Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

46 year old father of 6 here from the Great State of Texas!!

Still in the planning stages of my first aquaponics system. Planning on starting with something small using storage totes in front of a big south facing window in my living room as a proof of concept, then planning on taking over the sunny side of my backyard. Gotta earn that Wife Acceptance Factor first though!

Hope to get to know you all on here and maybe even meet some of you in the local area! I'm sure I will have a ton of questions, but I promise I'll do my best to thoroughly search the forums for answers first.

Welcome to the forum.

That "Wife Acceptance Factor" plays a very bit part in Aquaponics and I often wonder how much people's systems would differ if they weren't married

Welcome to the forum!

I've just recently set up a small system using plastic totes in the corner of my apartment. I used one 100L bin for the FT, two 50L bins for the GB's and another 100L bin for a ST.

@joblow - "...plays a very bit part..." Maybe you meant very *big* part?

@joblow - Yes the WAF plays a very important part. I know that if it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't be bothering with this small system. I have 40 acres in the Texas Hill Country begging to be put to something other than recreational use and I would probably be going whole hog out there right now.

@HB - that is almost exactly what I have in mind. My FT and ST will probably be round 17g totes from Wal-Mart and the GBs the more rectangular totes from the same place that I already have in my garage. Pump is already sourced from Harbor Freight for a mere $10US and is pure overkill at 158 GPH. Only thing left is the waterlines and the Bell Siphons (save the BS for last :-] ).

@joblow - Yes the WAF plays a very important part. I know that if it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't be bothering with this small system. I have 40 acres in the Texas Hill Country begging to be put to something other than recreational use and I would probably be going whole hog out there right now.

Don't worry once you get that "WAF" stamp of approval you'll find use for a small portion of that 40 acres

That's the hope!!

FYI I know 158GPH seems like over kill but depending on the height of your fish tank or sump that the pump will not be pushing that amount of water per hour. Usually the back of the box will give you an idea of how high it can push the water and how much it will push at that height. Just an FYI. Good luck with the build! Ps I have a small build posted on here under member systems "small"

It's been almost 2 years since I joined this forum and started this thread. I have FINALLY setup my first system and it has been running for just over a month now. It's small and has a couple of tomato plants and a couple of jalapeno plants. I'm attempting to get some lettuce and catnip going as well, but we'll see how those go. Goldfish are doing well with, amazingly, no deaths as of yet.

As soon as I can figure out how, I'll add some pics.

Can't wait to see some pictures. I have a small indoor system myself and have to keep it wife approved.

To get mine wife approved, I had to put my indoor system on the back porch. So I have an underbed storage box as a grow bed and an 18 gallon tote as my fish tank with 10 goldfish providing the needed fuel for the system. I'm supplementing with grow lights since it's under the porch cover and my backyard is north facing. Doing a constant flow media bed with an air pump in the fish tank to keep the DO high so I don't run into issues with the roots constantly in water.

Figured out how to add some pics

March 2nd - The day I set it up. Added fish and plants immediately because all of the water in the system came directly from a mature system running at my local Hydroponics store.




March 14th


March 25th


One thing I wish I hadn't done was start lettuce and Cilantro in dirt instead of waiting to get some rockwool. They are growing great in the dirt but it makes it a pain in the rear to move them over to the growbed. The "growlight" in the 1st and third pics is a daylight aquarium light. My new growlight I made from LEDs purchased through Amazon. It's 3 red LEDs and then 1 blue LED in a strip. I cut the strip several times and attached the shorter strips to a reflective material suspended above the growbed. You can see a little bit of one strip hanging down in last pic. The adhesive on the LED strip left a little to be desired.