Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello! Just joined the forum and I am interested in starting some aquaponics in my backyard (obviously). My background is that I earned a fisheries management undergraduate degree and am currently in the middle of earning a Master of Business Administration. My goal is eventually to own my own business and I think that my degrees would be suitable for that. Also, immediately after college I worked at a fish hatchery for a year with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. In high school I also worked a number of years at a pet store in the fish department so I have a pretty decent understanding of aquariums as well.

So with the goal in mind being to start an aquaponics business in approximately 5-10 years I would like to know what kind of start up system for my backyard you guys might recommend that can somewhat cover all my bases and give me a better understanding of how the system works?

Unfortunately space is limited in my small backyard and I have room for a 7ftX3ftX3ft tank with the bed suspended above it. I would like to make a small greenhouse to sit on top of the bed to both encourage growth throughout the year and act as a physical barrier to pests. Also, I live in Texas so the summers get pretty warm. A couple of years back we had a record 61 days above 100F (usually 106F).

My basic design plan is to build a box from 2X4s and plywood and then line it with a pond liner or possible a spray liner. I would then cover the outside of the box with stained cedar planks to help it match the rest of my woodwork in the back yard and try to make it look kind of nice. I plan to have the water flow entering the bed via PVC towers as I am interested in attempting to vertical growing with a variety of plants. The water outflow is planned to be in the upper side of the box to allow for a more constant presence of the water within a lava rock filled bed.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome Aagnand! Your fisheries experience will be welcome here! Now it is time to Learn the plant side!

Thanks! Looking forward to it. Went to Lowe's today to get an idea on pricing for materials. Little more them I expected but think it will be well worth it! Thinking I will just use koi instead of tilapia. Should eliminate worries about water temp during winter and they are kind of pretty.

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Will be watching your projects, sounds like you have the info needed to be very successful at it.