Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Please upload 3 pictures of your medium system with a brief description and a link to your system thread

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Artisticmill's (aka Stevo) system,
My system is housed in a 9ft x 12ft green house, it consists of,

Fish tank = (1)-300gal. galvanized stock tank (buried, insulated and lined)
Grow beds = (5)-27gal. black poly totes and (2)110gal. livestock bunk feeders (10ft x 2ft)
Grow media= 3/8" pea gravel

Flood and drain configuration with auto siphons, fed by 1 pump cycling for 15 min on/1 hr. off
Flooding all the beds at once uses aprox. 90 gal.
Piping is designed for future expansion of gutters.

System link

-Stevo

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If it doesn't move and it should, use the WD-40
If it moves and it shouldn't, use the duct tape

Fish Tank: 150gal (568 liters) Rubbermaid Stock Tank
Grow Beds: 3x50gal (190 liters) filled with 3/8" gravel, and expanded clay pellets. Rubbermaid Stock Tanks.
Pump: 1500 gph (5700 lph), continually on and flow split 4 ways to each grow bed plus one split for circulation.
Looped auto-siphons allow each growbed to flood and drain independently.
Total turnover is about 2x per hour.
Stocked with 55 Rocky Mountain White Tilapia, but I think 30-40 would be optimal for faster growth.
Indoors and heated as needed in winter to about 80F. Solar gain in the sunroom is providing most heat for the water during Spring. Thank heavens tilapia like it hot. Otherwise I might cook them come Summer.

Link: http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... sc&start=0

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Rules are for the obedience of the ignorant and the guidance of the wise.

My system consists of
2 1000 fish tanks [ibc/s ] With an ex pool pump running 3 min in the hr
Through 3 beds flood and drain a Strawberry tower and an aqua lemon tree
the return to a filtered water tank
To the nft and duckweed and yabby tank
future extension to glass house

See link http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... 84&start=0

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If it/s free pick it up
If it isent broke dont fix it

the system has in about 300 gal
1 pump, that's in the biofilter runs continuas and branches off to feed the grow bed and the fish tank. fish tank and grow bed drains back to bio filter.

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I got bad syntax.

System is roughly 750 gallons (2,800 L) with two auxilliary fish tanks (not pictured) linked into the system to makes the system technically a 1,000 gallon (3,700 L) system for breeding tilapia. So I wasn't sure where I should post this system, but I will keep it in this thread as being right on the cusp of a large system.

The Greenshop

John (Gotfish?) came up with the name greenshop and it stuck. Basically I started with a 360 square foot (40 Sq. yard) indoor/outdoor room in my outbuilding. I covered the floor and lower walls with urethane to water proof it, and then brought in two cistern tanks for a rearing tank and sump tank, and two bunk feeders to be used as grow beds. The grow beds are 186 gallons (700 L) each. The greenshop was divided right down the middle with the Fish tank and sump in the back portion of the shop and the grow beds in the front half near the sliding glass door. I installed an evaporative cooler in the back wall near the fish tank and built a 200 gallon (757 L) auxillary breeder tank in the back part of the shop as well.
The front part of the shop was dedicated to plants and needed more light. So I started to think about building a grow chamber.

The Grow Chamber

The first Picture here is of the grow chamber. The grow chamber is naturally lighted under 8 mm twinwall polycarbonate panels installed where the roof was cut out, approximately 180 square feet, over the front half of the greenshop. The cutout and installation of the panels was not photographed, but pics of the panels after installation can be seen in the photo album (coming soon). The grow chamber was then lined with whiteboard foam insulation that goes from the ground to the polycarbonate. The whiteboard funnels the natural light that comes in at different angles throughout the day and year. This helps increase the light value in the chamber and refracts more light to the plants. It also isolates and insulates the chamber for better climate control. The chamber is partitioned from the back portion of the greenshop where the fish are housed and is ventilated with 2 24" box fans. The greenshop was built with natural ventilation at the roof and eaves, so the box fans efficiently create negative pressure in the fish space and positive pressure in the grow chamber where air is forced out the eaves and roof. The box fans also help circulate air and make a natural breeze for the plants.

MainTaink and Drain Setup
The second two pictures are of the main tank and the sump. The last picture is when the system was first set in place. Note I had not yet built the grow chamber or cut the roof at this stage. There is now a foam board wall/partition between the beds and the sump tank you see pictured.

