As many people who have already encountered me online and in person know, I’m fairly quick to try and help out where I can. I also share information quite openly. Please feel free to ask questions of me, I regularly stop by the Aquaponic Gardening Community site as well as the BYAP Forum
There is also a forum on my web site as well but it has never been very well attended, though if you show up there, I’ll answer questions provided they are related to aquaponics or one of the other topics. And of course you can comment or ask questions on the blog posts or use the comment form to reach me.
I am available for consultation and design services. Contact me if you want to schedule a Skype or phone consultation $40 an hour. Or system design services $50 an hour for Backyard/hobby systems and commercial systems based on system scale starting at $60 an hour. I am actually a bit resistant to consulting on commercial system unless you already have experience at a backyard or hobby scale since farming is not something to go into without any experience. And aquaponics is farming, it is a lot of work, you can’t do it from your desk and if you ask me how long it takes for the plants to grow and expect a simple single answer, I’m likely to get a bit impatient with you about it.
I just need to warn everyone, if you ask a questions about why your own system is having difficulty, be ready for many questions to come back at you since it is rarely possible to diagnose an aquaponic problem from a sentence like,”why did my fish die?”
Here are some of the likely questions one should be ready to answer when seeking assistance with an aquaponics system.
What do the water tests say? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH and water temperature all play an important role in aquaponics system functioning by indicating the state of the bio-filter and the toxicity of the water for the fish. The test tube and dropper kits tend to be more accurate than test strips
How old is the system?
Has the system cycled up yet?
What type of system?
How big is the system? fish tank size and often more importantly grow bed or bio-filter size.
How many fish? what type and how big as well.
Location of system and special circumstances?
What about the source water? treated, untreated, well water or rain water? If rain water what type of roof and tank?
What type of fish feed?
What type of gravel?
How often are you pumping and at what rate?
Is there supplemental aeration and how much?
And there are probably several other questions that could come up but this is what I’ve got to start. So, when starting a thread looking for assistance troubleshooting a problem with an aquaponics system, be ready to answer these questions up front in order to get the most help quickly.
Hope you can help a newbie. I am setting up two flood and drain beds that will both work off of the same 160 gallon fish tank, a 100 gallon sump and two separate swirl filters each 15 gallons. The first bed is 20 square ft. with a divider down the middle, using two bell siphons. The other bed also is 20 square feet that is divided into 4 beds. Also using bell siphons. I will be using river gravel for my media. I am hoping to fill then drain each bed separately twice each hour using separate pumps in the sump. It is set up where the pumping of water begins in the sump, then goes into the swirl filter. The filter will have an overflow into the bed through a 1″ pipe. After filling, the bell siphon will drain into the fish tank. It will have an overflow back into the sump. It is my hope that the first bed will fill and drain within 20 min. Leaving the sump full again for the second bed to fill and drain. Each pump on a timer. First of all….will it work! and if so, what size pumps should I expect to use. The distance from the bottom of the sump into the swirl filter is 6 ft. Is it even possible to do a timed fill and drain with this set up or should I just plan on running it continuously hoping that they will all siphon at different times. I don’t want to run my sump dry. Please help!!!
I’m a bit confused about your description of beds with dividers. What sort of dividers? Will they actually keep the water from flowing through the entire larger bed? I would probably say skip the dividers a 4′ by 5′ bed is certainly possible to flood and drain as a complete bed.
I do not recommend using siphons and timers together. Multiple timers and pumps are usually not a good way to sequence flow to grow beds either unless you have a controller that can ensure that the timers don’t get out of sync.
Also if these will be media beds, why are you using swirl filters? They would only be necessary if you are keeping a very large amount of fish.
I would recommend taking a step back from the design and trying to simplify it as much as possible. Timed flood and drain with a sump tank of sufficient size is quite simple. But two 20 cubic foot grow beds would be a bit much for your 100 gallon sump so your options include.
