Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Gravity drained DWC system with 880 GPH pump (overkill but it was free) with a ball valve reducing the flow. The water is dark because I didnt wash my gravel well enough, and put peat starters with my seedlings in the growbeds. I've got kale and swiss chard starting off in the grow beds, and two goldfish in a 29 gallon tank. The growbeds are 3 ft x 2 ft x 8.5 inches. The orange bucket is a biofilter/clarifyer (half filled with gravel) and the blue bucket on the left isn't connected, its just what im using to rest my extra length of tubing returning from growbed two into the tank (didnt want to cut it yet because this might not be my systems permanent home!).

Let me know what you guys think
Its my first time with one of these so if there are any big problems that jump out at you let me know! But keep in mind its just for a school project and I was trying to keep to a very low budget when purchasing parts!

Hi Alex,

The fines will eventually settle so you'll be able to see again .

Can't really tell where you've got everything going as far as the flow or what the components are so it's tough to comment. My main concern would be flooding onto that nice carpet if something goes wrong. Not much except a catch tray or being certain the hoses don't come lose would help with that though. Be aware that some plants can grow roots into the drain and block it up.

One thing I used to do was have a secondary overflow that operated if the main one became blocked.

Cheers

Welcome! It's always good to start small. Do you have an API freshwater test kit? You'll need to monitor water condition during cycling and into maturity when the system should become stable. Test pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ammonia toxicity varies with temp and pH, Nitrite is always toxic to fish but salt can help. Lot's of threads on water quality.

_________________
800 gal sys 2016
IBC system 1/2015
simple flood & drain
5 growbeds

9 kW Solar Electric 2011

"Aquaponics...solar-powered nanotechnology that produces fresh vegetables and meat, while purifying water..." - Rick Op, Houston Texas.

Thanks for the responses and feedback!


Regarding scotty435, its been running for about 5 days now and its still pretty turbid, so I was starting to get worried but I'll keep that in mind. In terms of where everything is going, my pump pumps from the tank to the biofilter (orange bucket) where I've got my ball valve allowing water to trickle in from above. Water then gravity drains from the biofilter into grow bed 1, which gravity drains into grow bed 2, which gravity drains into the fish tank. Also, you're right I really should have something to prevent flooding, I'll look into that.

dstjohn99, thanks for the advice, I don't have my own kit, but a nearby petsmart tests water for free! So i plan to check every week or so.