Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I recently decided that I wanted to build an aquaponic system. I purchased the IBC tote off of craigslist and moved it into my garage. Soon after purchasing the IBC tote, I learned that tilapia is the most common type of fish raised in an aquaponic systems. They are very resilient to disease and grow fast. I also learned that they require warm water. Being that I live in Pennsylvania and my garage isn't heated, keeping the system in there was no longer an option; I had to move it indoors. It was obvious that this system could only be placed in the basement. I did not want my system to fall through the kitchen floor. The only problem was that the door to the basement was only 24" wide! To make the long story short, I cut the IBC tote in the garage a few times until it would fit into the basement. Currently my fish tank holds 150 gallons of water, my grow bed is 9-10" tall with pea gravel media. The fish tank is plumbed to a 900 gph pump which is on for 15 minutes and off for 45 minutes (flood and drain). Two 300 watt heaters keep the water at 72F. I purchased 25 tilapia online yesterday, as well as, another 300 watt heater. I will get two LED aquarium lighting fixtures from my company and use them to provide light to the grow bed. I also lined the ceiling of my basement with a tarp to prevent dust and debris from falling into my system.

A friend of mine is going to add another breaker to my breaker box and an outlet right next to my system. Currently I am using an extension cord to run power to the heaters and pump. I do not feel safe using it to power another heater and two LED lighting fixtures, so I will wait until the outlet is installed before using them.

Currently, I am concerned about the weight of the grow bed. I would like to add two or three more bags of pea gravel to keep the top of the media from getting wet; I do not want algae to grow. I am worried about the additional weight because the bottom of the grow bed is bowing. Any suggestions on what I should do to prevent it from getting any worse? Should I be worried about the grow bed breaking?

You should be concerned. Those metal cross bars from the top of the IBC aren't designed to hold weight, and yours are already bowing considerably. I would add some 2x4 timber braces under the GB.

i have a basement system as well.. use the "pallet" part of the cage to support your growbed.... gives you full support across the bottom of the gb...
put some insulation on the floor and you can use just the cage "frame" for the fish tank - you don't need the pallet on the floor

Nice job so far. Looking forward to more updates.

Are you doing a fishless cycle?

Thanks for the tips.

I am going to look into moving the pallet part under the grow bed to give it more support. I will also insulate the bottom of the fish tank and the surrounding cage in order to retain more heat. I am not doing a fishless cycle, my fish should arrive next Wednesday.

Update: Instead of taking the whole system apart, I decided it would be easier to remove some of the gravel, pick up the grow bed, and place two 4x4's under it for support. Then I placed the gravel back into the grow bed. It helped out a lot. Currently the surface of my grow bed is still submerged so I will be adding gravel tonight an possibly reducing the height of he stand pipe. Thanks again for everyone's help. I would appreciate any more advice or suggestions.

So I added the 4x4 support to my system. It looks a lot stronger now; no more bowing. I will be adding three more bags of gravel just in time for the arrival of the tilapia. I will upload pictures when the fish arrive, as well as, when I acquire the LED lighting fixtures.

I ordered 25 blue tilapia fingerlings from tilapiaspot.com for $50 (free shipping). It arrived a day late thanks to USPS, but they all survived. They sent me 29 tilapia instead of 25, which was a nice bonus. I added them to the fish tank and they seem to be doing fine. Now I just have to wait for the nitrates to arrive... right?

When can I begin adding plants to my system? I will be starting out with seeds.

immediately

I added a new breaker to the main breaker box and installed an outlet right next to my aquaponic. I added two LED lighting fixtures to my system. I also added an auto-top off system. It replenishes any evaporated water automatically. I just need to fill the black trash can every now and then. The tilapia seem healthy. All that is left is to add the plants!

You will probably want to lower those lights to get your seedlings started. Also people will usually put silver Mylar, aka space blankets, on the walls to help reflect back the light.

I would also add a fan to slowly move the air around the plants/fish. Just enough to slightly blow and shake the leaves. Basements grows will sometimes get stagnate air and could have hot spots, CO2/O2 spots, etc.