1-get a bigger sump
2-use a sequencing valve (skip the siphons) (requires a fairly large pump)
3-use a bigelow brook farms controller to alternate between two pumps doing timed flood and drain.
4-run constant flow, put a siphon in one of the beds and run the other bed constant flood
The beds are built from 2×10 lumber and plywood. We divided the beds for support.(couldn’t think of any other way to secure the sides in order to contain the weight). Each bed will be lined with pond liner. At this point getting a larger sump is not an option. The sump and fish tank are both buried in the ground.(hoping to off-set the high temps in the summer since living in the desert) Maybe I could pump from the FT also. Not sure how a sequencing valve works. Can you explain how constant flow works. Might take your advice about the swirl filters and only add them if my fish load gets heavy.
So if the beds are actually lined separately as in built as a series of boxes and each box lined with it’s own plumbing and complete liner then think of each compartment as a separate grow bed.
The Indexing Valves (I have an animation on this page) Can flood one bed at a time (using stand pipe and timer type method, skip the siphons.) They do, however, require a pump that is strong enough to operate them. Smallest pump I’ve managed under low head with the 1 1/4″ gravity modified valve was a 1000 gph pump with relatively high head capabilities. Otherwise, I generally recommend a 1800 gph pump for indexing valve operation under most conditions.
To do constant flood. Simply skip the holes around the base of the stand pipes and skip the bells. Beds will all run flooded and as long as you have enough water flow through the beds all the time and good aeration in the system otherwise, this actually works relatively well for most types of plants. You might set up so that you can run one or two of your beds with siphons (however many you sump can handle the fluctuation from) and leave the rest as constant flood (beds you run constant flood will have to be filled up with water in addition to whatever water is in your sump since they will not drain and they will essentially be adding more water to your system and they will also reduce the amount of water temperature fluctuation in the system during extreme weather.
I bought a 275 gallon IBC to make an aquaponics system. I was planning to cut off the top, flip it over and use the top as the grow bed and the bottom as the fish tank. I was planning on placing the bottom half of the fish tank below ground level and build a greenhouse around the whole thing. The local fish here is bass, crappie, and catfish. We live in agriculture zone 6B and it gets above 100F at times in the summer and down to 0F at times in the winter. What would be the best fish to grow? Is a sump necessary? Is a filter necessary? I suspect the fish tank portion will hold approx. 150 – 190 gallons. What should be the pump volume? Should a bell siphon be used? Thanks for helping a newbie.
Well with only around 150 gallons of fish tank you are not going to grow really large fish and with only the top of the IBC as a grow bed you will have a very limited amount of filtration and the amount of fish you grow is going to be very dependent on the amount of filtration you have. I would say about 12 fish if you do the top at about 12 inches deep.
Best fish, hum, I would probably recommend Bluegill or sunfish, Bass might be ok but I don’t know much about raising them in tank culture. I know nothing about raising crappie. Catfish are a great choice but I would probably recommend bullhead for such a small tank since channel or Blue Catfish get pretty big and that tank would be a bit restrictive in my experience. Though I do know people who have raised catfish in IBC tanks.
For just that small system, a sump is not necessary. A gravel grow bed is your filter. If you want to grow more fish than your grow bed can support, then you need to add additional filtration.
If you add more grow beds, then you might use your existing tank as the sump and add another full size IBC as a fish tank and do a CHIFP PIST or CHOP system.
If your fish tank is up to 200 gallons, you need to find a pump that will move 200 or more gallons per hour at the height you will be pumping. That means that you need something bigger than a 200 gallon per hour pump.
If you run the pump constantly you could use a bell siphon or some other type of siphon. Or you could do timed flood and drain using a timer (if you do that you need a pump that will move the volume of your fish tank at height, in the portion of the hour you will have the pump on.
As for the temperatures in your zone, if you want to keep a greenhouse with a fish tank operational through winter, you will likely need some heating to keep the water from freezing and greenhouse from icing shut. Make sure the greenhouse can open up nearly completely or that it has some automatic vents and fans for the warm season.
