Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello all, I’m just starting out here and in the planning/collecting material stages. What I’m looking for is advice and input from some of the experienced users on this forum.

First a little information:

Planned Location - basement (not thrilled about the location, but it’s what I have to work with at the moment). I will be using a 14’ x 18’ space (with obstructions, so I am limited where I can place some items).
Planned Setup - chift pist design with Bell Siphon in media beds
Planned Grow Media – crushed shale (haven’t checked to see if this is available in my area) or pea gravel.


And here are some of the items I have already:

2 – 330 Gallon IBC Totes (uncustomized so far)
1 – 550 Gallon Storage Tank (4 foot X 7 foot cylinder shaped)
Several links of 3” X 10’ PVC Pipe and misc. other ¾ and up other links and connections
100 2” baskets
Small amount of clay media for these baskets
Several shop lights, several drop ceiling lights (2x4 and 2x2 fixtures)
A few pump choices (400 GPH pond pump, 800 GPH pond pump and 1800 GPH waterfall pump – Also, I have a couple small fountain pumps). However, my thought was to purchase a sump pump. My thinking was to minimize complete water lose in the event of a major water leak.

Initial thoughts - So, for the IBC Totes I was going to cut and use the bottoms as two sumps (linked together) and the tops for two media beds. The Storage Tank was going to be my Fish Tank.

Here's my thoughts for my initial design...



Questions:

Can you combine a nft or raft setup with a grow media bed design? What I have in my head is having fish tank drain into the media bed, then siphon draining into a nft setup and then into the sump tanks. Will this work? Or do I need to separate the nft and/or raft and use with a filtering setup?

Can I grow duckweed in my second sump (less disturbed with water aeration – I was thinking I read this somewhere)?

I’m certain I will have other questions as I continue.

Oh, here is the 550 Gallon Tank that I plan to use for fish. Posting a picture because it was a little different. The pic is a little blury.. sorry.



Thanks for any input.

Welcome Village_Idiot.

Your plan certainly seems doable to me. The only thing i wouldnt be sure about is how well the NFT system would handle the syphon drain rates. From what i have seen, NFT seems to be more a case of slow continuous flow. It shouldnt be hard to change the syphon to constant flood though, if you need to.

Oh, okay. Would it work better with a raft bed instead of the NFT?

Terry

Welome to the forum.

Feeding a DWC or raft from a media bed is nothing new. Personally Id still filter the water between the bed and the raft as you want to remove all suspended solids/particles as these will clog the roots of the plants in the raft over time and suffocate/starve them and stunt growth or grow poorly. Id run the system CF so you have good water circulation through the media bed but if a syphon is the choice then you will need to have addition aeration in your raft so the still water between cycles is kept oxygenated.

Gotcha, I like the syphon idea, so I will look into aeration under a raft.

Thanks, to you both.

Do either of you have experience with growing duckweed? Am I correct that it prefers a less disturbed environment?

I just found it in another post.

I'm thinking that you could cut that 7' tank in half so you have two 3 1/2' tanks. By doing so you would provide more usable swimming area for your fish.


- John

Hmmm... that's a thought. It would be a lot easier to maintenance too. However, the top has a large manhole (plastic lid) cover that I would be afraid would leak (after I did something to seal it). Also, the height is important to my gravity system.

Good idea though, thanks.


Terry