Need Help Calculating Sizes of GB,FT, and Raft Beds

[grant stalnaker]

I have finally finished my 4 season greenhouse in northern Colorado and the inside dimensions ended up being 23'x18'. I am now ready to build the tank, growbeds and raftbed. I have all the EPDM I need. How would you set up a system within this footprint? South facing is all glass above a 42" knee wall, the other three sides have no windows (passive solar design). My thought is to have a 3' media bed which runs 18' from east to west under the windows, a 3' path, a 6' media bed running the 18', another 3' path, then against the north wall the fish tank and raft bed utilizing the last 3' of width. Vertical growing could go above any of the beds if desired. The floor is dirt so I can bury any plumbing, install sump under a bed, etc. The last thing is that I can't find a thread to help me to size my fish tank and sump properly in relation to the raft and grow beds. Any help would be much appreciated! Grant.

[Tim Sumrall]

How will you get to the 3' media bed on the south side. Will the 6' bed block it? A door on the East or West side? Or are these media beds not solid rows.

Given you don't have a ton of sq ft, you might consider 2 foot paths. It's what I use but I have a small frame.

All I can add for sizing is the general rule of 1:1 but it's reported that beds can outsize the fish tanks. I've seem set ups where the beds where a 1/3 larger.

[grant stalnaker]

The door is on the west side. I'm thinking to leave about 3 ft of walk space along this wall, 3 ft path along the GB on the south wall under the windows, then the 6' bed, another 3' pathway, then the raft/tank along the north wall. Since there will be a path way on either side of the 6' bed I would be able to access from both sides So the media beds would run the entire length of the greenhouse with walk around space on the east and west ends

I am also thinking of using the DWC raft run as the sump tank since it would be the lowest point in the system. That way I could pump up to the fish tank and the media beds. I would just have to make sure that the raft run is deep enough to allow a fluctuation of water level when the media beds drain. Is there an issue with this thought that I am missing?

Tim Sumrall said:

How will you get to the 3' media bed on the south side. Will the 6' bed block it? A door on the East or West side? Or are these media beds not solid rows.

Given you don't have a ton of sq ft, you might consider 2 foot paths. It's what I use but I have a small frame.

All I can add for sizing is the general rule of 1:1 but it's reported that beds can outsize the fish tanks. I've seem set ups where the beds where a 1/3 larger.