Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone my name is Gary, and my family is building a small homestead on our property in Sw Oklahoma to help sustain our family

I have researched aquaponics and slowly but surely have collected things and started retrofitting my barn

We are currently closing areas in our barn

I hate having to increase size not being able to expand I'd rather go big (regarding fish tank) then jump through hoops later. My plan is to purchase the 8' x 2' or 10' x 2' poly stock tank for the fish. I will have a 425 gallon sump tank in the ground (already have found it cheap on Craigslist)

At first I wanted to invest in channel cat but decided to start with blue tilapia though my wife (the boss) would rather have channel cat)

I have looked at grow beds and have decided on the Rubbermaid 50 gallon tanks with hydroton as the media. Here I have problems though, and it's not putting the media beds together, I am copying the siphon by Meg Stout. Question I have is how many grow beds to operate efficiently with the stock tAnk and let's say 100 fish.

I am also considering a raft bed after the media beds for greens.

Again thanks everyone here for sharing, this forum has provided me with a wealth of knowledge.

I have a lot of pics I'll post once I can figure out how to change the pixel size of the pictures with my iPad.

Finally figured out how to change size of pictures so here are a few

Can anyone give any advice or their thoughts on pump size for this size of system. I know it's recommened to go double and I good with that but I do plan to expand later so would this be a safe pump, a little costly but worth it to me if I don't have to upgrade later.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/c ... red-switch

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/c ... tch-1-2-hp

http://www.amazon.com/Danner-02670-Driv ... nner+pumps

New stock tank I picked up today and put in place

Also looking at this pump

http://www.lagunaponds.com/en_us/laguna ... -6600-gph/

Any opinions

Hi Gary,
I haven't posted in a while and noticed your post.
I have to move my system to install a storm shelter so it's time to harvest my catfish. They are almost a year old now.

I have not found any tallipia in the area but Dunns fish farm will probably be delivering channel cats in April.

How close to Altus are you?

Gene

Hi Gene,

I'm actually about 35 minutes from Altus in Frederick. In beginning stages of putting things together.

Hiya Gpark, great start.
All those sump pumps you have linked have high power draw. Try looking at pond pumps.
Don't you get termites over there?

Ya we get termites lol, but until I can build the frame I want it's what I have to work with. Found a pump today on Amazon im considering...

http://www.amazon.com/Danner-02670-Driv ... +pond+pump

Update on newbie system

Thinking I'll plumb in the 100 gallon tank as a start for my fingerlings before transferring to the bigger tank.

Piping from barn to grow beds

Three grow beds set up, still unsure total I need to be effective, any advice appreciated

The blocks are only temporary till I get something better, found these behind my barn and use them for my honey bee hives lol

Missed your post the first time around. Is that a 625 or 1000 gallon behlen tank?

On the pump the recommendation is to pump the volume of the fish tank once per hour at whatever head height you are pumping to. The head height is from the top of the water in the tank where the pump is to the highest point it will pump. Most pumps have a chart or table to tell you this. The recommendation for a pond pump was a good one. You want something that can handle solids and that pumps efficiently since the electricity can add up. I like the Laguna Max-Flo pond pumps if you haven't already purchased something - http://www.lagunaponds.com/en_us/pumps/waterfall-filter/. Here's a chart with the head height info - http://www.azponds.com/laguna_maxflo_chart.htm

Doesn't hurt to have extra capacity especially since your planning on expanding the system. I'll also recommend a backup pump as a good idea, as is some form of aeration for power outages.

A good efficient pump can pay for itself in saved electric costs over a couple of years but depends on how much electricity is for you - estimated payback period can be calculated using the cost per KWH.

---

Basically you stock fish based on the filtration capacity of the grow beds.

You'll find some information on fish stocking in this thread - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=24280&p=495601&hilit=stocking+filtration#p495601

50 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks for grow beds, those look familiar as do the blocks .

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9511&hilit=scotty%27s+second+system&start=45

Hi Scotty yes that's a 1000 gallon behlen tank, I think with the plumbing im probably only using 950 gallons on water of so in it.

I went with this pump:
http://www.lagunaponds.com/en_us/laguna ... 200-gph-1/

The 50 gallon Rubbermaid tote idea I got somewhere else but wish I'd seen your post before lol.

Everything dumps into the 425 gallon sump tank and pushes to tank and media beds, I plan in near future to ad a biofilter between fish tank and sump, then push from sump still.

I'll be periodically adding a media bed here and there as I can afford, but only pushing with three for now till I can afford more.

I got everything plumped today and circulating, yay all bell siphons work, now cleaning rock and clay pebbles lmao.

I think that pump is a new product so I'm not sure how it will do but what I've tried from Laguna has been very good.

What you're suggesting will work but there is a problem with the flow going from the fish tank to the sump and then back again. You're basically sending fish waste back up to the fish tank and breaking it up at the same time so it's tougher to remove. The idea is really to send the solids to the grow beds or a solids filter where they will break down and supply the plants with nutrients. You can cure this if you add a solids filter and then the bio-filter before the sump so it would go like this

Fish Tank - Solids filter - Biofilter - Sump - Fish tank and Grow beds

If you plumb directly from the sump to raft beds as well, then you'll need this anyway and maybe a netting tank between the Solids Filter and Biofilter for suspended solids. You could also try a hybrid system with the raft tanks after the media beds which would eliminate the netting tank then.

Might want to look up "Radial Flow Filter" for the solids filtration. Moving Bed Bioreactors (MBBR), I think they are also called Moving Bed Biofilters (MBBF) are good biofilters although they require aeration (thought I'd better mention this in case it's a problem). There are other options if these won't work for you.
-----

Since you've got things plumbed I wouldn't do this but another way to arrange the flow if the Fish tank is the highest point in the system would be to drain from the fish tank to any filtration then to the grow beds and rafts and then have all these drain to the sump where it's pumped back to the Fish Tank. Like this

Fish tank - SF - BF - GB's and Rafts - Sump then back to Fish Tank --- The fish tank is the high point of the system in this design