Draining the fish tank

[Evelin Röshel]

Hi All,

I'm new to aquaponics and have not yet seen it in practice.

I'm just wondering: when you drain the fish tank to flood the grow beds at least once per hour don't the fish get stressed each time? 

Could you send me a link of a video showing this draining process, please?

Thanks very much. Every blessing

Evelin

[Daniel]

Hi Evelin - try searching youtube for some videos of Aquaponics. There are quite a few videos that should give you a better idea about how A/P systems are setup. My system uses a sump tank so the fish tank water level remains level at all times. Some smaller systems (without a sump tank) do allow the water level to fluctuate, but you could always use flooded beds (rather than flood and drain) which would also allow the fish tank water to remain level.

[Jonathan Kadish NYC AA Chair]

You can watch my series on building a system here: http://www.youtube.com/aquaponicsnyc. I go over the build and plumbing of my system. The key thing to know is that a grow bed with media in it only requires about 1/4 to 1/3 of its volume to fill it with water which means the fish tank won't fluctuate more than that.

[Alex Veidel]

Yes, the fish do get stressed out if their environment is constantly fluctuating up and down. I would recommend looking at a CHOP 1 or CHOP 2 system (Constant Height One Pump). The system design features a sump tank that has a changing water level, while allowing the fish tank to remain steady.

[Evelin Röshel]

Thanks, Daniel, Jonathan & Alex, for your helpful replies. :-)