Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi there,
can anyone recommend a system which would incorporate a garden pond. I am thinking I will have about 3 by 3 by 1 metre deep pond and on the other side of the garden path I would have a covered growing area of about 4 by 8 metres. My main concern is with how to pump water out from the pond, and how to keep the pond clean. I haven't built the pond yet, so I was thinking I would put a drain in the bottom.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

a fountain pump at the bottom of the pond would get the water out of the pond (or a sump pump, depending on the flow required). When you build the pond, make sure to incorporate a lower area to site your pump and to allow for solids collection.

Hi Gene, welcome to the forum Where abouts is here?

Also remember you will have to cover the pond in some fashion to ensure the safety of small children and others.

I agree a fountain pump would do the job of getting the water out of the pond. You shouldn't have any problems with keeping the water clean once it gets cycling. I have a system which includes an ornamental pond and a small grow bed. (see Kevo's system). When it started with 15 fish microscopic algae instantly took over and you couldn't see 10cm down. But after two long weeks of pumping it through the gravel beds with little or no plants it cleared up. Soon after that I topped up with rainwater and the little buggers took over again as bad as before, but once again after a week of cycling through the beds it cleared up. It has been going for 5 months now and seems much more resiliant to water top ups and is always sparkling clear. (touch wood).
The difference between my system and most others I have seen on this site is that I have a lot of water plants in with the fish. They are there to make it look nice as the pond is in a courtyard. No doubt they absorb a lot of the nutients that would normally be absorbed by the vegetables in the grow beds. This means I can get away with less growbeds.I also don't have many fish 5 silverperch up to about 15 cms and 10 largish goldfish.

Here's my little pond system...

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... .php?t=734

and beautiful it is jp

Hi All,
Thanks for your replies and handy hints.
Here is Colac in Western Victoria. Badly in need of rain at the moment and enjoying beautiful spring weather in autumn.
Can anyone explain to me how a fountain pump and a sump pump work.

they are submersible pumps, um that work I don't really know the technical details, but you connect your out pipe to the pump, put the pump in the water, turn it on and (if you have not offended the gods that day) it works. Sucks the water into the pump and pushes it out the pipe to the growbeds.

Hi,

here is a photo of our pond. The pond itself has been fully established for 12 months on a biofilter. We have added the NFT in the pump outlet line just before the biofilter. As the bulk of the water is cycling through the filter we did not bother to connect the NFT outlet into the filter.

Hi Gene, as Jaymie said, they are normally both submersible pumps.
Fountain pumps just come with extra bits so that when assembled and positioned, water comes out the top above the water level and makes wonderful displays - you are probably paying for pipes and such that would not normally be needed for AP.

Sump pumps suck up water and distribute it to another location via piping, in AP it is diverted to grow beds

Do you want a more detailed answer?

you can see pics of different types of pumps at www.fountainmountain.com and www.littlegiant.com

Very nice set up Hopefull. Start a thread and post some more pictures? Looks great.

Thanks for all that good info on pumps, everybody. That's given me plenty to get on with. I have another question. What's this about a water to plant ratio? If my pond wasto be 3 by 3 by 1 metre (or even 10 cubic metres) does that dictate the amount of garden space I have to create?
Again, thanks for any info.

Ell, I sure would appreciate a more detailed answer re the pumps.
Thanks.

you can go to the forum topics basic information and see all types of useful things concerning cycles, pumps, and GB to Fish water ratios. Start here http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=501

Hopefulls, that is a nice spider plant you have hanging there. I like your simple setup. Best of all, it grows plants!