Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Currently building a system in Eugene, Oregon.

Pacific Northwest, temps range from freezing to around 90F.

Building on a rental property, on the back patio, so everything will need to be moved eventually. We anticipate being here at least another year.

The main tank is insulated with 2" closed cell, and came out to about 440 gallons. It sits on a pretty good slope, which is why you see the pallet underneath it. There are supporting blocks beneath the pallet base.

The second tank is a recycled Softub, which holds 140 gallons. I'm not sure how water flows through it yet; had to do some repairs on the inside liner. It has great insulation. I'll report more once I figure out the flow. I don't want to cut any holes in it if I don't have to.

I plan on building a single grow bed with bell siphon that will sit above the softub. Still working out how the water flow will work. Might also do smaller beds that would sit on top of the large fish tank and drain directly into it.

I have a 400gph pump.

Planning on stocking Tilapia and catfish, (lucky enough to have a local provider) and will eventually build a hoop greenhouse over the back patio to cover everything.

I have the flow through heater for the softtub, but don't plan on using it. I would rather find a different heating solution (passive solar, etc).

Definitely open to any suggestions or ideas! First thing to figure out:

Should I put the pump in the softtub or the main fish tank?
Should I put fish in both tanks, or just use the softub for duckweed and sump?

welcome to the forum

Building the fish tank:

The pallet base:

3/4" plywood for the bottom of the tank. This was salvaged from some retail displays:

The bottom, and side support 2x4s:



Sides going on. This is 1/4" particle board from some large pallets:

Sides finished, with ribbing along the top: Not in this photo are the steel corner supports and steel strips screwed in wherever there are joints. Also going to add top cross supports to keep the edges from bowing.

Picked up some 2" insulation at a local building recycling center for the half the price that 1/2" styrofoam was going to be at Home Depot.

I had planned on doing a plastic liner, but had been watching Craigslist for any used pools. . . then this pool appeared on the side of the road in a free box. It's a 15' Intex softside pool, with holes in the inflatable ring. Works great for this application. Could easily hold more water.

Insulation in place: Here you can also see some braces I added to help support the weight of grow beds that may sit on the tank. Still haven't decided if I'm going to do that or not.

Had to rush to get the liner in, as we were expecting about two weeks of rain. After collecting rain water, the tank is now about 1/3 full.

Interior of the softub. Haven't seen much info about using these in aquaponics online:

Outlets on the softub. They don't line up with the inner fittings on the tub, so I'll need to figure out how the piping runs:

Going to be out of town this coming weekend, but I'm going to build the grow bed the first weekend of April. Will post more then, fingers crossed.

Thanks, Charlie. Looking forward to participating.

Other note on the softub: the liner has grown brittle in several places and developed some long cracks that I repaired with silicone. Seems to be working so far, and as I run my hand over the liner, no new cracks have developed.

Welcome 11up3down! Would that make you 8? It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. I don't know much about softubs, but it might cost more to repair it that to try and use it. Perhaps if you have more pool liner...

Heh, it's from the army, means "8-up" or Ate-up, as in "all ate up/mess up." I always struggle with the usernames.

I may go with a liner for the softub. It looks like I'll need to do some kind of stand pipe to run water from the soft tub to the main fish tank. If I can connect that to the fitting that had the filter on it (as it's close to the bottom of the tub), that would be great, but I'm not sure if the interior piping runs back up the side of the tub, etc.

My next step will be to fill it with water, cap the exterior outlets, and then release to see how things flow out.

I like your resourcefulness

Welcome to the forum,

If you're still trying to decide where to put the pump, you must not be certain what the lowest point of the system will be. I think probably using the soft tub as a sump and putting the pump in the soft tub makes the most sense but there are a lot of ways you could work it. Where are the growbeds going to be? If this is going to be outside the Tilapia will be difficult to get high enough temps for - need to keep it above 55 F and they really don't like it below 70 (current water temp 56 to 60 F with half indoor, half outdoor system). Not much solar in the Winter and water temps get way below 55 without heating. If you look at the Downtown library there is a book called Fish Farming in Your Solar Greenhouse that gives inside and outside water temps here in Eugene and has other useful information (might be useful to have a copy/photocopy (it's out of print)).

Hope this helps.

Hi Scotty, thanks for the suggestions.

I plan on doing one large grow bed that will be like a table sitting over the softub. The large fish tank will be the lowest point in the system.

I am also thinking about building smaller grow beds that would sit on top of the large fish tank, but I'm concerned about adding more weight to that whole part of the system. It's sitting on a pretty good slope away from the patio.

I am going to build a greenhouse over that side of the patio, with an extension over the large fish tank, so it will all be covered. I insulated the large tank because I'm worried about keeping the temps up for the Tilapia.

Recently I visited the fish farm out of the end of Barger/Greenhill Rd, and he's doing Tilapia and catfish inside his green house. The whole system is heated with a woodstove and some other really interesting DIY contraptions. If you haven't checked it out, it's interesting. His name is Dave, and his website is http://www.forsaletilapia.com/.

I'll check out the the Solar Farming book. That's a great tip.

Because your fish tank is at the bottom of the system that's where the pump should go. As far as putting growbeds over the tanks, make sure you leave yourself access to the tanks.

Insulating the fish tank is fine but keep in mind that the growbeds are basically giant heat exchangers. It's pretty difficult to keep the temperature high when your running the water through a heat exchanger. The greenhouse will help and might be enough if the entire system is inside it but I predict you'll still have to heat in the Winter unless it's really well insulated. I'm not sure how much greenhouse your looking for but you might want to consider a Harbor Freight greenhouse kit - they're pretty reasonable and relatively easy to take down and transport (but not portable). You can usually find a 25% off coupon and they will let you buy with the coupon while it's on sale (ask to be sure - they always have for me)

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-ft-x-12-ft-greenhouse-with-4-vents-93358.html#.UypyrqI6v0E
With a 25% off coupon it will be a little over $500 but you'll have to put another 100 - 200 in for footings and ventilation. EDIT - They make smaller greenhouses as well. Building codes might be an issue so keep that in mind.

I visited Dave not long after he first opened (a year or two ago), I don't know that I've seen his entire setup but I did come away with a couple of ideas. He wasn't growing catfish at that time but had Tilapia as well as Rainbow and Brown Trout. FYI - The state isn't allowing permits (can't remember if it's transport of or sales permits) for Brown Trout in Oregon so all you can do is look at them - he might be able to sell them outside the state

Cheers