Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

well were to start i wont to build my system out of a 750 gallon 2839 litter stock tank but i can not figure out how much go bed i need. i find the ratios but are they based on the volume of water the grow bed holds or the volume of grow media. i am going to go as big as i can to produces food for as many families as possible. i figured i need to know this before i can build my green house. thanks for the help in advance

this should help viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8491&hilit=calculator
I`m not trying to be rude but use the search function on the forum... the questions have been answerd many times over

Welcome. What part of arkansas are you from? I grew up in Camden, my wife is from Mt. Pleasant, and we met going to University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Welcome Glenn!

Going big right away might not be the best approach; unless you are using a straightforward flood and drain gravel bed setup like the BYAP kits. These are fish tank, pumped to elevated grow beds, draining into a sump tank close to the same volume as the fish tank, pumped back to the fish tank. You need a sump tank so that the fish tank does not get too low. There are other configurations like CHIFT PIST (search for this) that have other advantages. It can be expensive to be in a hurry and spend money on the wrong components, either sized wrong or too large/small for your needs. It is definitely a no-no to get fish before the bacteria are established, which is known as "cycling", Search for that too! Good luck!

BTW a 750 gallon fish tank is a good size because the larger volumes help stability of water quality and temps, etc.

i am from the russiville area i know going big right off the bat might be a bad idea but all my life i have large aquariums with with turtles, fish, alligators and just about everything one could imagine. at one time we owned a bait shop where i had 3/ 600 gallon tanks i grew craw fish in. and i figured if i did a simple system like the ebb and flow with a large stock tanks for stability i would not have to up grade later

Hi Glenn, sounds like you're not a newb with respect to aquatic animals so I'd say go for a flood and drain system sized to your fish tank and you'll be amazed at the results!

i figured from the beginning i would build a system like the CHIFT PIST system butt i did not know the system had a name. it is the easiest system i have come by that will adapt to a 750gallon stack tank. i do not know how big of a sump tank to use i figured i would do a little experimenting with my gravel grow media to measure the displacement to calculate the sump tank size butt i someone has an idea of the displacement of the gravel 20mm in size it would make the job easier. thanks for all the help. by the way i have read somewhere i need to add boron the my system to help with fruiting vegs what is the easiest way to do this

Basically the sump has got to be big enough to handle all the water needed to flood the growbeds. If you have 1500 gallons of GB, the media will take up about 1/2 the volume, so 750 gallon sump should be OK. Add a little extra for comfort and round up to 800 if you like. Basically with all the designs I have had in my mind, I go with a sump of equal size or greater then the FT.

If you use a sequencing valve of some sort and do not flood all grow beds at once, you can get away with a much smaller sump, search sequencing valve for more info on those.

where can i learn more about a sequencing valve where to get one and how to use it

The developer sells them through his website...

http://www.freshbynature.com.au/

TCLynx has a bunch of photos in her thread of her usages of it. Also sminfiddle has one he has been playng with, off hand I'm not sure if he has photos in his thread or not. There are quite a few other people on here using them. Just use the search function up at the top right of the forum.

I followed the lynk you listed above. It brought up a page that told just a little bit about the valve but then after searching their website, I was unable to find any more detailed info on it?

try pm'ing tclynx, she's a distributor of the indexing valve in the states

Will do. Thanks... and sorry if I hi-jacked the thread

I just came across this question and was not sure if it had been answered. Boron is found in fish, and the fish feed that we use contains fish meal. We always recommend using good quality fish food and this means that our plants show very few, if any signs of defficiencies. The fish and plants experience optimum health and growth.