Greetings from Melbourne, Australia

[threequote]

Hi All,

Firstly I would like to thank the people involved in the several hundreds of posts I have read over the past few months to generate my interest in Aquaponics. I was looking for something fun for the family to do in the evenings together and my young children love fish.

So against some peoples posts I decided on a continuous flow system that feed from the bottom up and after some testing and modifications have a working system that pumps about 850L an hour.

1 x Fishtank
Nally Megabin 780L
Clear Pond Infiniti 4200 Pump - External Fully Encapsulated Pump (Overheating Protecting/Minimal Maintenance/Adjustable Flow Rate)
PondOne Claritec 5000UV filter

2 x Grow Beds
Nally Megabin 780L (2)
Water input from the bottom 25mm and 3 x 25mm out to the fishtank. Water flows out from GB at 859L hour.
50% gravel (20-40mm) in the bottom & 50% clay pebbles top as these bins are deep.
The flowing water is about 50mm or so under the top of the clay pebbles.

I have included some pictures and you can see 3 unused bins which i will plumb soon, but wanted to run the other 3 first to make sure everything was working ok.

I decided on a sub surface continuous flow system before making my design as this was my first attempt and was much easier to design and deploy imo. I have read many websites over the internet on this topic CF vs F&D.

If I flooded from the top my understanding is you risk the water not evenly spreading through bed and there has been plenty of reports in plenty of forums of blockages in beds. My problem was that because my beds are so deep I had to fill with gravel 50% meaning if I got a blockage I would have to more than likely remove just over a cubic metre of gravel and clay pellets to fix it. Because I pump from the bottom the pressure is quiet good to prevent it happening and the top can block in theory but I can dig 50mm down and clear it if it ever did block. My understanding is my bed will still work as a biofilter and the solids filtration I think will be quiet good given the size of the bed, mixed fill and filter. In theory I could actually backwash the setup anyway I guess if it did become a problem.

I have an aerator with battery backup ready but haven't decided to use it yet as the outflow seems to break up the surface tension of the tank fairly well and appears to oxygenate the water well, but proof will be in the plant growth and fish behaviour i guess. Given I am still cycling and waiting on the plant life to take off, I guess I will make a decision in the coming weeks. I have read several articles and posts on this exact topic no-one ever agrees, hence why I bought the aerator to begin with but prefer not to have to use it to keep operating costs down and prefer to use it as a power out aerator.

Ill post some more info in the coming weeks to let you know how it goes. Its a bit of fun and if I have to go flood and drain it is fairly basic mod from what i can tell.

Thanks again and if you have any advice or tips please feel free to send them through.

-J.

[foodchain]

Interesting setup. If I understand you right, those bins are very deep, far deeper than you probably need. You have some extra hardware too, that while not necassary IMO, are still nice to have. The deeper bins, and media should allow you though a higher stocking density with your fish as this allows a greater surface area for filtering. Are these insulated? Or are you not worried about temp swings?

[urbanfarmer]

Welcome! Nice looking system you got there!

[commander]

Welcome from Texas. Interesting set up. I would love to see more photos and diagrams!

[alex281]

Welcome! very interesting setup indeed!

[threequote]

Here is a simple diagram and you can see the in and out in the photos in terms of height and location on the bed. Hope this helps. I will take more photos in the coming weeks as it develops. The Nally Megabins were cheaper where I am from than regular tubs the same width and diameter (Obviously less height). I like using the deeper bins as the gravel in the bottom help spread the incoming water and nutrients through the bed before hitting the roots (so I'm predicting) and they great thing is they are portable as we relocate every few years. Forklift the bins onto a truck and presto

The temp is a concern, these bins are semi insulated and the temp has been quite low. I am cycling now and as I live on a lake I can compare the natural temperatures of the water here and make sure its ok. There is a lot more water in the tank than in the photo, these photos were taken a few hours after testing it. The water has cleared up really well too. We don't have too colder or hotter temps here compared to other areas of the world and can use a heater if I needed too.

A little bit of fun anyway! I don't know about you guys, I have found out that some people around the world take this stuff way too seriously and seem to try and kill the enjoyment in it. I reckon a lot of people are put off with the conflicting information and rants some people have. I found it hard to absorb some information online for some design questions so I went and chatted to some irrigation and plant people too. From what I can tell Aquaponics has its key principles but is pretty flexible, except where you are using it on a commercial scale i guess. Looking forward to hanging with the kids outside a bit more.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi threequote, welcome to the forum....

That's an interesting set up. Looking forward to see how the grow beds work with the flow coming up from the bottom. Hope you keep us posted...

[stucco]

Nice setup! I really like the mega bins.

[commander]

Sure wish those bins were available in the US.

[Oliver]

Nice looking system.

You need to add lots more aeration and to get rid of your UV light before you kill the bacteria in your system.

Oliver