system with human consumption involved. (Even if you are not eating the fish, the plants are likely to take up some of whatever is in the water.) So you will need to avoid the medications in the future if you intend to eat the veggies.

On to the biggest issue you are likely to run into. Roots in the pipes. Yes those are rather large pipes and yes this can be done.

BUT!

Assuming you don't want a mess in the sun room, you will have to be very careful about clogging those pipes. I think the smaller and faster growing veggies are gonna be your staples since many longer term veggies are likely to try clogging those pipes with roots eventually. So, where you put a tomato, keep a close eye that it isn't backing up the flow. You may also find that getting the flow rate balanced for the bell siphon could be a little tricky and as the mass of roots changes in the beds, it might mess with things a bit.

Since you have access to such large pipe (so long as it's free or cheap) it seems a shame not to use it. You might think about adding the bigger regular beds with media first to act as filters, and then use the 8" pipe for NFT pipes and then you can add and remove plants from the pipes as needed to deal with nitrates. Two or three 50 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks from tractor supply should be able to support all the filtration needs of that aquarium.

(Or heck, perhaps a 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tank as a gravel filled sump tank filter bed could take care of all the filtration needs and even grow plants if it were situated in the sun and then letting the fish tank drain directly to the sump would not be a issue for the pump.) A single 100 gallon stock tank takes about the same footprint as a 50 gallon and costs only about $2 more from tractor supply. They can sit directly on the ground/floor and still be a good height for growing lots of plants (especially tall ones) and provide lots of depth for filtration or even growing small trees. Just set up an space in that where you can place the pump down to the bottom and keep the gravel or media away from the pump. (perhaps some of that 12" pipe with lots of slits cut in it to let water flow but keep the gravel back.)

Just throwing some ideas at you hopefully before you get too far along on the design.

Welcome!!!!!!

The FT has a currently established filter, so the filtration from the GB is nice but not necessary. I may look at draining the FT through one grow bed first, that was my oridginal plan but I was trying to simplify the plumbing. I also don't have as much fall from FT -> GB -> ST as I would like. I'll do some re-measuring when I get home though, make sure I'm not just making things up


Thanks,
Chance

You mentioned wife would kill you if you have problems with the fish tank. Are you putting "pet" fish in the system?

Any suggestions on the best way to seal the ends of the pipes for the GB's? a 12" (300mm) cap is expensive...
Thanks,
Chance

Yes, it's got "pet" fish in it, it's currently a display tank.

Some sketchup pictures!

I did not draw the drainage for the GB, I just realized that.
The grey pipe (8" or 200mm) in the sump will have some simple filter media set into the top of it for catching solids, because I have a clean water pump and it's convenient.
I will probably put some sort of bio-media in it for the water to flow through as it comes from the fish tank, but mostly because I can cheaply.

All the water will drain to the sump, then be distributed by the pump. the large pipe behind the FT will have two no holes overflows draining into it, and then water from the bottom of it will be gravity fed over to fall through the filter tower into the ST. The tower is tall to prevent the FT from draining more than a couple of inches in a HSM.

Hurray!

Chance

Moved to member's systems forum Chance's Sunroom Special