Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

"If youre located in Hawaii and would like to possibly speak with others in your area, please reply to this, and give people an idea of where you are (no exact details) and whether or not you have an aquaponic system. "

I just got started with my barrelponic system, I am in Honolulu.



Currently building a 285 gallon tank

Nice setup Hellbent. I'm in Hawaii living in Nanakuli on Oahu.
I have a 3'hx8'x8' raised wooden pond that's been up and running for about 7 months now. I haven't gone over to aquaponics yet because I couldn't decide between DWC or Ebb and Flow. Either style requires either the sump or the growbeds to be too close to the ground for my liking. I've seen rats and stray cats around here and was worried about toxoplasmosis or leptospirosis getting into my system. So now I'm just running a 55 gallon barrel wet/dry and am keeping about 300 golden tilapia.
I'm currently planning on making some smaller AP systems so that I can focus on the vegetable side. I figure get a couple of tuff tubs and some grow beds and use the tanks for breeder and juvenile systems before I move them to the big pond.
Hope to see some more Hawaii people on here and glad to meet you.

Hey all, I am in Haleiwa Hi. and I am still building my system. I will add a picture to whats already done. Anyone have some gravel/cinder??

Hello, David!
I bought my cinder from home depot for $4.28 a bag. It takes about 5 bags to fill a split 55 gallon drum. Occasionally I see offers for deals on Cinder on Craigslist or sometimes even free if you haul it away.

Hi guys, I'm from Oahu. I don't have any system set up yet, but I'm currently reading about how to go about doing this. I have a general idea, maybe you guys can help me out on this. First off, where do you guys get your fish from? I'm thinking tilapia would probably be the standard choice, but I'm not sure where to get it from. Also, what kind of fish food do you feed your fish? Is it just regular food from the pet store?

Also, here's a very rough, non-specific drawing of what I was planning to do:

Doing it like that wont remove the junk from the bottom of the fish tank

you can get a $10 timer from city mill if you wanna do some ebb/flow

as far as tilapia, i got some from glenn at olomana.
anyone know where i can get freshwater prawns?

Central. Yea it looks like you would want to go with a timer. You want your plants to get wet and stay wet but not imersed in water all the time.

I am probably getting my fish from Glen as well.

LOL I have seen prawns in the water at Mona Willie falls!

Hey Im building a system in Waianae. I know of a place that sells cinder by bulk if anyone wanted to buy some.

My systems is small, it has a 75 gallon fish tank and a 55 gallon drum cut in half. So far every thing is well. Let you all know if anything weird pops up.

cool. i just got a 55 gallon from someone on craiglist. came with a stand for $75. ive seen cheaper and more expensive.

where do you get the black cinder from?

also, about fish food - it might depend on what the person you bought the fish from fed them. i havent had much luck with fish so far, but i think i got it stabilized now, will be stopping by olomana to get some tilapias this weekend or next

Howzit to all the local people from Hawaii.

Glad to see you guys on here catching the AP bug. I don't know if you guys saw but Hellbent has a forum for hawaii people at http://aquaponicsinparadise.com/APforums/. Would be really good to get something going for all the Hawaii people so we can share local info and find local materials.

For all you guys looking for cinder in bulk menehune magic sells it for about $100 a yard. Much cheaper than buying by the bag. A yards about the size of a small pickup truck and I believe they have two locations one in Campbell industrial and one in Kailua. They're on the web. Maybe a couple of guys can chip in for a load or two.

Also, for people looking for bulk fish food you can go to Waimanalo feed on the east side and there's a purina feed store in Campbell Industrial. If you need I can give you directions to the one in campbells. I ususally buy the catfish feed.

Thanks for the info Lucero808. Question for you, can you just use any kind of fish food or does it have to be a specific type for fish you're going to eat? (to clarify, I'm sure there's better food to feed fish you're going to eat than say flake food, but I guess I'm asking is it safe to feed fish that kind of stuff if you're going to eat them?)

I don't know that feeding flakes is necessarily bad. I would just say that you wouldn't be able to feed a whole lot of fish without it becoming expensive. Of course you never know what's in "pet" food so I stick with the feeds from the feed store. They usually go for $30 for 50lb ( I use the catfish feed- smaller pellets). It's kinda expensive (Hawaii prices) but still way cheaper than flake food. There are fish feed bags that are usually available at different pet shops. I think the one in Ewa Beach as well as Pearl City, Moanalua, and Ward sell trout feed for koi. I'm not positive if they still do (it's been a while) but I do know they carry koi feed in most any petshop.