The main tank is a 500 gallon cistern tank with the top cut off of it. It was premanufactured with a 2 inch bottom side drain. I built a 4/2 inch venturi style center drain that channels water up from the bottom of the tank and down through a 2 inch pipe, out the side, and down the length of the greenshop to feed the grow beds by gravity.

The water returns from the grow beds to a large 250 gallon sump tank that doubles as a stock tank for breeders and fingerlings. The sump tank pump is on a timer set to actuate every 18 minutes for a 3 minute water cycle. The water is sprayed in to the main tank which in turn causes water to everflow through the venturi drain and down the 2 inch pipe drain.

Thread link here http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... .php?t=504

This system is in my basement, there are about 60 tilapia in a 110gal/415L tub with 9 babies (now fingerlings) in a 70gal/260L sump.

Two 340GPH fountain pumps pump upward continuously from the sump to four 25gal/90L gravel beds above the main fish tub. Each bed has a loop auto siphon in it made from garden hose. The siphons cause each bed to flood and drain at their own time. The draining water goes down to the fish tub, aerating the water and pushing old water out of the fish tub through a drain pipe whose inlet is located at the bottom and center of the tub. The drain pipe goes up to a tee, then over horizontally and out, aerating and filling the sump where it all starts over again.

This system's thread starts here:
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... .php?t=979

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DD's Landing Page

Plant and fish pictures are money

300L round tank 400L tank used as sump because thats what i had to fix a problem, new plantings of tomato and pea, cuttings of rosemary and lavender and some mature broccolii and herbs. Net to stop possum, 2 types of duckweed, silver perch, goldfish, guppys, redclaw and some snails
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... highlight=
think i need more fish to give the system a kick

My set up was designed to fit into a long and narrow space, where there's plenty of sun down one end and not much down the other. I've got an inground tank of about 1400 litres. There's a couple of growbeds on top, each about 100 litres and filled with scoria. Way up high there's 6 metres of 150mm PVC, also filled with scoria. This PVC filters the solids out of the water before it flows down a series of 90mm PVC which acts as NFT channels, and drop in pots are filled with perlite.
The pump runs on a timer, 15 min on and either 30 or 45 min off. The grow beds work on a fast fill/slow drain type of setup.
For fish I've got rainbow trout that I've purchased as juveniles in March to grow out over winter and hopefully eat for Xmas. Sometime in the spring I'll get something else, either tantan catfish or silver perch to grow out over the summer.
The black thing is a worm farm, to supplement the fish food.
Having fun
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... .php?t=477

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Erik XIV

My system in the hot house that is a lot of fun and a great succes but is still a great challenge. and lot more to come.
regards Jim.

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749

Veggie Boy's (Paul's) Small System

System Component Specifications
Fish Tank: 1000 litre round fibreglass aquaculture tank – slightly sloping bottom to 80mm centre drain
Sump: 350 litre polyethylene pond – approx 40cm deep
Grow Bed: 580 litre, fibreglass construction, sitting on angle iron stand. Approx 2 square metres growing area
Grow Bed Media: 5-10mm drainage gravel
Grow Bed Cycling Method: Flood and drain
Pump: 3900 litre per hour impellor driven pond pump (Sun Sun HQB 3900)
Fish: 15 silver perch, 15 jade perch and approx 5 gold fish (at time of writing)

How the System Works
The pump is located in the sump and runs continuously, pumping water into the fish tank. The water enters the fish tank through a venturi fitting, which provides significant aeration to the fish tank. Due to the design of the tank (circular), the flow of water into the tank also causes circular movement of water in the tank. This whirlpool action moves all solids towards the centre of the tank.

80mm PVC pressure pipe is fitted into the centre drain of the fish tank and runs vertically to within about 8cm of the top of the tank – I will call this pipe the tank’s ‘standpipe’. Because the standpipe sits snugly in the drain and has no holes in it, the only way that water can exit the tank is through the top of the standpipe and then down through the centre drain. As a consequence, the level of the tank is always constant at approximately 8 cm below the top of the tank (the level of the top of the standpipe).

