Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

no air break line needed! the magic is in the bottom 90 (elbow fitting). i have a video in my playlist that explains it.

Aquaponics good ideas: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... P5L7u8jk8Z

actually there are 2 videos explaining how to make the bell siphon. i learned after making it the second video really is important. it is about the 90. that fitting and how its put in makes a world of a difference! i have messed with bell siphons before and... horrible experience to say the least! but this design has worked flawless for me.

I'd been thinking about just capping the end of the aeration lines into the Sump Tank with several holes along the pipe... now I'm debating between that and a right angle at the end. Seems like both would provide the needed backpressure.
I guess with this design I already have a right angle incorporated for backpressure even without an endcap.

I know the siphons are fun but just so you know you can skip the siphons and use Constant Flood and the plants and fish will do fine (see the BYAP Trials thread - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8621). Constant Flood also lets you run with a full volume of water in the sump (no large water level fluctuations). Just use a standpipe inside of a media guard and let the water flow over the standpipe at whatever level you choose. You can pop a bell siphon over the standpipe and switch to siphons if you want (you'll have to plan for a sump sized to using siphons if you do this of course)

Don't glue any of the piping internal to the grow bed - this allows you to clean things out and switch standpipes or even switch back and forth between Constant Flood and Siphons (if you have a distribution grid you can take it apart to clean - see my next suggestion).

I noticed on your layout that the inlet pipe goes to the center of the grow bed and the drain is in one corner. If you're going to put the outlet in one corner then I would make an L shaped distribution grid along the two sides opposite this corner for improved nutrient flow through the grow bed. It will work your way as well but most of the flow will head from the center for the drain corner and the nutrients will take longer to spread across the entire grow bed so you might see some nutrient deficiencies caused by this delay.

Wasn't planning to glue anything but current design is going to dictate the size of the drain outlet. Have time, likely looking at crowdfunding in first quarter of 2017 or rely on bonus in Mar/Apr, so I'll look deeper into constant flood, does that call for aeration beyond say a venturi drain or no?

Funny you mention solids distribution in the media bed... was already thinking on that too and modified things a bit. Should I start with one size of hole near the elbow feeding the grow bed then increase size or frequency a tad as I go?

Constant Flood relies mainly on water movement and splashing for aeration. You can put in a venturi but I believe this will reduce the flow of water since you'll be incorporating air into your flow - might depend on your setup . I do use a venturi going into the fish tank for what it's worth.



That might be one way of doing it and might be the best. You have some leeway because the nutrients will spread across the bed away from the flow as well as with it so if it's not perfect it will probably work anyway.

Sounds good... will likely start with constant flood and media guard since I can drill out to a larger drain if I decide siphons are a must have for some reason.

Leaning towards elbows back into the fish and sump tanks with venturis off those instead of the longer pipes I have showing now.

Venturis look like they would add a lot more DO than you could get from sprayed water out of simple pipes with holes. Would also allow me to cover the tanks more...

Updating for a lot less PVC using CF with Venturis.


Does this look like cinder block overkill for support? If I can't swing clay and go with shale I estimated 800# per bed for the media alone before it's wet.

I'm not certain but I think it's probably a bit of overkill - On the other hand, I use rubbermaid stock tanks so don't take my word on this. Whatever you do make sure you plan your inflow and outflow first. I noticed you have blocks supporting the center of the grow bed and this is often where the outflow would go, especially if you use the top of the IBC, since the center is where the cap is. Have a look at the IBC's of Aquaponics which is a free PDF that has lots of pics of IBC systems (the links at the top of the page but this will get you there - http://ibcofaquaponics.com/).

Yep, been reading through various systems in that. I was leaning towards splitting off the two sides of an IBC and keeping one whole for the fish tank then deciding if I wanted a third or a different tank for sump. With constant flood I'll likely use a smaller sump, also solves where I might be able to keep a hatchery as long as I can isolate the pump really well.

I'm not sure how to get as solid a base structure for the grow beds as you can get from the incorporated IBC pallet base though. I *could* forego most of a cage for the fish tank if I have enough of that buried. Thinking along the lines of just digging out sections for grow beds and tanks then lining them with a good plastic to cut down on cage oxidation. Blue plane in the diagram should be roughly ground level. Ground support would eliminate the need for almost all other support structures as long as I dig out enough room to work near the beds and tanks.

Ignore the Bell Siphons, haven't copied that design over to the "site plan" diagram. Also confusing, TinkerCAD only allows small projects so I've been drafting everything up in inches but will obviously be scaling up to feet. Not sure what I'd put in a 9"x12"x16" greenhouse. Anyone familiar with how much waste impact freshwater shrimp or crawfish add to a system? Would love to include them at some point, leaning towards a screened off section under the fish in the main tank though I'd considered having them in the sump tank, not likely enough solids there for their liking.

Not sure how much ammonia they put off per weight but educated guess says I'd need to balance them with the fish, reducing fish load.

Looks like it's coming along . Regarding the shrimp and crayfish - I would look at the feed inputs and feed conversion ratio to get an idea of the potential waste production. Hopefully there are a few growers out there who can give you something more specific but if all else fails this should give you a starting point.

Not sure if this will come through properly but have my first tangible aquaponics purchase.

(2) 330G and (2) 275G IBCs... planning to keep the 330s relatively whole, one for fish tank and one for water storage.

Splitting one 275 for grow beds and using the last tote for the sump tank. My only concern is over having less capacity in the sump tank than the fish tank...

Having a smaller sump tank won't matter if you're running Constant Flood. You might even be able to ditch the sump entirely. FWIW, My sump is currently only 150 gallons and it's hooked to a 625 gallon stock tank and I could go much smaller with auto top up.

A large sump gets you a bit less fluctuation in water parameters and allows you to switch some of the beds to siphons if you want since it can handle more water level fluctuations.

How do you manage oxygen in constant flood?

Can you manage to maintain DO without an air stone? Was planning to rely on venturis on FT intake and GB outlets with siphons to eliminate one more thing needing power.

Would one venturi on the FT intake be enough?

I, see were your quoting your outside demensions for your GH, but the inside demensions are going to be 7" less than the outside using 2x4 framing. In other words 11'-5" x 15'-5" and that's is tight. So the 3 tanks that you are using along the back end wall may not fit the way you want.

Best to take the drawing of the whole thing, and remove all the wood from the door back to about 30" from the back wall and it will be clearer.

I see this same thing in a lot of designs, they think that the inside and outside demensions are the same, but forget to subtract the wall thickness's. But it can happen that way if the wall thickness's combined are as thin as the sheet of paper your are reading this from.

If you plan on high fish densities then all bets are off and you're going to have to add aeration.
If you're not planning on high stocking densities then you don't need additional aeration but it's good to plan in some splashing at outfalls, and a venturi is good as well (the more the better). Some people use spray bars for the flow going into the fish tank as another way to get aeration. In one of my systems the water is pumped from the sump where I have about 8 different outfalls so it's pretty well aerated by these before it goes back to the fish tank. There is also a venturi on the inlet to the fish tank.