OK where do I put my water pump?

[wolgie]

So I have settled on a raft system. FT will feed into a swirl filter to a mechanical filter to my raft GBs then back to the FT. But where is the best place for the water pump? I know I don't want to churn up the solids so at this point I am thinking either in the Mechanical filter pushing to GB or in the GB/Raft pushing back to FT.

Am I on the right track or just totally missing the boat?

Thanks for the help, and any graphics or photos would be real helpful.

Wolgie

[GaryD]

Hi Wolgie,

You could put your pump into the last grow tank in your system......or (as is more usually done) you could add a sump tank to the system (at the lowest point) and put your pump there. You could also (as I've done) have your sump double as a moving bed bio-filter. If you do this, you can isolate your fish system from your plant growing system.....with the attendant benefits.

Gary

[wolgie]

Hi Wolgie,

You could put your pump into the last grow tank in your system......or (as is more usually done) you could add a sump tank to the system (at the lowest point) and put your pump there. You could also (as I've done) have your sump double as a moving bed bio-filter. If you do this, you can isolate your fish system from your plant growing system.....with the attendant benefits.

Gary

I need to check this out the bio filter idea sounds interesting, my only fear with the sump is if the pump stops working will it flood the room?

[GaryD]

Hi Wolgie,

No.....it won't flood anything. Most importantly, in the event of pump or pipework failure, the fish tank stays full.

You can see a diagram of what I'm talking about here (http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/showthread.php/1312-The-Queenslander?p=26283&viewfull=1#post26283).......and a picture of how the various components relate to each other......here (http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/showthread.php/1312-The-Queenslander?p=26430&viewfull=1#post26430).

Gary

[wolgie]

Very cool Gary, thanks. I will certainly give that some thought. Looks like a great setup!