Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey guys. I've got my greenhouse aquaponics setup UP and running. Still a work in progress, but it's in full swing now anyhow. I say it's a little different because it's not centered around vegetables. Instead it's growing aquatic plants both above and below water. The info on this kind of setup is kind of sparse so I'm just winging it for the most part. Everything is doing pretty well otherwise, though.

The setup involves a 6x2 grow bed ~8" deep, a 6x2 grow bed that has minimal water (~1/2") and then more recently a 10x2 bunk feeder running about 6" deep. These are constant height systems and all drain into a sump/pond that I keep some fancy goldfish, small koi, and a few odds and ends in. I was going to use an IBC for the sump but instead I just dug an 8x2 hole around 1.5ft deep, lined it with pond liner and attached it to a 2x6 frame.

The whole thing is powered by a deep blue triton 4 pump. As of right now there is no gravel on the greenhouse floor, but we plan to add some at some point to help keep grass and other vegetation from coming up. In about 2 weeks we are adding 3 more of the bunk feeder troughs and then the greenhouse will be full, equipment wise.

I'll try to remember to get some good stills of the setup tomorrow. We do shoot videos in there fairly regularly so I'll link the youtube channel so you can try to get a basic idea of what everything looks like.


The biggest issue I've run into so far is the heat, it's getting really hot here, but since we've installed a cheap misting system it has helped tremendously. Algae hasn't been a problem yet either, but it has been something I have watched for diligently. I think that the lack of algae can be attributed to a few things. The first is that I only do minimal fert dosing. I'm not an AP purist, so I'm not relying solely on fish waste, but I am also not heavy handed with dosing. The other thing is shading, the GH is situated between some trees in the yard, so only certain portions of the GH get full sun all day, while most only get full sun for half of the day. I think the black pond liners and growbeds may help also, as does the floating plants that kinda fill in the gaps. I clean out the duckweed every few days (I just push it down the drain and the goldies/koi have a field day).

Here's an older video but I'll try to make a more in depth one later today after we get our new plants in.

We may involve some vegetables once all of our aquatic plant stuff is in place, not sure yet. Just figured I'd share since it's a little out of the ordinary for an AP system. Any questions/comments?

Awesome setup.... I wish I could farm corals outdoors like that

Corals are so played out here. Everything in this area is SW, clubs, etc. Lots of people go snorkeling/diving on the jetties and shallow structure and whatnot. i wish i liked them enough to do outdoor coral propagation, I bet it would be possible at least during the warm parts of the year.

looking nice! where do you get your plants from?

I would love to see more details about this setup. I have watched your youtube videos but some photos would be awesome. Could you describe your different growbeds some more? How deep the substrate is, how much water, is it constant hight or flood and drain, and an idea of which types of plants are kept in the different lvls of water?
Love the setup btw