First project! Any help greatly appreciated :)

[Wes Wilson]

Hi I'm Wes and I'm new to aquaponics.  I've run a hydroponic tower vegetable garden for two years and a saltwater reef tank for a year so aquaponics seems like a good next step.  If possible I'd like to do a counter top flood drain "nano" system that could go in my kitchen and grow salad greens.  This diagram is what I'm thinking:

The system will be a 5 gallon fish tank with a one square foot grow bed.  The tank will have a built in overflow sump with a heater and pump.  The pump will run continuously to the grow bed which will have a bell siphon.  The grow bed will be six inches tall and made out of wood with a pond liner.  It will be lit by LEDs.  I have several 3 watt LEDs leftover from my saltwater aquarium that grow corals and saltwater plants great in that tank so I'm hoping they won't have any problems growing salad greens.

Is this a realistic design?  Is the size feasible?  I live on a lake and I'm thinking about using gravel from the lake as aquarium substrate and grow media in the grow bed.  Would that be ok or should I buy gravel instead?  Any recommendations for aquarium inhabitants?  Goldfish?  Would this system need additional filtration besides the tank substrate and grow bed media?

I am thinking the grow bed should be filled with four inches of media and would be flooded to four inches.  My guess is that the grow bed would require a gallon and a half of water to flood.  Does that seem correct?  Wouldn't the sump need to be almost two gallons?  If that is the case would it be smarter to skip the sump and just put the pump directly in the tank?  Would it make sense to flood the grow bed four times every hour to circulate at least 5 gallons an hour or would that be too much?  Would this system also need airstones?

Any other thoughts or anything else I'm completely over looking?

My main goal is to have a small counter top system to grow salad greens and I have no problems completely scraping this design if there is a better way to do it.  I look forward to hearing you guys' thoughts and suggestions!

[Rob Nash]

im with Rupert, dont add the bell siphon to your learning process. ...IMO i would go with a larger system.

[Wes Wilson]

I have taken you guys' advice and I'm going with a simpler setup with a timer.  Right now the the pump is constantly pumping to a food storage container (filled with gravel) sitting over the tank and draining back into the tank through holes cut in the bottom of the container.  This is just temporary to get the cycle going and to start building up bacteria on the gravel.  I'm still working on the final grow bed to get the best size and to look sharp enough to sit on the kitchen counter.  I'll keep you guys updated.  Thanks again for the help!