Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,
I'm just starting to design my first system. It's for a community garden and we have no grid power. I'm hoping to power a pump from a solar panel and one of Lance Turners turbines. http://www.linux-host.org/energy/asavonius.html.
I'm wondering what type of system would best suit my needs (i.e. minimum pumping power required). I don't really want a sump tank as I don't want a raised fish tank. Was thinking of a simple flood & drain with a 1:1 ratio. Simplicity and reliability are key. I won't be the one maintaining the system. Educating the community is of greater importance than maximum productivity also.
Planning on using a 300 - 400 litre tank.
Also, Has anyone used pond liner to make growbeds? I wan't something prettier than an IBC system
If anyone can share advice / experiences that would be great.

My advice is to read the forum a bit more, all of your questions have been answered many, many, many times.

A small 1000 lph pump will run fine from a solar / wind powered system. Pond liner works fine, why wouldn't it? EDPM is pretty durable. IBC's can be pretty, and extremely cheap just by lining them with something nice.

A 3 - 400 litre system is tiny, so dont expect to feed a whole village.

I would run it constant flood if you have a smaller pump. You may struggle to get autosyphons to start on a limited flow from a small pump.

Ok. Thanks.

+1 read



I agree with Brian. My CF system uses a 100 Watt pump to run 400 gallons of growbed and 625 gallons of fish tank - I might have been able to get away with using less power but played it safe.

I should also add that if you aren't trying to max out the fish load on the system you can get by with not running the pump all the time. Some people turn off the pump at night or have it on a timer.

definitely have a read..

there is a few current discussions about low power system's..

One thing is same level system running off Air-lifts..

do a search..

Juergen