Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have started planning my system layout for a 9'x12' greenhouse and have a few questions, I'm figuring 300gal. for the fish and 250-300gal. for growbeds.

1) growbeds- which is better?, fewer beds at a larger volume (ie 2@125 gal)or more beds at less volume (ie 12 half barrels @27.5G)
2) fish tank- similar question 1@300g or 2 @150g with a balance tube.
3) water- my well water is hard, has sulfur, and evidence of coliform. I have a softner and FeS sytem, the horses have drank it for years, is this suitable or should I use the water from the pond across the street?


I stopped my local Ag. store (Tractor Supply "my new favorite store":D ) and found a very large variety of tanks, stocktanks(incl. the coveted Rubbermaid), and feeders, all plastic or galvanized. What sparked my interest was the bunk feeders, they come in 4',5'&10' they come with metal stands but the bin is only 10in. deep (but it's consistant as opposed to a 12"d half drum), are these unacceptable for growbeds?

Am I obsessing or should I just shut up and go shopping?

Hey AM:
I'd say for growbeds it depends on what you want to grow. It is fine to have a mix. Large beds would be good for short plants like lettuce, but for things like tomoatoes or fruit trees it would be better to have them in smaller more modular containers (so they can spread out without you losing gravel area to grow things on).
The thing about the fish tanks is you should plan for the entire life cycle if you are planning on breeding them. I had been thinking about that and came up with something that you could partition, for breeders, fry, fingerlings, grow out, and purging. See: http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... &start=135

Coliform sounds bad.

Tractor Supply is great to see what is available. My fish tub is the 110 gallon $60 TuffStuff brand. The bunk feeders will distort a lot and you'll have to reinforce them. 10 inches deep is pretty shallow and it will limit what you can put in them - if it's stuff like lettuce that would be OK.

Keep obsessing until you know how you want it to go together. The most expensive way to go about it is to buy up stuff that you don't end up using or that becomes inappropriate to your design. I have two big sump pumps that were $200 that aren't doing me any good ATM.

HTH!!!