Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone compared the flood and drain to the drip method like the picture below.


What is the difference in plant performance between the two types?

What I have read here is that water channels develop in the drip system resulting in dry spots in the bed and you have to filter out the solids.

Am I right?

S&S AQUA FARM say they do not filter.

The S&S picture, use flood and drain, not drip.

EB, didn't you start off with a CF system and switch to F&D?

i started my second system with CF as auto siphons had not been devised(on the forum) and have now almost completely switched to flood and drain.

I think I did this because I feel that with the flood and drain you get a better filtration and bacterial surface area to work with.

The CF does indeed result in dry spots which are in effect areas of non filtration and bacteria growth. THis reduces overall the number of fish you can have and thus reduces effeciency.

The Flood and drain are IMHO a better option irrelevant of how they are arranged eg auto siphon or timer. Also fllod and drain means the water comes up to the tips of the plants roots rather than haveing to plant seedlings and seeds in general within the fall area of the CF water.

Yep - F&D is definitelly the go in my opinion. Only advantages of CF are reduced weight of bed (if weight is going to be an issue) and elimination of the matter of rising and falling fish tank levels.

Thats what i thought when i saw the picture!

Yep tried both, but F&D is definitely better..

I like the flood and drain system too... at the moment all my beds are fitted with auto siphons and the pump runs 24/7 (soon to be changed ) - so they do flood and drain, but within a very small time period.

Hi All
First Post

I think it all depends on the grow bed media. F&D usually requies a larger and more consistent particulate sized media. Drip feed does not (possible cause of dry areas in the beds)
Both have positives and negatives; my experience has only been with hydroponics systems, so far, and so please view this post in that light.

David

David,
Welcome to the forum and BYAP.
Have a look in the Western Australia section of the forum, I am having a meeting at my place on 28th October. If interested, Please post to that effect so that I can send you my address & phone number in a PM.
Tony

Hey David, good to see you here...

Aquaponics is a bit different to straight hydroponics because you don't tend to have drip feeds, most of the continuous flow in aquaponics is quite a rapid flow because you need to constantly filter the water for the fish..

I read that research has shown CF has better growth rates for plants. Although I do agree that you grow bed working as your bio filter wouldn't be as efficient.

Always looking for more definitive sources of information Filip....

Can you post a link to your info ? ....