Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This system started off really small and has grown rather quickly. I started with 1 55gal drum as a fish tank, a second 55 gal drum as a sump tank, and 4 12 gal plastic totes as grow beds. I also had a 220gph pond pump and nearly all the pluming was run in 3/4 inch pipe.

don't have any pictures of what the system started as, but I did make a video of it and posted it to youtube.




After a couple of weeks of it running as it was in that video I finally got around to moving it and making it bigger. I started off by building a 4ft x 7 1/2ft DWC GB out of wood and a pond liner. once the GB was built and leveled, I took down my little system and moved it over to the new GB. I put a couple of 4x4 posts across one end of the GB to support the 12 gal GB's I was bringing over from the other side of the yard. I only used 3 of them instead of 4 after moving them. I still used the 55gal drum for the fish tank, but then used a 20gal plastic tote as a sump tank.

again no pictures of how it was set up at that time, but I do have another video.




About a week after moving the system to the new GB, I got my IBC totes. I picked up 3 of them from a local container place here in vegas. It took me the better part of 2 days to get all 3 of the IBC's cleaned up and ready to use.

I had built a stand for the IBC's that I was going to be using as fish tanks to sit on prior to getting the IBC's. I also dug a hole in this hard ground to bury the 3rd IBC in to use as a sump tank. I wasn't able to get the hole as deep as I wanted it before I hit a layer of caliche (natures cement). trying to break it up with a pick and shovel was futile so I quit digging and have ended up with a sump tank about 8" higher then I wanted it.

once I got the IBC's cleaned up, ready to use, and set in place, I started plumbing them in. My FT's are the highest point in my system with the sump as the lowest, I'm still using the same 220gph pond pump in my sump tank, and splitting the flow between the 2 FT's. the SLO drains for the 2 FT's are tied together before flowing via gravity to my GB. I do have a few pics of the way the system is set up, I also have another video. basically I have a 1" hose going from the pump to the FT's, then a 2" drain from the FT's to the GB, and a 1" drain from the GB into a 3" common drain line back to the sump... the 3" line will be used as a common drain line for all future GB's, I'm planning on at least 3 more GB's possibly even more.

here is the way the system looked on August 9th 2014




since that video on the 9th, about all i have gotten done is installed that 3" drain line and have it secured to the legs of the GB. I also put up a shade cloth that i'm able to easily move off of the GB. I have only been leaving it covering the GB from about noon until 4pm. I have also wrapped the 2 IBC fish tanks in a tarp to block some of the light getting to them... had a really bad algal bloom earlier this week.

doesn't seem as though my pics are going to be able to be uploaded. still haven't figured out how to get my phone to take pics small enough to upload here.

4 fish deaths today,.. all of them were put in yesterday,.. just feeder goldfish and minnows...

The algae is still getting worse, and the plants still growing very slowly. in one of the FT's, the algae is so bad i can't see the bottom of the tank. I need to do a better job of controlling the algae.

started a new job this week, so not a lot of time to work on my aquaponics this week. might get to do something this weekend. thanks everyone who has looked at this system,.. let me know if you have any suggestions on what I could be doing better.

I think my nephew is too excited about the goldfish in the back yard, every time he comes over he wants to feed them and look at them... Well last night he was here while I was gone. This morning I noticed my fish food container that was half full yesterday is empty today, and the water is really cloudy... Looks like he fed the fish an entire months worth of food all at once.

So now would it be better to do a 1/3rd water change or just leave it and see if it clears on its own?

I'm still pretty new to aquaponics and haven't encountered a massive overfeeding like this before. any advice would be helpful. In an aquarium i wouldn't hesitate to do a water change at this point, but with it being an aquaponics system, I'm just not sure if its the right step to do at this point.

It is likely you will be having a massive ammonia spike and will be followed by a nitrite spike.

Need to clean out the uneaten food and do water changes.

Adding some pool salt would be a good idea to help protect the fish against the nitrite spike (after the water changes of course).

Good luck.

I'd keep the fish food out of reach from the nephew!

What are you FT temps like? I didn't notice a thermometer in your videos and, being in the desert, I'd invest in one (especially since there is no paint/insulation on your IBCs). Many options on Amazon. Just a thought. I haven't gotten into IBCs yet but my water (small 40 gal tank) here in Phoenix gets into the low 90s (in full shade!). The goldfish don't seem mind but they're the... survivors over the summer

Best of luck! (On your system and new job!)

changed out about 200 gallons of water yesterday, haven't salted the system at all. The fish all seem to be doing good, fat and happy. I managed to get most of the leftover food off the bottom of the tank, but not all.. there was is quite a bit that settled to the bottom of the sump.