Sinking the fish tank part way into the ground may or may not be a benefit, it would depend on your choice of fish and your local average ground temperatures. Make sure you do something to keep the sides of the hole and the dirt from crushing the sides of the fish tank in. Moist dirt is heavy and an IBC tank is not strong enough to hold it back on it’s own. Be sure to keep the top edge of the fish tank high enough above ground level so you don’t get a heavy rain washing ground water into your system.
Thanks for the information, it was very helpful. I still don’t understand what advantage a sump is, could you explain?
I was so glad to see that you had your own page! I’ve seen you commenting and helping others a lot and would love to run my plans by you. Still planning it out, but would love some input! I will be putting an aquaponics setup in my basement roughly 5.5 feet by 9.5 feet against a wall with access on sides and front and inbetween the two totes (I’ll explain). I live in very cold wintery (curently) Wisconsin where it can get -20 and upto 110 in the summer, so I feel like this is the best option without spending a fortune for a greenhouse (maybe that will be down the road if it goes well). We have had a saltwater aquarium so I know all about testing and doing water changes, and the ammonia and bacteria cycles. With the space I have, I feel the IBC totes are my best option. I’d have (2) 330 gallon totes. On the Left, one with the top cut off for at least a 12in deep raft system and the bottom for the fish tank. On the Right, the second cut for a media filled grow bed (same size as raft) and sump below it. Then a NFT along the Right side up high then flow to the front, all on an incline emptying into the fishtank. The totes are 40 X 48 and 56 inches tall. Both bottom tanks will be turned so that they are 48 inches front to back and will move them forward about 1 ft from the wall, then the beds on top will be back to the wall with the 48 inches along the front and give me plenty of room to access the fish and sump. I will probably put additional supports under the beds (behind and in the center between them) and the lower tanks pushed to the sides (not centered) so I can put a small tank (nursery/ hospital ect) between them and pushed to the back (then I will have room to get inbetween the tanks. This extra tank will not be connected to the system however. I figure 25-30 Tilapia or Yellow perch. I know people who have done upto 50, but I don’t think this system can filter that. Do you think I could do more? The fish tank will pump water to a spray bar to recirculate/airate and the same pump will go above and to the right to the media growbed (back left corner of bed) with a filter pad to catch larger particles. I will probably get some worms after a while as well to make sure I don’t have any low oxygen areas. It will come out via Bell Siphon right below to the Sump. The sump will have a pump which will flow to two places: One, above & left to the Raft and Two, upper right to the NFT (both emptying into fish tank). This way the raft and NFT will have filtered water and the water returning to the fishtank will have gone through 2 sections. Contemplating about 2 overflows on front of raft and going straight down to fish tank to help with flow in raft since the input will be in back and putting some kind of lip or supports under raft to lift them up if I make the sump tank on a timer 30 min on, 30 off? But right now still planing on continuous since it will be easier to adjust flows and levels and easier on pumps and to make sure the NFT won’t get blocked. With the spray bar and the raft and NFT emptying in the fish tank do you think I will still need an air stone too? There will be ball valves after each split from both pumps to adjust water flow (very low on the NFT). Both pumps will run constantly. FT pump will be 700 gallons per hour and the sump will be 200 gallons per hour. Open to suggestions on that! I was thinking 1 inch pipes but maybe 1.5? and Bell will be 1.5 or 2 inch standpipe 3-4 in bell and 6 in media guard. Media guard will not be fixed so I can turn it to break off any roots and clean them out of the area. NFT will start in the back top right inclined turn 90 degrees to front and incline down to drain to the fish tank. I realize it might take some adjusting to make sure the levels are okay since many methods are going on at different flows, timing on the bell, ect. I’ve never seen a system like this so that’s why I’m nervous and want input, but I feel like for what I want to grow this would be best. Lighting: I’m doing cheap shop lights but will have flourescent grow out blue and red bulbs, just blue over raft though