Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I don't think I can get yabbies in the US but I believe any version of crawfish will try to eat fingerlings right?

Yea, they are all hungry. People mix hydroton with pea gravel or cinder all the time. The gravel tends to be heaver than the hydroton, so it *tends* to stay on the top. Your mileage may vary. The consensus on the screen is that it would be more trouble than mixed gravel and hydroton.

Coming along slow..
Cleaning out a portion of the basement for the system. The plan is to have everything along the wall and at a decent level.

The going recommendation was to overflow the FT into the GBs so I added the fish tank stand. It makes it all about 10 feet wide but it is out of the way along the wall.

I'll be getting an industrial shelving system that can hold a lot of weight so I don't have to worry about the grow beds or the sump.

You'll notice that my sump is actually 3 sumps attached. I haven't bought the hardware yet but the HDX containers (27 gallon each) from home depot seem sturdy and capable for the sump and the grow beds.
Any suggestions here are welcome. I estimate I need 3 of the containers.
- Grow beds will hold a total of 11 gallons each X 4 grow beds = 44 gallons

The reason I like the three containers for the sump is to I can eventually raise crayfish in one, fingerlings in another. The sumps will be connected but I plan on screening them off (suggestions?).

The pump will need to push water about 5 feet - I still need the pump and researching the options. (suggestions?)

I have also been reading about Rob's upgrades to the siphon and wanted to try that. I am confused about the "U" at the bottom of the standpipe - once I create the "U" can I then elbow it back down toward the sump? Will that hurt the operation of the bell siphon?

Any other critiques of the system? I welcome all comments - I am building it slowly to make sure I don't screw it up and waste time and money

Thanks all!

Back again with another update.
Made a lot of changes...
Had some space constraints so need to keep it as close to 4 foot by 4 foot as possible.
We decided to build our own grow bed because 1 - it offers the exact size we need and 2 - building it is much cheaper than buying it.
We ended up with culled 2x4s (scrap from projects, returns, etc) at a great discount.
We bought 1/2 inch plywood (19/32 actually) to use as the base of the bed as well as the inside of the walls.
We have a epdm liner coming (should arrive Wednesday) and we hope to have the grow bed finished by next weekend.