I tested the PH this morning, its sitting at 8.2 (every time I test it its been at 8.2 - 8.5). The water I have been using comes from a 330ft (roughly 100m) deep well. the water comes out of the ground at a PH of 8.2-8.5.

As far as temperature goes, I'm not sure what its sitting at now, somewhere around 80f. I don't have a thermometer in there... its one of the many things on the list of stuff i still need to get.

new video update and maybe a pic that will actually load?




the water is clearer today then I have seen it since the first day I had this system set up... there is a bit of debre on the bottom of the sump and the fish tanks, but other then that the water is clear, i can easily see the bottom of each of the tanks.

just got back from a 3 day work-cation (helping my brother move)...

no fish deaths, my onions have started to grow, one lettuce plant died (was just a pile of mush), and the remaining lettuce have little black specs all over the leaves, and have caterpillars crawling all over them. I picked off all the caterpillars i could find and fed them to the goldfish.

so are the little black specs caterpillar droppings? or are they eggs?... I brushed off as many as i could, but a lot just ended up wedged between the leaves and the stem of the lettuce.

aside from the caterpillars, nothing terrible seems to have inflicted my system. the water needs topping off, the peppers are growing good, (one plant almost doubled in size over the weekend).

Here's hoping we get a lot of rain this week... forecast calls for flooding Thursday and Friday...

Nothing has changed with the aquaponics, still the same as its been for about a month. Almost no growth on any plant, PH still over 8.2 and caterpillars still attacking the lettuce and recently the mint. I picked off about 20 caterpillars this morning and fed them to the fish. I still only have goldfish and a few flatthead minnows. I wont be getting any edible fish until i can bring the PH down closer to 7.

My to do list is getting longer and longer, and my completed list is almost non-existent. I started working on the solar power install today. probably wont be doing much with the aquaponics until the solar is completed.

well its been a while since I've posted anything here. I had to tear down my aquaponics system to make room for a solar array. the solar array is elevated 9+ feet high. once we are finished setting up the solar array I will be setting up the aquaponics system again. the solar array will be shading my fish tanks and sump tank, and my grow beds will be in front of the solar array. I will also be setting up a rain collection system on the solar array. hopefully I will be able to collect enough rain off of it to fill my aquapoincs system...

well anyways I really don't have any new info on my aquaponics system other then I will be setting it back up soonish... I posted a video to my youtube channel today, just talking about whats going on with the aquaponics and the solar systems.

finally got started rebuilding my aquaponics system. I still have a long way to go on it, however I made a video wherein I discuss my plans for this rebuild, and would like some feedback. the video is a little bit lengthy, and I do ramble on a bit. basically my plan is to eventually have 6 IBC fish tanks, and IBC sump tank, and several grow beds. for filters I'm thinking: a radial flow filter (solids removal), an anaerobic bio filter, then an aerobic bio filter, then a trickle filter, then the water would return back to the sump tank....

so water flow would go something like this:

sump tank -> pump -> T to fish tanks and grow beds

pump -> fish tank -> radial flow filter -> anaerobic bio filter -> aerobic bio filter -> trickle filter -> sump tank

pump -> growbeds -> sump tank

anyways, watch the video and let me know what you think about the plan for the system. any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.

fish will be a mix of tilapia, channel catfish, bluegill, and goldfish.

Well I haven't managed to do hardly anything with this rebuild since the last video update, party because I've been busy with work and kids, but mainly because I have been waiting on a package that just arrived today. In that package there is a new air pump (951 gph,) 25 2" uniseals, an API master test kit, and a small package of duckweed.

I have the weekend off of work, so I'll definitely be getting a lot done on the system this weekend. I should have all 4 filters installed and plumbed in, as well as the large growbed. I will probably also get a couple of half barrel grow beds set up, either cut across the barrel to use them for trees, or cut vertically to use as media beds... I'll decide that tomorrow as I work on it. Eventually I will have some of both in the system.

I will do another video update this weekend to show the progress of the build.

Well I got all the filters installed, and the main drain line ran. The drain for the DWC bed is plumbed into the sump tank with the drain from the fish tanks/filters. I do not yet have a pump to pump water over to the grow bed yet.

here is a quick video on what I have done so far:



any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment either here or on the video on youtube.

I finally got the Nile Red Tilapia today!!! :-)