and reflective sheet (mylar) behind the beds. I might be growing duckweed in the sump but have a bucket with the bottom cut out where the water from the media bed above comes down so that will reduce the surface movement so the duckweed does better. Or put a styrofoam barrier dividing the front of sump from the back, then the duckweed in front will be exposed to the light and the back will have the pump and draining from the bell siphon above. Any thoughts? But it sounds like Perch won’t eat it, conflicted info on this, so I’d only have to worry about it if I have Tilapia? And I’m looking at a fan to blow on the plants for circulation and to toughen up the stems. Hydroton to so expensive but I can get gravel, pea gravel, or pumice stone cheaper. Any advice on those? I already read about the vinegar test for the media. I think I will use the hydrocorn or other expanded clay on the net cups in the NFT though to wick the water up better. In the rafts, I’m going to either use the rock wool tapered squares or the smaller net cups with expanded clay. NFT will be some greens but mainly strawberries in slightly larger net cups and I’ll definately need the red lights on those berries! I also know a bit about the strawberries and will be in less than a year before triming daughters and putting them in the fridge for a couple of months while I grow more greens in between. Saftey wise: I will put a tube connecting the two lower tanks near top (incase of pump failure) and the media bed will also have an over flow right at the media level in front draining to sump incase the bell doesn’t start. I have been reading a lot about using a bag of clams (or fresh water mussles) in the fish tank to help with the wastes, but it needs more research. I’d love to use prawns in sump and raft (and the extra tank when they need more space), but most people won’t sell any in small orders so that might have to wait and I’d definately have to add extra air and filter. Any other tips or am I missing anything? Sorry, hopefully I expained things okay without making your head spin! LOL
Hi Valerie,
a foot deep IBC bed of media is going to filter enough for about 16 fish (starting small) that will grow out to eating size in a brand new system. Each 3 square feet of raft bed give you enough bio-filtration surface area for another fish. I don’t normally count NFT in calculating bio-filtration since you really need filtration before you send water to NFT so the plants in the NFT may use up nutrients but they won’t really help you in having enough filtration for more fish. So for the system you are describing with and IBC media bed and an IBC raft bed, I would say only stock 20 fish for the first season. If you really are an expert fish keeper then maybe you can handle more but I wouldn’t in a brand new system.
I expect your biggest issue is going to be lack of light. T12 shop lights are not going to give you impressive growth unless you basically hook together enough of them to totally match the footprint of your growing space and then place them with the tubes about an inch away from the leaves of the plants. So over a 42″ by 48″ bed you would likely need a minimum of 8 tubes just to get mediocre growth out of lower light demanding plants. And with the florescent lights you have to put them very close to the plants so you can’t grow plants of a variety of sizes under the same light fixture. But please don’t take my word on the lighting, I really have very minimal experience growing under lights. Jesse Hull of Imagine Aquaponics has plenty of experience with indoor growing and the lighting most effective an cost efficient for it. He is doing aquaponics indoors in Wisconsin.
As for plumbing and layout of the system. I would personally avoid the two pump scenario. I would be more likely to cut one IBC in half, elevate the bottom of it as your media bed and have it drain into the top have that is sitting on the floor and acting as the sump tank/raft bed, leave one IBC full size as the fish tank and then have it drain CHIFT PIST (constant height in fish tank pump in sump tank) fashion into the media bed. pump from the sump/raft up to the NFT which can then drain back to your fish tank, excess flow from the pump can go directly to the fish tank as well. However, I don’t know if this layout will fit in your space.
Here is a link to my 2012 Aquaponic Plumbing class which includes some diagrams that might be of interest to you in working on laying out a hybrid system. 2012 Aquaponic Plumbing class
I don’t have any experience with muscles or prawns. Prawns require much space per creature so even if you stocked several you may find you only have one or two grow out in a IBC sump or raft bed.
