Aquaponic Gardening

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Hello,

I am new to aquaponics and working on building my first system. I have read the book and it has been a great help. So here is some basic info to consider for answering my questions.

55 Gallon fish Tank

55 Gallon Reservoir

9 sq ft grow bed. (14in deep) - Bell Siphon - Composting worms.

BML LED

Question 1, Can pumping solid fish waste in the grow bed be a bad thing? Im considering a bare bottom tank for the fish but should i be careful to AVOID the 'clump' fecal matter or does it not matter?

Question 2, We have multiple fish tanks (freshwater) already; 180, 75, 2x30, and a 10 Gallon. Once the cycle has been established in the aquaponic setup. Would adding additional source of fish waste be harmful to the established environment? Basically im wondering if i can recycle the dirty water from separate fish tanks into the grow bed of aquaponics? (In reasonable dose amounts)

Question 3, Bell Siphons - Should i try to adjust this in a particular fashion? Im a little confused because i read if your using a pump to draw the water into the grow bed, then you want it to drain about twice an hour. From what i have seen online the bell siphons will drain many more than twice an hour, Is that bad? Should i be sure to add an airstone in the grow bed so it would help the worms not drown?

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The grow bed will be all the filter you need as long as you don't overload it with waste. If you have worms they will help break down the solids in your GB. Ammonia levels are what you have to watch. If they jump up after your system has cycled then you may have too many fish or you're feeding them too much. Be ready to do water changes if needed. What type of fish are you using? If you plan to do any breeding then your smaller tanks can be used for breeding/birthing/nursery/etc.  I've been doing this for about a year and I gave up on the 20 minute bell siphon. I've had several GB situations and siphons and the all cycle at 5 minutes or less and my water readings are all good, except for the occasional rise in ammonia. Any place you cause bubbles you create oxygen so the more splash you have the more dissolved oxygen you'll have but as cheap as they are it never hurts to have an air stone for backup. I'm no expert but I hope this helps.

the 180 is home to a 12-14" Red devil Cichlid, 75 is a high tech planted tank with freshwater fish, Angel, Bosmonti's, rainbow, SAE and german rams.. few others but you get the idea. One 30 is a reserve tank for the cichlid incase he gets ill, Other 30 is breeder tank. 10 is a clone/hospital tank for the 75 gallon planted. 55 Gallon thats going to be connected to the aquaponics will have about 8 goldfish. I will be growing vegetables/fruits in a GB of about 3x3

You said you've had problems with bell siphons? could you explain a little more? I wanna have a better understanding of the pro's and cons before i change my design to remove bell siphons. Do others have this same issue? if so, whats the preferred method currently?

Sorry for all the questions. This is my first setup and i am not a richy rich, so i would like to prevent costly mistakes if possible and why i came to this site as it was noted in the authors book and hoped it would help aid me in my new adventure to aquaponics. Any help would be greatly appreciated! as im excited to get my system up and share some media of it to the rest of the interwebs. :)

The bell siphons work only not every 15-20 minutes. I still use them. I started with a constant drain tank and it worked fine but I heard if you drain the tanks it allows breathing time for the plants and bacteria. So mine drain about every 5-10 minutes. There are 2 different styles of siphons. One incorporates a vent tube. Looks like it would work better but I haven't tried it. If you run across a guy named Jim Fisk he can really give you an education on siphons. If you check out bell siphons on YouTube you'll get plenty of info. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXaruS5z_Xc

Questions aren't a problem. Happy to help when I can.

Hi Gary,

Everything you're trying to do makes sense, with one exception.  I think your system is too small.

It's been my experience and some others too that systems smaller than 200 gallons tend to be very unstable with regard to water chemistry.  If you ever go a couple of days without checking ammonia or ph, you can lose all your fish very quickly.  

You can solve most of these issues by reducing the fish stocking rate closer to what you'd see in an aquarium, but then you won't get the nitrate levels to grow plants.

I hope I'm wrong, but small systems tend to be troublesome.  Good luck!

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