Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I thought I would start my build thread here unless somewhere else would be better

ETA around December

*edit*

Admin please feel free to move this to the "Members Systems" section

Reserved

Reserved

Break and build the idea's

Tank located at the highest point
Inside the tank will be under gravel filtration system with about 2-3" of cinder gravel / Scoria
water will be drained from bottom of tank so the poop will collect on top of the gravel and break down,
plants will be also growing in this protected zone via a screen allowing about 1 foot growing area when they grow out side of screen fish can nibble away

then it will be Gravity Feeding 4x NFT greenhouses 48m long

Water recombined ( allowing remaining nutrients to mix ) for raft system growing lettuces then re distributed to Flood and Drain systems allowing a nice even spread of remaining nutrients

Sump tanks possibly used for raft system for seedlings ect

Sump water then pumped to water trough above fish tank where duckweed will be growing if their are any nutrients remaining

Duck weed when over populated will be automatically skimmed via drain system into fish tank to provide free meals along with fresh clean water

their will be other ponds also with under gravel systems + small fish like guppies for mostly for growing weeds for fish food these will also be tied into the same system any remaining water flow will be redirected to flow through these directly straight into the flood drain system ( no NFT )

..
Under gravel filtration.. like an aquarium..
Not sure that I have ever heard of folk doing that.. perhaps there is a good reason.. like it quickly going anaerobic.
..
.

Unless you have only a very few fish, 5-7cm of gravel wont be anywhere near enough surface area for bacteria to treat the solids, which will accumulate and be impossible to clean out... and as Buidoi says above, quite possibly going anaerobic in the bottom after a while

"sorry for creating this thread here shortly afterwards I discovered the edit time limiter feature "

after all the anti under-gravel feedback I came up with another idea

pretty much the tanks will be round and translucent

round tanks normally mean if you keep the water flowing in one direction all solids will eventually reach the center


here in the center I will place a bell siphon plus an manually operated sludge removal drain pipe
( insurance for if the bell can not lift the solids 3m high )

I will still create the under-gravel system in an cone shaped form so solids should keep moving towards the center to be sucked up
I will keep the ends opened and also run air lines underneath that can be fired up to purge any solids build up


originally I was going to have vegetation zone covering the entire bottom of the tank , now I am planing on having it around the wall of the tank possibly around 1 foot thick , every 45 degrees ( around 1.5m apart ) I will have an air stone tube drawing water up from the gravel and aiming it along the tank wall to create vortex
direction ( 8 air stones in 30 000L tank ? or should I do 16 I don't really see the point in them apart from cycling stale water to the surface )

the idea is to help block out the light going into the tank and allowing fish for feed on any stray plants
plus have plants to help with oxygen deficiencies in the case of power / pump fail-our
if the weeds grow I know I have heaps of nitrates to use up , if they are stunted I need more fish

once the solids are extracted from the tank I am planing on having an radial filter the same height as tank with vent
( allowing me to keep my PSI by having water levels same height .. or maybe slightly lower to keep the siphon running )
then pass it through an submerged bio filter etc


before it finally heads towards my plants

returning water should be pretty aerated and return pipe will even have an venturi


I will be prototyping this on the weekend anyhow

assuming ceramic is still the best bio medium ? ( for fully submerged filtration)

I figure you need a system keyed for Nitrobacter first then another system keyed for Nitrosomonas
from memory one of them needs a heap of oxygen?

A partly Decoupled aquaponic system is being planned out

Instead of seeking 10m head high flow pumps and having 1 big loop trying to move 600L / min through the grow area per 30KL Fish Tank

I will be able to use 3m head high flow pump and 10m head low flow pump ( lower power costs )

so I will be using 3m head high flow pump for circulating FT - RFF - FT to remove solids
(I am also planing on having some bio balls in the outflow section to help prevent floaties going back into the FT)


then have mineralization tank collecting solids from the RFF which will feed into the grow area

I say partly Decoupled aquaponic system because I am going to be constantly tricking the water out the bottom of the RFF into the MT - GB - FT
and I will trickle some fresh water from the RFF into the NFT- FRC-GB

then have 10m head low flow pump recirculate the grow area filtered water back into the FT

I could also separate each loop if I wanted to ( once the system is fully established )

I will be using a 48M long anaerobic MT pipe then it will end in an aerobic MT barrel before ending in GB
essentially gravity fed from the bottom of the RFF into PVC piping that will have 50%+ mesh/netting plus a small Dia pipe inside to hold the mesh down to allow unrestricted water flow over the top of the netting or through the internal pipe
the mesh/netting is to trap the solids as the pipe will be slanting downward for ~5m drop if needed I might also do an anaerobic IBC at the end before it passes into the aerobic IBC

Hey MasterCATZ, it would make a lot more sense not to split your questions for your system (and relevant info about it) and pumps between multiple threads, a bit here, a bit there!

MODS- I think the threads need combining, this and Seeking a pump with at least 10m head...