Duckweed may help use up ammonia and nutrients and allow you to grow more fish but I don’t think it will help you much in feeding your fish, especially if you also want to grow lots of veggies.
Good Luck,
Thanks for the input! I will look up Jessie Hull for some lighting advice. I was planning on (3) two bulb shop lights over both grow beds and additional ones over the later NFT. Having the grow out bulbs hasn’t been that big of in issue for the people I know that do them, with actual grow out Flourescents tubes in fixtures. Don’t know if I would even try things like tomatoes that need bigger light requirements anyway. I will be stocking less the first year esp since I will have less filtration than I thought. basically, I want the raft and nft for food production, the media GB is really for filtration so nothing gets wasted and for the taller plants like basil and swiss chard so my lights will be at more similar distances for the plants. I think everyone that successfully raises for than 25 fish in an IBC has swirl filters or other which I really not a fan of. I really don’t have room for the system you suggest since I won’t be able to use the sump as a raft under a media bed (no room for lights between). So with the space I think I will have to stick with the two pumps and keep my fingers crossed. Since there is a constant in and constant out, of the fish tank, hopefully I will be able to adjust the flows to match. The flow in and out of a raft back to the fish will be stronger then the flow into the media bed to supply the sump, so if I can’t get the flows to work, I will have to adjust the design of the nft to either pump from and drain to the sump or use one of the two outlets from the raft to supply the NFT and drain to the sump. I am thinking the later? But that might make a nutrient deficient sump that supplies the raft and NFT. So, could I add just like 2-3 fish in the sump? then If I grow duckweed, it would be have to be done in a sepparate tank. Yes, the duckweed and worms will be just supplemental feelings for the fish.
In my recommendation of using the sump as a raft bed, I wouldn’t put it directly under the media bed.
It would be more like this
of course that picture isn’t based on an IBC as the sump tank but imagine if there was only one media bed and then the other half of the IBC was just lower than the media bed but off to the side so you could float the raft on it and hang lights over it.
sorry then I misunderstood you. you must have missed that I have to work it in to about a 5 X9 space against the wall so I assumed you meant stacking them. If I had a little more room, that would probably be the way to go though. I will have to keep my tanks like I have planned and if you have any thoughts about my original post on size of plumbing, pump size and thoughts on where to put the nft and where the plumbing should come from and go to for them that would be great. Thanks!
In that case I would probably recommend you simply run the two tanks as two separate systems. Skip the raft bed and make it a media bed. Pump from the fish tank to the media bed on top and let it flow back down into the fish tank. Then if you still really want NFT, I would say add some form of little bed or filter in front of it and hook it up to one or the other of your systems.
Or you can try it the way you propose. I do not think you will need any fish in the sump, you really want to keep the sump as clean as possible so that you don’t gunk up the NFT pipes.
Thanks for the help!
Good Luck with it whatever you decide to go with.
Hi there DC,
I am planning on setting up an aquaponic system in Saint Lucia West Indies at the end of the year. It is a tropical climate. Unfortunately funds are low and I have to go and look after my mother. Do you have any advice as to the best crops to grow in that temperature and the most cost effective way to start ? Thanks
All sorts of plants do well in the tropics. Look for warm weather crops or seeds that you plant after all danger of frost has passed if you were in a temperate climate. try different things to see what works and to find what you like and will use.
I would say start off with a basic flood and drain media bed type system, they are generally easy for a home system. I would also recommend at least 300 gallons of fish tank so that you don’t have to worry too much about water temperature fluctuations or the tank getting too hot during the day.
Sorry I forgot to say fortunately the house is on an acre of land so that is good
I am planning a 60-75 gallon FT system. Let’s just go with 75 gallons for sake of answering my questions. If I started with a 1:1 GB ratio until everything established itself then bumped up to a 2 GB to 1 FT ratio… what do you think a good system would be for me? I’ve had people suggest flood and drain and constant flow. I plan on using hydroton for a media. I’ve also spoken to a tilapia breeder about a humane amount to keep in that size of a FT so I have that all sorted (I know all that depends on feed amount and what my system can handle not how many I can fit in a certain amount of gallons). Right now I’m just figuring out the system itself and am looking for advice. People have said I wouldn’t need a sump while others say I would to keep a constant water level… any input would be greatly appreciated!
