Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am looking forward to building my first system, but have a few questions before I begin construction. Most systems I have seen people build have the plant beds higher than the fish, I am wondering if the opposite would work? I drew up a quick layout to better explain my question...I would like to create a system where water drains/cascades from the fish reservoir and ends at a pump that sends water back up to the fish pond. As you can see, if I create a "U" shaped system, this will minimize the amount of lift needed. Also, in the winter months, I could put ball valves to isolate the fish area, and drain the rest of the system until things warm back up. And not sure how to utilize the system best. I was thinking FISH-veggies-stream?-bog area. Please help me solidify this idea.

Welcome to the forum you're talking about a chift pist system, try searching it for all the Info

Thanks. What about the cascading flow idea, will it work? Is there specific guidelines to follow to get the correct flow, or a good formula for figuring out what size GPH pump I would need?

Will I need to add a filter(ie Bio Filter) or will the plants take care of it?
Do I need a sump tank for the pump and to hold overflow in the event theres a power outage/pump fails?

you have the dwc before the media beds
swap them around to have the media bed filter all the heavy stufff out before the dwc
plant roots in the dwc will get cloggged the way you have it desined in the picuter
nutrients wills still flow thru to the dwc plants
what is in the bogg area as in plants maybe cranberries?

Yeah, not too sure yet, just wanted an area for plants that require to be in shallow water. Thanks, I'll swap them around...any idea on the size pump I'd need for this? Should this system have a sump?

sump tank is at the lowest point in the sistem to pushthe water back to the fishtank

Can i just have the pump in a deep end or does it need to be a seperate resevoir? Thanks

Just in the deep end should be fine unless I'm missing something. What concern did you have?

In a typical system with that layout, your tank with the pump is the sump, and does nothing other than hold water. If you are growing stuff in there, the only issue with the pump might be to make sure roots dont find their way into the pump and cause problems.

will your grow bed drain if the power goes out?

This is a really worthwhile thread to read...BYAP system trials

Generally, most people aim to turn over their fish tank volume every hour.

I don't know where that figure came from, but that's what the BYAP systems do, and they work well by all accounts.

Thanks bullwinkle, ill def chk link out. The grow beds would not drain, going to cascade from fish tank down thru grow beds via pipes twice diameter of pump using SLO...

If the growbeds don't drain, then there shouldn't be an issue with any need for an extra sump. If the pump stops, water levels everywhere should pretty much stay the same. (give or take an inch)

But I'm sleep deprived and may be missing something

Cool. Does the constant flow carry enough oxygen for the plants, or would I need to add air stones? The fish area will be about 400 gallons and maybe 500 for the rest of the system, would I get like a 400gph pump or closer to 900+?

Many people use additional air as a backup to pump failure, and you can buy battery operated air pumps for that reason as well.

The result of the BYAP system test in that link seemed to indicate everything worked fine in constant flood.

I'm really into overkill with my pump, and I'd say go bigger because you will probably end up expanding like everyone else