Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The people in this forum have very good hearts. Especially Faye and Joel. I said to my wife, "I want to go to Australia and meet these people, they have given me incredible information," she said, "OK." Thank you.
Here is my little system:
2300 liter, 500 gal FT (4 foot by 8 foot, 30 inches but only 25 inches of water)
2 470 liter, 240 gal GB (4 foot by 8 foot by 1 foot deep)
1 Sump tank capable of handling 250 gal, 940 liters, (usually has about 100 gals, 378 liters, 3 foot by 8 foot by 17 inches)
I've got 11 Koi fingerlings, 25 cm, 2 inches
3 very small goldfish, sentimental, we like these guys and the Koi are pets, yes, my wife feeds them and they eat out of her hand,
and two guest goldfish, about 12 inches 30 cm (a friend asked me to take them and find them a good home, they are HUGE!)
Got some basil, rosemary, tomatoes, and strawberries in the GB's and am planting seeds tomorrow, yaay.
My water readings are a little "off". And I'm hoping they will come down. (Patience, as Faye says) Nitrite is .25 and we are not feeding the fish (Thank you Rupert)
First pic is the "backside" of the system with the "plumbing"
Next is the system, FT on the right, 2 GB's then the Sump
Sump is because my wife wanted to be able to get to the GB's and did not want them 4 feet in the air. LOL
Umbrella's are because my very dear friends who run a Commercial Aquaponics Company, Rhiba Farms, told me the 4 PM sun in Phoenix is killer, "shield your plants."
My 27 year old son, who didn't know what a ratchet was helped me build this. He got very good at measure twice, cut once, on the Miter Saw, it was a big deal for him.
Aquaponics is so cool!
You all are awesome, so much freely given information, you are GOOD PEOPLE.

very neat system! great job

Hi tonymar

Now thats one beautiful set up you have! You should be very proud of yourself.

How is it plumbed up?

G'day tonymar,

That's a great looking system. I would love to hear some more details on how its structured / plumbed.

You realise if you come to Australia, you'll have to come to WA (the best bit)

Amazing setup Tonymar, « what a work of art»:grin::) When are you coming to Australia, October onwards is spring weather Thankou for your kind words, it is nice to know that we can help.

Very nicely done...

A couple of kind members asked about the pluming in my system.
CF system with option to convert to F&D.
Pump in the bottom of the FT goes up and into a T, water is pumped back into the FT for aeration and the other side of the T feeds the GB’s.
Pumps are Pondmaster 9.5 (Danner) 950 GPH
I have ball valves all over the system, a buddy recommended this to control flow.
Standpipes are 1” 25mm with a 4” guard and a 3” ‘get the water from the bottom of the GB’ pipe. They feed a 1 ½” drain system and that flows to the Sump.
Sump is pumped back to the FT, 1 ½” pipe, right now the it has a pond liner hanging off the flow to aerate and cool the water.
I kept it simple cause I’m a fairly simple thinking guy.

Here's a simple drawing:

More pics.