Remember that when you use water from your fish tank to flood and drain media beds without having a sump tank, you can go up to about a 1:1 ratio and only fluctuate about 40% of the water volume, be sure to keep that in mind when planning your system. If you go to a 2:1 grow bed to fish tank ratio you will need either a sump tank, some way to mitigate water level fluctuation or to do some beds constant flood.
A 60-75 gallon fish tank is not very big for growing edible fish and for tilapia you will definitely need to make sure the temperature for the tank will stay stable. This probably means having it indoors (and then you need lighting for the grow beds) or if outdoors you will need heating and cooling for such a small tank depending on the time of year. Running constant flood may be a good idea with such a small system to mitigate water temperature fluctuation.
They would definitely be indoors. I like flood and drain for the airation plus I’ve thought about adding worms to the GB. I’m not too fond of the bell siphons because of all the problems I’ve heard about them clogging, etc. I’m aware that a timed system would make the pump not last as long. I would probably end up doing a sump tank then so that I know the actual amount of gallons in the FT instead of it draining on them. I definitely prefer the idea of constant levels over fluctuating ones. Are there really even any advantages of constant flow over flood and drain? From everything I’ve read it seems like flood and drain has so many positives. I’m aware I couldn’t keep many tilapia and I know they need to stay warm. I’m not trying to pump out a ton of fish, I’m doing this smaller version before I move into a house and go bigger scale.
Benefits of constant flood include;
no water level fluctuations, more stable temperatures, and constant pumping without worries about balancing the siphon.
Benefits to flood and drain,
wider range of plants seem to like it better and the wet/dry seems to help the worms keep up with the solids and old roots. Less worries about stagnation or anaerobic spots in the grow beds.
Sump tanks also add to the total water volume in the system and thus help improve temperature and water quality stability.
For small systems siphons are really not that hard but turning small pumps on/off is not as terrible as it is for big pumps. Keep in mind if your pump is only running for 15 minutes each hour, you need to filter the volume of your fish tank in only 15 minutes and you probably want to add additional aeration if you are doing timed flood and drain. And for growing edible fish in such a small tank, I would run additional aeration no matter what.
Yes I would definitely have the additional aeration regardless. So based on the size of the system… Do you think it’d be better to go with a bell siphon or a timer?
How big are your grow beds going to be? Will it be just one or several? How do you feel about water sounds?
What size is the pump going to be? See if you have a pump that will only move 100 gallons an hour at the height you will be pumping, you probably need to have the pump run constantly and should go with siphons. If your pump will move 400 gallons per hour at the height you will be pumping, then you could probably get away with running it on a timer.
If you find you are not circulating enough water, you can always just run the pump constant, just make sure the stand pipes in the beds are big enough to keep the bed from overflowing. Always make your stand pipes accessible/removable for cleaning and adjustment.
Well a GB with dimensions of 42″L x 29″W x 12″D (60 gallons) would be sufficient for a 60 gallon FT? Correct me if I’m wrong. Because that would just make it a 1:1 ratio. I figured I start with 1 GB then as the system gets established and the fish grow, add a 2nd GB to help with filtration. After more reading I think I want to do either all CF with it draining maybe once an hour or 1 CF and 1 timed drain. Are there any issues in either of those systems? Water sounds do not bother me and if need be there’s an entire room they can have to themselves.
60 gallons of grow bed is sufficient for about 8 fish that might grow out to 1 lb each.
If you add another grow bed you then need to make sure you have a sump tank or some other means to handle the water level fluctuation.
When you say CF, do you mean constant flood or constant flow? If you are doing constant pumping and have a siphon in the bed it is likely to flood and drain more than once per hour.
