Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I haven't read back through your thread so I don't know what your setup is for power or how the beds are currently being run (so take this with a grain of salt).

Have you considered going Constant Flood? It would keep you from having to add the extra tank because there is no weep hole in the standpipe and the grow beds hold their water if the power goes out. If you're already pumping all the time with siphons then this is a good option because you can leave the old beds the way they are and just make the new ones Constant Flood to expand your system.

Here is a good link on this...

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18956

Wes, we have similar systems BUT Your tomato growth in the NFTs are great! I'm using 3 inch and have limited success. Good work!

For power I'm all solar and batteries. I'm also on a timer that is on for 1 hour off for 30 mins. I'm kinda constant flow right now the one pipe is now open on the end but still the root growth with eventually fill up that tube. On the first tube when it got clogged with roots I ran a pex tube inside the pipe from one end to the other so it would bypass the clogged roots. It's working so far. I figure the drain side would back up enough for the other plants on the other end to get water also.

yeah, I'm all ready convinced, once my plants die, I'm going flood and drain with a media grow bed. PVC is just to small for roots and to easy to fail.

Well that thread was a bit intense and the terminology was still being figured by people so it might be a bit confusing. Just ask if you have any questions on how to setup a Constant Flood bed or need a summary.

When your talking about a constant flood bed, i picture it as a grow bed with water coming in and out with a water level that doesn't change?

Got my first tomato of the year.

Tomatoes have been doing well. I think my wife killed the cucumbers battling the over flows

Sorry I missed this earlier - yes this is basically right - usually the water level is about the same as if it were at the high point of a flood and drain beds cycle and the pump is running 24/7.

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Nice looking tomatoes . Roots are definitely a problem when trying to grow tomatoes in a pipe (or sometimes even a grow bed). Dutch buckets work well as do wicking beds of various sorts.

I do like the Dutch bucket idea. Maybe i'll put some above my grow beds in the back. First thing is I'm going to try to cram a 150 gallon horse trough sideways in the ground next to the 100 gallon fish tank. Then put two 50 gallon horse troughs above them for grow beds.

I figure 2, 50 gallon containers filled with clay pellets for flood and drain should need about 50 gallons out of the fish tanks. so, wonder if 250 gallon in the fish tank is enough to keep a descent water level? that's 1/5 of the level. I'm thinking I would need more water?

You can always switch them over to Constant Flood - since Constant Flood growbeds don't drain when the power goes out they won't overflow the tank and it allows you to fill the grow bed with enough water at the beginning that very little will have to come out of the tank to get the grow bed to start draining. Hope this makes sense to you.

yeah, It makes sense. I am under the assumption that a F&D would be better because of the extra oxygen the bacteria and roots get.

Growth is pretty much the same in the two types of systems. The BYAP trials thread is a good read that compares three systems - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=8621

I'll give constant flood a shoot. It's simpler and more reliable. My pumps are only 240 lph. I do have a 600 lph. Maybe try one of each to see best results.

testing google photos since photo bucket craped out.

pumped my sump tank. poo balls were starting to float to the top. I noticed I have snails also.