Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Guess I'll go ahead and close up this story. About 6 months ago I broke apart the system. The last of the fish died and I want to concentrate my efforts on the outdoor system and utilize the indoor space for something else.

I still have the ivy plant transferred to a 5 gallon bucket with the air pump in it, still feeding it bottled spring water. It didn't like the transplanting much but has survived. At one point it had leaves bigger than my hand spread out!

With any system, try for air and water lines bigger than 1/4 inch OD. There just isn't enough room for air/water and beneficial bacteria in there to function properly without routine cleaning.

In such a small system, any small change in pH is going to stress your fish quickly, so make your changes smaller and have patience.

Use pH neutral water and objects in the system. Easier to take longer to find these than it is to fix the problem afterwards.

For indoor systems, use oscillating fans to facilitate weather so the plants can harden, which they need to produce food sometimes.

I think Serrano peppers and ivy were the main crops I had to speak of. The ivy didn't mind high pH and the peppers produced when I had pH neutral.

Don't stop trying new techniques and always post results and pictures on here so others can learn of your experiences!