Starting on the Media bed Aquaponics system

At the Farm the New Media bed Aquaponics system is starting to take shape.

So the new Aquaponics system is starting to take shape. Eventually it will have a 1000 gallon aquaculture tank (with probably 900 gallons of water) for the fish. Currently hooked up is a 410 gallon tank as sump tank and 6, 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks as grow beds. Three of those beds have 1/2″ Stalite in them, three have 1/2″ Brown River Rock, not totally full yet. Temporarily there is a pump on a timer feeding all beds at once and they drain via small holes in the lower part of the stand pipes.

I am hoping to set up gravity feed from fish tank to indexing valves for the beds on this system but one step at a time. I can at least keep the bacteria in the media alive this way while I finish moving the rest of the stuff out of the old house.

I plan to add another bank of beds to this system as well. These will be beds of my own new design that I’ve been testing out.

Most of this Aquaponics system will be timed flood and drain media beds via indexing valve but I will also have probably 2-4 beds that will get a constant flow and these beds may be a combination of constant flow/flood or siphon flood and drain.

I expect that the first fish into this system are going to be the bluegill from the 300 gallon aquaponics system at the old house.

I am hoping I can run this entire system off a single MD18 water pump (nominally an 1800 gph pump) and a supplemental air pump for the fish tank. Between water pump, air pump and valve automation I hope the system will run on 200 watts.

Sorry the plants look so lousy but that is what happens when you move them in an open truck on 90 F + degree days in the sun. They get a bit beat up.