Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,
I’ve managed a small 200 gal. chop/flip system with 12 goldfish for about two years, as I learn from you all about aquaponics. I’m moving to a small property where I want to continue with a simple aesthetically pleasing system. I have attached a photo of the 300 gal. Kim’s Pond kit that I’ve assembled, and the two 2 ft x 4 ft x 1 ft deep grow beds in the background that I’ll be plumbing up. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. I think I’ll need an overflow for the pond, since we can get some heavy rains here in Florida. I would like to skip using a sump, but don’t know if that’s possible. I will add in a solids filter and would like suggestions for that as well. Ideas?

Hmm... a couple of ways to do this. I personally like a SLO. You could use two blue barrels.One would be a solids separator and the other can be a sump. Even a 5 or better yet a 10 gallon bucket make great solid separators. I made one out of 5 gallon buck and was actually quite affective but 10 gallon would be perfect. You can set the bucket on cinder blocks with a drain on the bottom to flush out the solids. Then the sump you can burry and put your pump in it.

Watch the head pressure. You want the SLO outlet about 5 to 6 inches below the water line. Because that will put the lid of your bucket 2 inches below the water line. That 4 to 5 inches of head pressure should give a good flow rate. Use 1.5 inch pipes. If the filter clogs you get a spill. So a screw on lid is help full.

Then pump the water to your growing apparatus. Then that can either drain back to the tank or drain to a separate sump that is then pumped back to the main tank. Two pump designs are notoriously hard to sync up though and not sure how you would do it. I normally have my grow beds drain into my tanks. So without flow rate controls I see this maybe too complex.

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The system looks nice!.

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Sitting here mulling this over and looking at your set up. I wonder if one sump, with your tank and grow beds both draining into the sump and the pump sends water to both your tank and grow beds. One pump designs are always best.

That would allow you to have have as many grow beds as you want. You just needs a sump that holds more water than your grow beds. If you buried the sump then you could have anything as a sump and it would stabilize water Temps and still look pretty. You could build a small deck with lift up door so it still remains accessible and looks appealing. All that would need to be above ground is your solids filter so you could flush it monthly and keep your sump clean. It would just look like jacuzzi filter. Easily encased in a wooden box.

What parts of Florida are you in? I am in Jacksonville right now. I am moving to Pensacola the end of this year.

Water temp control is important in Florida. My tanks easily hit 95 degrees in the summer and 35 in the winter. My tanks are on my porch though so full sun and no wind flow.

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Thank you for the great ideas! It sounds like I will need to add a sump to my plan. Luckily the soil is sandy here, near Panama City, FL.

I plan to use clay ball growing media, so I think the water in the beds will be somewhere around 40-50 gal. Does that sound right? Would that much fluctuation cause problems in the pond if I didn’t have a sump?

Looking at your intended setup, I dont see how you can get away from having a sump. The water level of your fish tank will determine how completely your grow beds will empty. Once the levels equalize, the siphon will stop. Making water go uphill is almost impossible without some kind of help. To keep the simplicity appearance, I would take a look at sandgardening/iAVs. No extra filtration requirements and a small sump can be easily disguised. For "a simple aesthetically pleasing system" that is simple to operate, sandgardening just might be appealing to you.

Sounds about right. There is a math equation somewhere. I use the expanded clay pebbles and river pebbles are. I use 4ft by 5ft grow bed at 1 ft deep. The math had me around 25gallons when the bell siphon kicked in.

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Great information! I really appreciate all y’all’s help.

You won't need a sump if your run your growbeds constant flood with pump in your fish tank.

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Dave

My first system
My Murray cod system

I think I’ll try that first and see how it goes Dave. Does anyone know where I can find plans for a siphon overflow to hang over the side of the pond? I’d rather not put a hole in the liner.

Hiya Mary, nice looking pond.
I’m with Dave, pump in fish tank, constant flood. Sure there are a couple of down sides but it works fine if set up correctly. Keep it simple.
If you use a pump in the fish tank you won’t need a bridge siphon and these can be unreliable if not constantly maintained, more work.
Here is a good thread on bridge siphons.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4086&hilit=Bridge+siphon

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Skeg In The Hills.

Thank you Skeg. I was thinking of using a bridge siphon for rain runoff from the pond so the fish don’t float overboard. Would that work or should I drill through and use a bulk head fitting instead?

Hello Mary!

I like the clean look of the pond. Looks like you might have some potential grow beds in the background.... eventually everything starts looking like it could be a part of AP.....

I would think that a bulkhead or other method of going through the wall would give you a good overflow for the rain.

I run a bridge siphon, and both ends need to be submerged for it to function as a siphon. It is currently keeping two tanks at the same water level. even though the pump is constantly pulling water from one of them.
It is maintenance to keep it free from air buildup at the highest point.

I borrowed an idea from Web 4 Deb, and installed a high grade ball valve with an attached clear tube , so every few weeks I open it up, and suck the air out. It works great. Before this I would dunk the bridge and lift it over, and it was a chore. It would fail more frequently. This one has only failed when the sump got too low a few times, low enough to break the siphon. It has gone for up to 2 months in between purging air. It may have gone longer, but I decided to do it anyways, just in case.

So would your ran overflow drain into your sump or onto the ground?

If it overflowed into your sump, you'd probably end up wanting another overflow from the sump out of the system. I've been in Florida rain once, and in five minutes I was soaked all the way through, so I know it comes down hard!

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If you give a man a fish, he can make an AP system, but if you give a man too many fish, he'll probably have problems with ammonia.

Barrel System
IBC System
300 gallon flood and drain system

The rain overflow will dump onto the ground Will. I think I’ll take your advice and install a bulkhead fitting. Thank you!