Starting small scale aquaponics

[wckdkl0wn]

I am still in the planning phase of this project and just looking for input on my idea. Please excuse my horrible paint design. I'm not an artist lol but you should still be able to understand it a bit.



The way I am thinking about setting it up is as follows. 150 gallon stock tank from tractor supply. That tank will hold tilipia. From there the water will be run into the filter via a pvc overflow. Bio filter is designed to collect anything solid that might come from the tank. From there the water is pumped to a T fitting. Splitting the water flow 50/50. Half going back into the main tank and half going to the grow beds. The side going to the grow beds will be going to a pvc manifold and then split between the grow beds via some kind of tubing. Water will flow through the grow beds and exit the other end into a similiar manifold. At this point it is all gravity drain. From that manifold it will drain back into the bio filter. Thus eliminating the need for another pump to pump back into the tank.

Tank will sit higher than the bio filter so a pvc overflow should work no problem. The grow beds will sit higher than the bio filter as well to allow for the gravity drain back into it. Tank and filter will be in the yard off my porch. The grow beds will be on the porch.

Here is roughly how the growbeds will be set up.



Did that make sense to anyone? If it did I would love to hear some feed back. Improvements, comments, etc.

 

[Mikedr]

Looks good, There is lots of videos on you tube of similiar setups.

I plan on using aquaponic to filter the 4000 gal upon completion.

Mike

 

[wckdkl0wn]

4000 gallon should make for a really nice setup. This setup here was just to get my feet wet and get a feel for it. If I like the results I may build a green house and take it full scale and see what kind of profit I could make off it.

One thing I am curious about. No one ever talks about co2 injection. Only thing anyone on youtube says is add an aerator. would adding co2 help a system out like this?

 

[wckdkl0wn]

I'm thinking instead of using a 150 gallon stock tank why not make a tank out of plywood and use that. It wouldn't have to have a window so the build would be easy.

 

[ToolMan78]

I don't see any benefit to CO2 injection. It's used with aquatic plants because diffusion can limit it's availability underwater. But with terrestrial plants CO2 isn't a limiting factor. With aquaponics your more concerned with keeping the roots in a aerobic zone. They mention aeration for that reason, to make sure is never goes anaerobic. That can kill you plants.
A lot of info can be found here http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/

 

[Squirtle919]

Sounds good, You should look for a second hand fiberglass tub, aquaculture tub etc you can find them quite cheap.

Or you could go down the ICB path, where you cut it in half kind of fish in the bottom and plants + media on top but it wont look as nice + seeing the fish is a pain!

You will be amazed how well plants grow in aquaponics.

 

[Adamson]

Your design is far too complicated, it can be done much more simple by having the overflow water go through the plant beds and then filtered and pumped into the tank.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app