If you are doing timed flood and drain you will more likely be running the pump for only a limited time and then letting the bed drain while the pump is off.
Now if you really want, I can sell a timer that is made to alternate the function of two separate pumps so you could have one pump flood one bed then turn off and then the other pump flood the other bed.
Bigelow Brook Farms IX Series Sequencing Timers
If you are going to run one bed constant flood or constant flow with a siphon and a separate bed on timed flood and drain, you will need two pumps.
Yeah I am not one of those people who wants to super stock the fish. I would only have enough to keep the plants happy, etc. I just assume that started with 2 beds is probably not that great since everything has to cycle and establish itself and the plants all need nutrients. Would you say it doesn’t matter? And sorry I should’ve clarified. I have been thinking about going with constant flood. Or possibly one bed constant flood and one bed timed flood and drain. I don’t care if I have more than one pump.
Well, having both beds from the beginning will allow the bacteria to cycle up in all the media so from that stand point there isn’t a benefit to not installing both beds from the beginning. Just because you have the beds doesn’t mean you have to plant them both from the beginning.
And if you cycle up fishlessly, you will have plenty of nitrates for leafy plants from about 3 or 4 weeks into cycling. If you cycle up with fish it may take a bit longer but most plants don’t need very much as seeds and seedlings.
Fishless cycling
That’s a good point. Then that would definitely be smarter. Let everything establish but only plant in one bed until everything moves along more and there’s more nutrients available for more plants. Plus it’ll help with filtration for the fish as they grow. Everything that I’ve looked at that I want to grow seems to all do well in constant flood… so I’m wondering if I should even bother with timed drain? I’m still debating. What would be the differences in the system requirements if I did 2 constant flood beds or if I did 1 constant flood and 1 timed drain?
I do definitely appreciate all of your input!
Constant flood is actually a goo way to go for brand new systems (provided you have enough tank space or a sump, you can always change over to flood and drain later.) Constant flood actually cycles up quicker. Major key to successful constant flood is you do need plenty of aeration to make sure the water going into the grow beds is well oxygenated since the bacteria and plant roots in the beds need dissolved oxygen too and since the beds are not draining down, your water has to provide all the dissolved oxygen. The flow rate through the beds also needs to be enough to keep things nice and fresh not only for the fish but for the plants/bacteria in the beds (again because it isn’t draining) you need constant FLOW to go with the constant flood. If you build the beds with a removable stand pipe, you can always swap to a stand pipe with holes for timed flood and drain or adjust the stand pipe height and add a bell do do siphon flood and drain.
Many people who do flood and drain will sometimes switch over to constant flood either by leaving the pump on always or removing the bell from a bell siphon to run constant flood for a time. This can often help cycle up, recover from a water quality (ammonia or nitrite spike) issue or even help mitigate wild temperature swings during certain seasons.
So if I went with a 60 gallon FT (I actually found one I like that will be durable enough that is… I believe 86 gallons? I have the specs at home. So I figured I could do about 75 gallons filled for the FT and then do 2 constant flood beds. Would it be fine if I just stuck to the 2 grow beds of 42″L x 29″W x 12″D (60 gallons) or should I look for new beds that are 75 gallons each? I have also read the trial about starting with constant flow being the better route to cycle and establish your system which was part of the appeal of constant flood. So if I decided to just go with constant flood for both grow beds would I still need a sump? I know I would need aeration. So keeping in mind the specs I’m planning on using (75 gallons of water in the FT and either two 60 gallon GB’s or bumping up to two 75 gallon GB’s) what size of pumps would I require? I feel like I see pretty general rules on this but I’ve also seen some people with different input so I just like to be sure with people who obviously have success in what they’re alraedy doing.
If you keep your stocking reasonable you should be fine using the 60 gallon grow beds. You are right it is just general rules of thumb. If you are doing this indoors using lighting, you may find that your limiting factor is having enough light to let the plants make full use of the nutrients and so you might need to limit your fish stocking or the amount you feed them in order to keep up with the nutrient levels without having to change out water. It is all a balance you will have to sort out thought experience and time since there are so many factors in every situation.
