Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello Everyone,

Just sharing what ill be building this weekend for my Dad. He wanted a nice little system he can play around with.

Please feel free to use/edit/comment/share.

Ive added some quick pictures of the Google Sketchup and an estimated price sheet [next post].
(For Los Angeles, California, USA)

If you want the Google Sketchup File, let me know ill put it up.

I will also take some pictures during the build and update later.


Thank You BYAP.

Here is the price sheet...

Looks good CJ - remember to post photos as you progress - we love photos!

So it is a CHIFT PIST setup and the blue barrel is that a RFF? I may be mistaken but you seem to have 2 SLOs from your FT, one going to your GBs the other to the blue barrel... if the blue barrel IS an RFF then it will only filter part of the water before the GBs won't it? I may be misunderstanding it?
Just scanning your list there and your piping is 3/4 - 1 inch... I think it is undersized and may be overwhelmed by the flow since you will try to turn over the water once per hour (1000L) perhaps this is why you have a barrel to handle the overflow and return it to the sump? I would not go under 40mm pipe for a slow 50 would be better and while each grow bed can have perhaps 25mm the 2 media filled beds need to drain from 25 to 40 to be on the safe side.. just guessing here.
Looks really well thought out and designed though!

Yes on the CHIFT PIST, No RFF just a gravel filter / Fish isolation tank.

And to make a little more clear. The lower (first) SLO is going to the GBs [Max flow controlled by 3 ball valves]. The 2nd SLO is a FT max overflow to blue barrel then back to sump.

I figured on 3/4" pump feed with should work around 500-750 Gallon per hour, with an assumed return of 1.5-1.75" return pipes. But ill do some trouble shooting early on just to double check. Thanks for the info.

As of right now, there is no pre-filter going to the GBs... I might add one later once he gets hooked on AP and wants to put in a larger system!!

Get 50mm thick raft foam board.

Run the output of the media barrel to the DWC not the sump.

I thought that might be the case.. and yeah you certainly don't have to have filters as long as you have enough GB media for the fish volume so are two of the beds media and 1 DWC (usually people filter before DWC beds)? how many fish are you planning to stock?

yes but if that media barrel is hooked up as an overflow then perhaps it won't be flowing all the time?

Ahh yes... that will help with the solids building up in the DWC.

Thanks man.

I would have to figure out the flow rates there... I figured the barrel would get the majority of the pump flow.



25- 40(max)


PS. I love this place.

Could always put in a third overflow direct to sump higher than the other... just to be safe
"two is one, one is none" as they say

I would lean towards the 25 to start with if you are growing them to about 500g as I don't think you will get enough filtration from the 2 media beds... the barrel would help a bit i guess and it depends how heavily you feed them.. you know you could easily have 40+ fish if you threw in 50L OF K1 media in that barrel instead.. wouldn't cost too much either and run an air stone to the bottom of the barrel, much easier to clean (probably wouldnt have to clean it) although if it is going to the DWC then it wouldnt filter as well I guess...
Although looking at your piping I think the barrel with gravel may not filter as well as you hope since the water enters at the top and exits at the top... a lot of the particles will just float in and directly out... you could run the overflow pipe down into the gravel partly...
Also cleaning the gravel will need to be done periodically... thats going to be a PITA.. you could always stuff it full of old shade cloth and some K1 media in a mesh bag (or a bag made FROM shade cloth)

Not everyone can afford expensive media's like K1, but yes that is another option. Personally Id do away with the drum all together and drain a grow bed into the DWC then back to the sump. But if using the barrel just set it up like a GB, plant a tree in it, run it CF and return the water to the DWC. Theres a heap of ways to set it up but I think keeping it simple for your Dad would be a wise choice.

Yeah I was planning to add DWC beds sometime and wanted to run the water from the media beds to the DWC too like Charlie says, certainly would be the easiest way and by the looks of it you could lower the DWC bed easily enough

So, on to version 2...

Here is what I'm thinking:

Sump to FT,

FT to Swirl Filter and Overflow to Sump,

Swirl to Media Beds and Media Barrel,

Media Barrel (with dwarf tree ) to DWC bed,

DWC to Sump,

Media Bed to Sump,

& Repeat...


What do you guys think?

Yeah looks good, perhaps consider replacing media barrel with another media bed as they are essentially the same thing except for the space used. This probably seems like it might not fit but you really do not need a 200L barrel for a swirl filter (mine is made from a 50L barrel and it works very well and allows it to be set higher up making drain the sludge from the bottom easier, in fact if you have another 50L barrel under the 50L swirl barrel the waste could be drained into it via a ball valve and act as a mineralization tank which you could reclaim the nutrients from weekly).