Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Last year we put together a single barrel AP system to give things a whirl. We stocked it with feeder goldfish and grew lettuce, broccoli and jalapenos.

We did that a an experiment to see how well we would like AP and to see how well it would work in our climate.
Now we want to scale up our system a bit, and raise some trout. We have a 16X12 foot south facing greenhouse. We're looking to start with a single fish tank and possibly expand it as time goes by.

Here's what I'm currently thinking....

1000L tank with 15 trout to start (after the water cycles of course). The tank would be elevated two feet off the ground on heavy beams.

4 blue 1/2 barrels cut lengthwise inside the greenhouse, elevated 2 feet off the ground.
4 blue 1/2 barrels cut in half outside the greenhouse

I have been debating what to use as a sump tank. I managed to get two large, deep old bath tubs that I was considering using. If not those, then two complete barrels that are dug into the ground next to the fish tank. I was leaning towards the bath tubs, as I would be able to put floating rafts on them with some additional plants to give that a shot.

We have a large pond pump that we bought for a science experiment last year that we'll use to pump the water from the sumps up to the fish tank, gravity fill the grow beds.

I plan to run a fill / drain system. Probably 15/45.

I guess it boils down to a 275 gallon fish tank and 400 gallons (not including pea gravel) in the grow beds.

I do have a couple more questions.

1. With this size FT and the grow beds how large of a sump should I have?
2. What is the approximate water capacity of the 1/2 barrels with the gravel media in them? Is it 50%?

Eventually, we will want to expand the grow beds and add some towers for strawberries, etc.

Here's a terrible, rough Sketchup doodle of an approximate layout. You can see part of one barrel under one of the bath tubs. If I go with barrels, the tubs will become grow beds on the north wall of the greenhouse.

One of these days I will figure out how to do piping and build the frames using sketchup. So, for now it's just imagination.

Tasks accomplished so far:

1. Evict turkeys from the greenhouse.
2. Clear out all of the debris and rubbish.
3. Pressure wash and sanitize.

The fish tank looks like it will sit nice and level in here.



Here are the old bath tubs I was cosidering using as a sump. They do fit in just fine. I am still undecided on whether or not to use them.



Next up will be creating the stands for the half barrels along the south wall of the structure.

More progress today. First the boys and I leveled the area in the greenhouse where the fish tank was going to sit. Next, built a stand from heavy lumber to raise the tank 2 foot 5 inches off the ground.

We also cut the IBC and frame. Once it was cut, I re-cleaned the tank and grow bed. I am very happy with the gray tank. Hardly any sunlight gets through it. It should help to keep down the algae.

We also placed the tank on the stand and filled it completely. I wanted to test the stand for strength. Thankfully, it could hold all of the water, plus the boys and myself jumping up and down on it.

We moved the stand and tanks into their final location in the greenhouse.
Next, we started digging to the right of the fish tank. It's going to take a couple of days to dig in the sump. It's exceptionally hard, rocky ground.

Here's the tank on the stand. Note the digging bar leaning up against the tank. That is the primary tool to break up this hard ground here.

Today, we finished digging in the sump. Holy smokes that's some hard ground. Ended up taking out four wheelbarrow loads of rock and dirt.

I managed to obtain a donated dishwasher pump. I've decided to give it a shot. It moves a tremendous amount of water quite quickly. I've had to do a bit of modification to the pump housing to get 1" pipes to fit. I'll post pictures once the glue had finished curing.

The wife and I also mapped out the exact path for our fill and drain pipes. Hopefully, we'll be able to add water this week. We're getting quite a bit of rain, so our rain barrels are filling up quickly. I'll use it instead of using tap water so we can avoid the chlorine and other chemicals.

More progress yesterday. I ran the feed and drain piping from the FT to the grow beds along the entire wall length for our greenhouse. Completed filling the tank and sump with water and ran some leak / flow tests.

Here's a video of the project so far.



I think I will increase the pipe size from 3/4 inch to 1-1/2 inch coming from the pump to the fish tank to see if it increases the flow. Additionally, I am certainly going to pick up a different pump. With a head of about 10 feet, the output from our pond pump is too low as far as I'm concerned.

Tonight, I plan on building and fitting a bell siphon into our large grow bed and putting it in place.

I can't see your grow beds in the video, but it looks like your sump could be 1-2 ft higher which would give you much better flow from your pump.

I found that filling the sump up all the way made all the difference in the world. That gave an additional 2 feet of water in the pipe.

We're ready for seeds :-)

Accomplished today:

Leveled the grow bed
Washed 2 yards of pea gravel
Plumbed in the grow bed
Installed and configured the timer (15 on 45 off)
Started the water cycling
Adjusted the bell siphon and length of the stand pipe (6 minute fill, 4 minute drain)

Even after rinsing the pea gravel, it made all of the rainwater murky.
Installed an old sock on the end of the fill pipe to hopefully strain out a bunch of the sediment.

Pic of the first bed in place and filling.

Competed over the weekend:

-Replaced 3/4" feed pipe from the pump with 1-1/2". Much better flow.
-Added an air hose to the bell siphon to get it to break more quickly.
- Moved 13 goldfish from our old barrel system to the fish tank with some of the water
- Planted cherry and roma tomato plants
- Seeded grow bed with spinach, radish and lettuce seeds
- Added 8 OZ of aged humonia
- Installed small bubbler to use until we purchase a larger commercial model

Tested water:

ph: 7.0
AM: .25
NO2: 0
NO3: 0

Our local hydroponics shop is bringing in Maxicrop powder for us. Once it's here on Tuesday, I'll add it to the sump to help keep the plants going until the water cycles.

The planted grow bed.



Happy goldfish:


Larger fill pipe:

Nice looking media
easy to plant in

It's certainly easy so far. Thanks.

Is that your standpipe near the inlet? You may want to make the inlet further to the other side of the bed to get the water moving through the whole bed.

It is. I plan on adding pipes that go up both sides of the grow bed to ensure good coverage. I've already added a single bar up the middle, but I'm not happy with it just yet.

Yesterday, I capped and drilled 36 1/8th inch holes into the fill pipe for the fish tank. Figured it couldn't hurt to help aerate the water a bit more.

Now our greenhouse sounds like a waterfall when the fill cycle is going.

We have 10 Toulouse goslings running around our farm right now. The wife thought it would be fun to toss a couple of them into the fish tank to watch them play in deeper water.

Once they got over their initial fear of being separated from the rest of the flock, they had a great time. It's cute watching them dive to the bottom of the tank.




If there is anyone in Washington State that would like some geese.... We have way to many of them. Great lawn mowers and the best watch dogs around.