Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was just browsing through craigslist.org again for some fish tanks....haven't decided what I'm going to do yet...except wait.

anyways, I was just thinking....

If anyone that owns a fish tank/aquarium now, and runs it the traditional way, with filters, and cleaning etc. What would be required to convert that to an aquaponics system for that person?

Assuming that everyone keeps their fish tank inside the house, and it's displayed in a nice location as far as asthetics (sp?)... let's throw asthetics out the window, and say they want to start to grow food with aquaponic system.

Is it just as simple as cutting back on some chemicals, taking out the filter, and pumping the water into suitable grow beds with lights (indoor growing)? of course, pumping the water back into the fish tank too.

That is amazing.

just curious,

jeff c

P.S. If that's true, we have a lot of potential aquaponics people out there! Perhaps the aquarium/fish retailers need a few nudges in the right direction to keep aquaponic conversion equipment in stock.

Hmmmmm.

Yep... it's that simple....

This is exactly my situation, i have a lot of aquariums, some up and running most of them are down, I figure this is a cool way to grow some food and have fun with my fish!

"throw asthetics out the window" - that is where most run into trouble with thier significant other. But as Rupe said....yup - it is that simple. Note that salt water tanks will not work....not for normal veggies anyway.

Sea Cucumbers...

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dont cut down on chemicals cut OUT the chemicals

I use to have a 250L tropical fish tank in my living room. one summer i took a cutting off a tomato plant and stuffed it through a 25mm polystyrene block. it grew like mad. in the end it got that big that it toppled over.
i thought that it was an excellent way to purify the water for my expensive and rare fish so i grew some more ornimental plants under the aquarium lights.
it was at that time that i discovered this forum. i dont have the fish tank anymore as i moved to perth for a year. but i still have the equipment (pumps, airpumps etc). in the next couple of months i will be setting a system up for summer.

oceanjef, you said about taking out the filter. i would recomend leaving it in as it already has the bacteria colony built up in it and you would not have to cycle the system. after the growbed has matured then i would consider taking it out.

That's why I'm here. I just setup my fish room and I have a lot of water being dumped out. I thought, with a few extra containers I'm good to go. I even have grow lights and fertilizers because I used to keep planted aquariums.

The only thing slowing me down is the vast amounts of knowlege and methods to choose from.

I'm going to prototype with a 20G tank and then add addtional tanks online as I figure out what I'm doing.

I got the approval from my wife after she noticed the difference between her flowers watered with aquarium water and the ones on the other side of the house (where I refused to drag buckets).

She's also excited by the fact of fresh produce (I'm starting with boston lettuce but want to grow strawberries as I get more advanced) in our basement.

I reckon a lot of fishkeepers would be instantly hooked if they saw a working AP system in their local fish shop.

Oh you leave the filter in until the grow bed is mature and then you sell the cycled up filter to some one else starting up

Many aquarium keepers would probably convert over just to avoid having to do water changes if they were supplied with a simple kit to install (growbed/sump and light in a decorative package that could sit next to the aquarium or something.)

only problem i can forsee is that AQ people like FTs to be nice and sparkly, where as AP systems develop the 'tea' colour after a while. my FT goes 'Tea' in a week, and straight away it lokos a little less appealing (even though i leave it

i had some celery growing in a raft on one of my FTs, was good, i could eat while studying
had to keep trimming the roots though

i cant see why aesthetics needs to be thrown out or why chemicals where being used in the first place and depending on the type of fillter it is as simple as planting some plants

when i was breeding high grade cristal shrimp i had an external biofillter wich was just a smaller tank filled with media i also had normal plants to help fillter i now just use it for testing or storing.

as for the tea colerd water there are lighting tricks to fix that

That's actually why I'm here. I wound up with a goldfish (very long story) and I am more interested in water quality than aesthetics. I am going extremely low tech - floating pots of media with sheets of styrofoam in a 20 gallon long, next to a regular desk lamp with a compact fluorescent bulb. It is probably going to be the ugliest fish tank in the history of ever, but I hope to grow some greens for my bunnies (even longer story).

Anyone ever done dandelion greens? They're the only seedlings that haven't died yet, and I plan to transplant tomorrow morning. I also am trying to get some watercress going, but all the cuttings are dying in the pots of water I set up.

sounds like a project for the byap people, tropical aquarium with some classy GBs attached!
I think id be in trouble and strife, so ill just keep tipping my AQ water changes in my ap tank or the garden

...and if you can keep fish alive surely you are half way there....