Because the solids quickly accumulate at the bottom of the tank in the centre (because of the whirlpool action) – it is important to have a way to draw the solids through the top of the standpipe and out of the tank. This is achieved by having a 100mm PVC pipe sit over the top of the standpipe. The bottom of this outer pipe sits on the tank floor, but it has crenulations (gaps) cut out of it at the bottom. Because the outer pipe is longer than the standpipe, the only way water can get out of the tank is by going through the crenulations and then travelling between the outer pipe and standpipe before exiting through the top of the standpipe. This is a very efficient and effective way of removing the solids. Although rather crass, I sometimes make the statement that the fish poo is out of the tank in no time from when it leaves their bums.

After leaving the tank through the standpipe, water travels by gravity to the grow bed. The top of the grow-bed is about 30cm below the level of the top of the standpipe, however this gravity feed method would be effective with a much smaller differential. My tank has a 40cm built in stand and I also placed it on besser blocks to lift it even higher – the besser block thing is overkill – particularly given that my grow bed is only centimetres from the tank.

Although the fish tank drain is 80mm, outside the tank I have reduced the pipe to 25mm pressure pipe which travels to the grow bed. I do not have a grid in the grow bed – the water simply flows out of the end of the 25mm pipe onto the top of the gravel in a single spot. I have had no issues with build up of solids in this spot. I expect this is due to the water flow pushing the solids into the gravel a bit and the flood and drain action dispersing them around the bed. Also, the worms in the grow bed help to deal with the solids. I put 5 or 10 worms into the bed when I put it into commission in about September/October 2006, but now have hundreds in there. Anywhere I dig I find worms and/or worm capsules (eggs).

A bell style autosiphon is fitted to the grow-bed to achieve a flood and drain cycle. As the pump is continuously pumping water from the sump to the fish tank, water continuously enters the grow bed at a steady pace. The water in the bed gradually rises until it is approximately 4cm from the top of the gravel. At that point the autosiphon kicks in and the bed is rapidly drained of water – the water flowing back to the sump, by gravity, through 25mm pressure pipe. The draining action as well as the splashing of water into the sump adds a lot of oxygen to the water. The draining action also ensures that air is supplied to the plant roots between flood cycles to supplement the oxygen that is available to the roots from the water during the flood cycle.

The approx. 1350 litres of water in the system (includes tank and sump) travels through the grow bed approximately once every hour.

Fish
The fish in my system are quite large. A number of the jade perch exceed plate size, weighing in at about 600 grams. I am yet to eat any of my fish, but am likely to soon. I grew these fish from fingerling to eating size in 9 months despite not feeding at optimum levels for much of this period because my system was not fully operational.

Plants
I have grown a large variety of plants. I have in my system (at the time of writing this), 2 varieties of lettuce, some Asian greens including chines cabbage, spring onion, jalapeno chillies, bell chillies, purple king beans, 3 tomato plants (a plum variety called Health Kick) that have loads of fruit on them (over 100 in total), turmeric, lemon grass, Italian parsley, coriander, a large paw paw tree (approx 2 meters high) that has a number of fruit on it, egglant and sugercane (silly I know). There are many other things I have grown successfully since starting this bed last year.

General
The whole system is currently outside, in full sun. I intend to set up a larger system in the near future and put it in a greenhouse (though I may place the fish tanks in my shed – which is next to where the greenhouse will be). The location has presented some issues, including:

- Too much sun on the plants in the middle of summer (full sun all day). The constant supply of water means that the plants survive okay, but they use a lot of their energy dealing with the excess UV.
- The fish do not like too much light – so the tank needs to be covered. The fish then become unused to movement meaning it is more difficult to observe them (observing them is one of the most enjoyable things about AP I think).
- In winter, the tank and grow bed are exposed to the cold at night.

Links to System Thread
My system thread is quite long, so I have provided links to a few different key places where you may choose to start reading.



April 2006 - The beginning

June/July 2006 - First little test system up and running

August 2006 - Feeding fingerlings by hand (while bringing them through the cold in my aquarium)

September 2006 - Big grow bed goes in (plonked test bed on top)

September 2006 - First plants go in big bed - great growth pick over the following few pages

January 2007 - Basil plant comes out, check out the root-ball

February 2007 - System overhall - new tank goes in and system changed to design it is today

April 2007 - Fish weigh in at....

