Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Redid the baby system over the weekend. Had a dead one middle of last week. Hooked up a gravel bed because the aquarium filter wasn't coping well enough and I have the gear.

Pump goes on 15 minutes per hour, up to the grid, grid is set up with elbows facing up, which does a pretty good job of evening out the flow. Drain goes down to the aquarium with an elbow coming from the side to help mix air in as it hits the water. Bypass with valve and reducer forces a lot of bubbles into the water while the pump is running. A regular bubbler runs all the time as well as heaters. The aquarium is surrounded by blue board to help the heat stay in. Water got much clearer this weekend, will add worms to the bed to help break down solids. No plans to add lights or plants to this, just change out water to keep nitrates down.

One fish was found in the replacement water tub in front of the aquarium, the fish have started breeding behaviors and it was chased out of the tank. Luckily it landed in the replacement water tub!

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Big deal you say?

Sneak peek of System 2009:

I also dug in the tubs from the basement system, to start growing trout in them hopefully mid-January. There is a nice trout hatchery (actually tons in PA) nearby where I can get as many or a few as I want whenever, so that should be the easy part. Will be put together battery backup before adding any fish.

This will start out the same as the basement was at the end, continuous pump into fish tank overflowing into gravel-filled sump, will add more gravel as we go.

Still have to move the dirt to the other side of the yard. Great exercise though!

I'm hoping to maybe time things such that trout could be harvested in May then tilapia could be moved outside from June to end of August. To do that I would use the offspring of the current batch of tilapia babies. They should be having little ones before mid-December I think. Have to figure out how to harvest them before they're eaten up.

Ahhh.... AP expansion.... we luv it....

Happy looking fish DD.... keep us in the loop mate...

My back is hurting just from seeing the spade work. When did you dig that up? Sheez I'm getting old.

It took two weekends. I knew I needed a week's break in between before digging some more! Had to bring all the gravel up from downstairs too, which was the bulk of the work last weekend. Aleve is my favorite drug...

How's our weather you ask?!?

Ice fishing ?

that weather looks great for digging

if the ground isn't totally frozen that is

brrrr looks cold from here ( and it is turing in to winter but not that cold here )

Mal ,, settle big fella,,, replying to 5 month old posts may scare Indian contributers.

Yep, meet me here, let's chat!

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4999&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

interesting...so you are circulating the water but it keeps equalized because you already have water in the tube?(I am only to page 14...need to read further...)

Dave Donley, I dont live all that far from you, I was wondering how you go about getting those deals on feed? I read in a post that you pick up 44 LBS bags for 18 dollars. I was wondering if you were getting them from some mill or place that supplied Zeigler or if you got it from them directly. I would be willing to drive the two hours to pick up bulk feed for sure.

Hey Steven, this is an old thread haha, but yes the Zeigler Feed mill was only 20 minutes from our house. Whenever I need more food I plan to go up there and visit our old friends who live in the same town. The only downside was having to go M-F during business hours which meant taking time off work.