Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks bcotton,

Wasn't worried about the fish---just the status of the water. The gb's are already putting clear water back into the pool. I guess when we install the pvc to suck from the bottom of the pool/ft that will definitely help the status of the water also.

Cool idea. Best of luck with it but I just want to bring up a few concerns.

Not sure about your pool liner but many are manufactured with an antibacterial feature which may harm the beneficial bacteria you're trying to incorporate into your system. You might want to look into that to avoid any problems.

I think you can eliminate one of the pumps you've got in your plans. If you set everything up properly you will only need a pump in the sump tank (lowest portion of your system). The overflow from the pool can be gravity fed to the beds and allowed to cycle through the system as you have it planned. This should save on electrical costs as well as eliminate a potential failure. The way I see it, the less moving parts the better.

Along that line... I see you have planned to have water drain from your smaller partial IBC into the larger partial IBC. I'm not sure why this step is necessary but I'm not standing in front of the system to get an accurate assessment. It seems to me you could just drain the water from the smaller partial IBC into the barrels and on down the chain.

An even better design would be to keep all the beds at the same level and have the overflow from the pool enter a 2"-3" main fill line which follows along the outer edge of the pool along the top of all your beds. Simply add a "t" connector and valve at each bed and all of your beds can fill at the same time. Also, the nutrients at the end of your designed chain of beds might be lacking after your entire system have leeched what they need from the flowing water. In my recommendation, all beds get the same amount of nutrient as they are all fed from a fresh supply of fish water. All beds can then drain into a common drain manifold which falls into the sump tank to be pumped back into the pool.

Best of luck on the system! Keep us updated and post LOTS OF PICS! We love PICS!

The pump from the FT idea could prove to be a disaster should problems arise... and they always do.

If you incorporate a SLO (Solids Lift Overflow) you can pull water from the bottom of the pool/fish tank using gravity. As long as you use large enough diameter piping you will be able to move enough water to do whatever you want. You could use the pool pump but instead of hooking it to the pool you could hook it up to the sump tank. The benefit of this design is that it adds a safety precaution. If something goes wrong the water in your fish tank will only drain to the level of your overflow. As long as you have adequate aeration your fish should survive until you can fix the problem with water flow.

Pulling water from the bottom of your fish tank with a pump into a broken water line could empty your fish tank while you're away. I'd hate to see you come home to a pool full of dead fish.

Squatch is correct. A SLO with an open top will drain the water, but not build a siphon. It is actually the safest way you could go.

Squathaponics and Ronmaggi

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I am completely lost when it comes to SLO . Maybe I can research and find a DIY instructional for dummies on how to build and where to install it.

Thanks for your suggestions; as always they are very appreciated

For a pool sized SLO, look at PLJ's Big Concrete Tank System.

Thanks for the link, Ronmaggi will definitely check it out.

So kitkat18 completed her H.S. project and needed to rehome her 13 Moz. tilapia and we met today and now we have them in our sump tank (they are like 4"-6" guesstimate). We also installed the piping to suck from the bottom of the pool today and started building a frame for a shade cover. Yesterday, was so nice that our son and I started building a 2' x 10' wicking bed next to the sump tank. Today, our daughter, my hubby, and I lined the bed and installed the plumbing to the bottom of the bed and put the gravel in it. Tomorrow we will install the overflow that will go into the sump tank, put in the landscape fabric, and the compost. Oh yeah, yesterday I found a supplier for heirloom veggie plant plugs --- getting 250 beefsteak tomato plants and 250 jalapeno plants; it was only $80 delivered via ups (like .16 each). So after I'm done planting all that I want--I will have plenty left if anyone close would like some I'll post pics tomorrow.

250 tomato plants! That's going to be a lot of pruning! I got tired of always having to prune my tom plants and I only had a few. Hats off to ya!

squatchaponics - I'm not using them but it was cheaper to buy 250 from them than to buy 100 from another company (only wanted 100) and yes lots of pruning but also lots of tomatoes, salsa, and sauce

Updated pics (finally got one of goldfish in pool/ft).

It's probably done now, but next year, look into starting your own seed.

You can get way better varieties, think yellow beefsteaks, Black Cherry tomato, and masses of others.

And you can get away with it for way cheaper than $0.16 per plant.

I can' believe the progress and I've been living it--- 17 days

So now we are waiting to start growing Just need to finish aesthetics and install shade cover -- after that we need to get to some neglected other things (finish painting dining room, finish the bathroom remodel --- have the materials; just AP took over) Will continue to post but not as frequently --- hopefully lots of pics of tremendous plant growth

Oh yeah, we decided during build to try out all the bed types (to see which one(s) work best for us): top 1/3 of IBC = float bed, 8- 1/2 bb = gravel media beds and 2x10 wicking bed. Figured we took a flying leap into AP so why not try them all to gain hands on education.

Hi Colum Black-Byron,

I purchased a lot of different seeds; however, for some reason I cannot start them successfully. The only thing I've gotten to grow by seed is corn and that was just putting it straight into the garden. I've tried the little seed starting kits you buy at the store and a month ago I purchased the "germination station" to start seeds for hydroponics -- and just like the soil starting -- I'd see them starting to grow then all of a sudden dead sprouts and nothing else. So that's why I decided to buy starts since its already into growing season. I'm going to keep trying to start from seeds--maybe one day I'll figure it out.