Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm setting up a media bed system with a sump tank (CHIFT PIST/CHOP) and I was wondering, can the sump tank be used to grow more plants (DWC raft) or other fish?

The fish tank is 160 gallons, and the sump tank is 80 gallons.

No reason why fish or plants couldn't be grown there, if the water is clean enough and it doesn't run near-dry at any stage. If adding more fish, you need to take that into account for filtering in the GBs or externally.

Has anyone, or does anyone currently, have plants or fish, etc. growing in their sump tank?

No plants or fish, but I do have hundreds of earthworms in it.

I had fish in my sump tank for years.

But I haven't now... I was overstocked... Gunagulla's advice above is worth considering.

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Yes I have 15 Silver perch in my sump(1000L) for the past 18 months without worries. It will be a PITA to finally remove them in the future but will cross that bridge when I get to it.


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I have been growing some green sunfish in my sump for about a year. They have been very slow growing for me. They were all pretty close in size, at about 1-1.5 inches when i got them, now the biggest is about 6 inches, and the smallest about three inches. They don't have much appetite, except for during the hottest weather. But, my sump is buried in the ground, without any insulation around it, so it stays pretty cool most of the time, which affects their metabolism. I like having them in there though, because we've been having really bad mosquito invasions in the last couple of years, but the tanks have been 100% mosquito free, since I popped them in there.

How do you manage that? Are they free swimming? I thought they only lived in grow beds?


I'm guessing your tank is hidden well under your grow beds? Maybe you'll have to grab a rod and reel and actually go fishing for them!


That is a great idea for mosquito control!

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So, do any of you grow plants in your sump?

As long as it's kept away from the incoming water, I imagine a DWC raft may be able to float up and down when water is pulled for the grow beds. Would that be an option?

What about potted plants sitting in the water (like watercress, water mint, rice, etc.)?

And how about floaters like Duckweed or Water Lettuce?

And finally, what about just some simple underwater aquarium plants growing in the sump?

What do you think?

The earthworms just accumulate there, and have no trouble surviving in Oxygenated water. They would not survive if the O2 levels were too low though.
In the WB part of my large system the ST has a lot of water plants in it, growing in pots sitting in there. It's a wide 2000 litre tub.

What plants are growing in your ST?

Water Iris, native reeds, Cyperus sp. (umbrella sedge), Ficinia nodosa (knobby clubrush), there might be more, but can't think of them ATM