May 2007 - Sunflowers are blooming - yep sunflowers

June 2007 - That paw paw is getting big

July 2007 - First harvest

July 2007 - Dinner Time (Third fish from first harvest)

November 2007 - The smoking experiment (whole Perch)

December 2007 - Let's make some smoked Jade Perch dip for new years eve

Fish Tank
1 * 2,000 litre round gal tank, venturi drain pipe set for maximum of 1,800 litres
Dual 400 litre sump tanks which can be used as fish holders for fry and also isolated to be used as an hospital tank

Grow Beds:
6 * 500 litre feed troughs used with 10mm (1/2") gravel as media
A design using car door actuators is used to sequentially flood the grow beds and thus reduce the sump tank size requirement

Fish water to Grow bed ratio is ~ 1:1, using the recommended stocking levels of 6kg/100 litres, the system can cater for ~80kg of fish

The whole system is housed in a green house, at present the system is supported by ~30 silver perch (purchased in Nov 07)

Link to the system: http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... .php?t=755

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Do it - like 'Ell!

Constantly evolving, my system is inside a 8.5 x 20.5 foot kit green house.
I use a single pump running non stop.
The pump provides water for a fountain of sorts, a header tank, main tank current and supplies my breeder tanks.
The header tank fills and then dumps through an auto syphon into a split header. One side of the header fills two (blue barrel half) grow beds and the other side discharges back into the main fish tank for aireation.
After filling, the grow beds auto syphon back into the main fish tank.
I currently use pea gravel for a grow medium.
My breeder tanks, fed by the main pump, feed a shallow grow bed for lettuce and drain back into the main fish tank via a level control center pipe.
My main fish are Yellow Perch and I raise guppies and other tropicals as a added food source for them.
Current holding capacity in my system is 410 gallons.


System Link http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... ba6af49113

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John
Hooked on Ponics

The system is setup up in SALAM Children's Home in Bali Indonesia. The purpose of this system is to teach the children new technology methods, a way to diversify their ability to produce food, how to use otherwise wasted space, and as a way to stimulate them to think outside the box. We also plan to use this system to grow basic spices we cannot regularly buy due to high prices and supply a small amount of fish for the kids.

The system:

1-1100L Fish tank
1-160L Header Tank
1-blue barrel cut in half to form 2 100L grow beds
1-2 compartment fiberglass reservoir (200L/compartment)
1-Bath tub growing duckweed
1-2100L Per hour 125w pump

There are 45 Black Tilapia and 10 Niasa growing 5 red chili plants, 4 tomatoe plants, an alovera and a dill. Also the bath tub produces enough duck weed to feed the fish almost one feeding a day. The system is set up with the main fish tank being sheltered by the roof of our house. Water is pumped up to the header tank and from there it is distributed to the 3 grow beds and duckweed tub. All 3 grow beds are flood and drain. The two blue barrel halves use a bell type auto siphon and the fiberglass grow bed uses a “U” shaped auto siphon. The blue barrels have local gravel in them and the fiberglass grow bed is to be filled with sand (no time right now). The other half of the fiberglass reservoir is used for raising fingerlings up to size to go into the large tank. All overflow from the header and duckweed tub is sent into the fingerling tank and then into the main tank. Also the header tank has extra outlets so that the system can be expanded across the roof at a later time to make an otherwise wasted roof space into a wonderful garden. The system has now been running for 7 months and has produced one batch of fish and a bunch of chilies.

The kids have found this to be a great experience. They have learned a lot about how to think outside the box and use materials that you would not think would be used to grow vegetables or fish. As well the kids are learning how to maintain a garden and take care of the fish. They learn about the different problems that can happen in the system and how to deal with them. We hope to be able to train up the kids and their families to a point where they can build a system for themselves and be able to maintain it.

JT


Here is a Link to my system thread

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I’m a man…
But I can change…
If I have to...
I guess

FizzyJ's System
Complete system thread is here:
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=367

Details:
Fish tank - 1400L
Grow beds - 8 half blue barrels ~800L
Has been in operation since Nov 2006 and has about 25 silver perch of varying sizes but some are now over 200g. In the process of breeding up some Tilapia to increase the numbers of fish. Fish are fed with pellets and additional supplements of duckweed, see barrel below growbeds in side view.

Vegie production has been fantastic in this time.

Operates on a 2 hour flood and drain cycle. So every 2 hours big pump floods growbeds which slowly drain back to sump which pumps water back to main tank via black pipe on the roof.