Owen's Aquaponics Chop & Flips

Hi all.

I would like to share my second and third aquaponic setups. These setups have since been wound down, but were both integrated into my larger system. Below is how they looked, they were pretty much a mirror image.

Each consisted of a IBC with the top chopped off at 300mm (30cm) and flipped over to create a growbed. The bottom half, being 700mm (70cm), then became the fish tank. Hence the name Chop ‘n’ Flip. The Tanks and beds were then clad in reflective builders sarking.

A 3000LPH water pump was used as the “heart” of the system which primarily pumped from the fish tanks up to the grow beds, which then used bell syphons to flood and drain the grow beds. There was also a tee off from the pump before the growbeds which then fed a venturi for extra filtration. 20mm flexible hose and 20mm HD pipe was primarily used for the pump side of things.

“Feeder goldfish” were used to cycle the systems, which I had from cycling my patio system. These fellows still live in my big system to this day.

After the cycling was carried out, spangled and silver perch became the new residents to power the systems. It is worthy to note, if you choose spangled perch, you need to have every escape route covered, as they are masters of jumping out the tank through any little hole they can see. It also takes years to get them anywhere near eating size.

These systems were mainly used to grow tomatoes, which I had found earlier have a root system that take over the growbeds. It also was used to grow lettuce, herbs and snow peas.

When time permits I plan on building some more of these again, to make use of the wasted space down one side of my house.