If you will ALWAYS do only constant flood and never expand to more grow beds, you don’t necessarily HAVE to HAVE a sump tank (however this will mean you can probably never drain your grow beds down since that would overflow your fish tank.) The sump will add some stability and flexibility to the system but is not mandatory for a constant flood system.
Okay well right now my current thought (I am still going with subsurface continuous flow) is to do one system but with 2 fish tanks instead of just one. I think it’d be more convenient. I would also have a sump tank for additional aeration, filtration, and for the flexibility of changing the system if I’d like. That way I can also shut off one FT if need be for cleaning/quarantine (whatever the case may be) or even have 2 different age groups of fish going at the same time. Do you think it would be best having each FT go to each separate bed (I’d have 2 or 4 beds) or have the 2 FT’s end up connecting their water flow in the pipes and from there going to the GB’s? Sorry if that’s not clear enough, I can elaborate if need be.
Either way can work, do what ever makes most sense for the plumbing layout in the space. Just make sure the flow through the fish tanks is enough and the pipes are big enough to handle the flows.
I’m new to aquaponics, and hoping you can tell me if the way I was thinking of setting up my system has merit. I was thinking about keeping my fish tank(s) in the basement, and keeping my grow beds outside next to my house. My reasoning is that I could keep the fish and water at a more even temperature, possibly allowing me to raise trout in the future. I also believe that I could get away with a much smaller greenhouse, or even cold boxes, for the grow beds which would be easier to build and heat during the winter months here in Connecticut. Do you see any issues with setting my system this way?
Thanks
Hi Rob, I expect there will be issues with setting up a system that way, However, I think it probably could be done providing you think carefully about the issues.
1-Humidity involved with having fish tanks in your basement.
2-Supplemental Light and heat for your plants in winter.
3-Mitigating excess heat from the plant area in summer so the trout don’t get too warm.
4-you may want to provide some extra bio-filtration/solids extraction for your fish system inside so that perhaps you only exchange the water between the Plant portion and the Fish portion when temperatures are appropriate. Basically make two separate systems (a micro fishfarm in your basement and a organic hydroponics system outside) that can each cycle separately when needed but can also be tied together when conditions are suitable.
Pumping up out of a basement and draining back in will involve a bit extra but I’m sure it can be done. Make sure the location for your plant beds has ample sun and in winter you may really need some supplemental lighting to keep certain types plants from building up toxic levels of nitrates which can happen under really low lighting conditions in cloudy winter upper latitude climates.
i am looking into starting an aquqponics set up
will you be having any classes in the orlando fll area anytime soon?
thanks
ron
Yes as a matter of fact, I will be doing a small training with Sahib and Cosmo the weekend before Earth Day (April 20-21) over in Winter Park. Aquaponics Backyard and Small urban farm training
Im building a system that will have 20 grow trays that are 4′ x 32′ which will give me 2,560 sf of grow space that are 6″ deep (actual ) with media not counting 2 inches above the grow area. I have 4 – 275 gal IBC containers I’m using for the fish tanks each that are on index Vavles. Would the 4 tanks be sufficient or do I need more? Also is there a rule of thumb to figuring the ratio of fish tank to grow bed area for future use? I’m growing lettuce only.
a rule of thumb for a new or backyard system is that you want at least a cubic foot for gravel bed per fish that will grow out to 1 lb. You don’t necessarily need that much fish though, especially if you are only growing lettuce. You may get away with only 1 lb of fish per 3 square feet or more of lettuce growing space if you fish are consistently eating year round.
Is that enough fish tank? Well that will depend greatly on what you do, what climate you are in, kind of fish, temperature you keep the water at and your additional filtration, and aeration. It is a hard question to answer without more details doing some math to go with it. Do you consider yourself an expert fish keeper?