Thinking of setting up my aquaponics system again...

Hi

I've been doing some research on aquaponics a while ago, and actually had my own system up and running, using gold fish.

My strawberry plants that i've used actually did very well at first, well, i changed the gold fish out, put a heater in the tank, and got my convicts...

My strawberry plants started degrading, and i never knew WHY...

After reading a topic on this forum, it hit me like a bloody bomb! My water was to hot, and my convicts wasn't really the fish to use in such a system. SO BY THE WAY i used an indoor mini aquaponics.

I've got a small 300 liter pond outside with a gold fish in it... Now, I'm really thinking of setting the system up outside, with let's say tomato plants or something, but still keeping it as a mini system, sort to speak, as it's a small pond...

Now, this is how my setup worked.

had a normal small window planter, which i filled up with normal aquarium gravel.
Had a 500 l/h pump that kept circulating water threw the system, and i had a noisy over flow setup, like it kept slurping water...
Never drained the system completely, it stayed full, perhaps to full, I'm not to sure...

So now, if i do decide to set the system up outside, is it a must to run the aquaponics on a timer to switch off and drain at some stage? or can i just leave it to cycle the whole time?
And is aquarium gravel safe to use?
And Where should the water line be in the aquaponics system?

 

Check out myaquaponics.co.za

 

will do thanx bru