Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

After watching my system develop and seeing the benefits of Aquaponics my parents have decided to jump into the world of AP.

The beauty of this project is i get to put a lot of ideas and and things i have learned into practice without having to expand mine at the same time!!

Not only will this be a practical setup but it will become a major feature in their backyard, incorporating seating, fish tank with windows (my kids will love it) and it will all be run on a 12V system!!

We are trying to limit the amount of pumps being used and ultimately the design i have come up with will only need one single auto bilge pump.

as for a basic overview... the system will be 100% outdoors with an insulated full IBC fish tank. there will be four growbeds with two sumps interconnected, all growbeds will be fed by gravity, sucking the water (and solids) from the bottom.

we will be incorporating a swirl filter of some description to assist with solids removal but mainly so mum has a ready supply of fertilizer for her dirt gardens.

We have decided to run with Silver Perch as they are a fair bit more tolerant of our summers compared to trout... but we wont be worrying about them until october/november at least...lol

Dad got a start on things yesterday and i spent most of the day getting it all together

They still need another 4 IBCs (2 for growbeds/sumps and 2 for water tanks being fed from the sheds roof)

Here is the construction site

Dad working on one of the growbed/sump frames... these things wont move in a hurry!!

after a long afternoon... we still have so much to do!!

Who's having the most fun Iceman, I wonder if your dad is just going along with this idea of yours? I must say that the area looks perfect for an aquaponic system - flat ground, plenty of space and sunshine plus a rainwater collection point.

Dad has been pretty keen on Aquaponics for a while and when it comes to building things we are pretty handy and have a lot of fun doing it.

The yard is perfect for AP... and this is just the start of it, i reckon i'll be able to get a greenhouse setup ready for next winters crops... and they have the perfect fenceline for a heap of NFT tubes too!!

Awesome job guys!

I should add that all the GB, ST and FT will be painted and cladded soon.

all the sleepers are red gum, and they are really solid and HEAVY!!

That's going to be splendid.

Looking really good

Looking good, can imagine sitting there with a cold beer and the Barbie going.

looks good, nice to see the kids helping out

Thanks all,

i can see plenty of balmy summers evenings spent out there having a barbie!!

I want to get some underwater 12V LEDs for the FT so it becomes a feature when entertaining out there.

Let us know what lights you choose please. I have been looking a some led lights on eBay but not sure. Cheers