Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My IBC system has been running out in my shop for a few months now and it's going well, so I decided to take the next step and try a small herb growing system in the house. I do a fair amount of cooking and having fresh herbs at hand is very nice. I grow some in the house in pots and some out in the IBC system but my goal was to build a compact, attractive system that SWMBO would welcome into the house.

For the FT I went with a 17.5 gallon plastic tub from TSC (a farm supply store). The tower is a section of PVC fence post. I made pockets every 6" on opposite sides using a heat gun and a long, skinny funnel to form the shape.

I wanted the tower to rise up from the center of the FT so I made a base to do that. I laser cut a piece of 1/2" stainless plate and welded a piece of 3.5" sch 10 pipe to it. Before welding I cut out opposite quadrants of the pipe going 6" up from the bottom. I did this so I could set the pump in that area and run the plumbing up through the middle of the tower. This is the welded base, followed by a photo of the pump installed. The pump is a 200 GPH model from Harbor Freight.




The post slips over the pipe 10" and I bolted a 1" thick UHMW block into the post to hold the height and support the media. The hole in the middle is for the 1/2" supply tubing.


For drainage, I drilled some 1/4" holes 1/2" above the UHMW block. After I drilled the holes I heated the area, quickly inserted some lengths of 1/4" rod, and pushed the rods over so the holes would point downwards. I envisioned the water to drain out the holes in a nice aerating stream. In actuality, the water just trickles out and runs down the post. If I increase the water volume I think I'll run into other issues so I think this is just the way it's going to be. I'm sure I'll have to clean off the algae that will grow there.


Here's a photo of the unit standing next to my IBC, as well as a detail shot of a grow pocket, complete with a basil plant swiped from the IBC system.




Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I'll get a heater installed and then transfer a couple of my tilapia into it as well as a few seedlings I'm starting. I'll probably let it run in the shop for a while before moving it into the house. Anyone see any potential problems with this set-up?

Nice looking tower! Good to see this weather not gettin you down either!

Nice craftsmanship

Hard to tell from the pics, but is the entire tower filled with media?

Yes, it's filled, but it only holds about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket. There's about 51" of media space, and that works out to about 0.4 cu-ft or 2.7 gallons, if I did the math right. I loose a little because of the supply tubing as well.

What media did you use in the tower?

Just looks at the photos and find out ! Sorry!