Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Third year organic gardener from Cleveland, Ohio. Live in the Burbs so not a lot of space. Got interested in Aquaponics after finding out about it on one of those "SHTF" type sites and have been reading up like crazy, have decided on a basic design, and am about ready to get started.

Of all the sites and resources out there, found Backyard Aquaponics to be the best - very well done to all! I want to grow year round, but I know it's best to crawl before I walk. I settled on this basic system:




What do you guys and gals think? Concept and such good to goo starting out. Of course anybody near Cleveland already in would love to hear about your project.

Thanks again and congrats on a great site.

Welcome

That's a nice compact system.

I like the combination of NFT and media beds.

i can't see your pic's from my work computer (photobucket is blocked) but looking forward to seeing it...
if you need any fish, or food, let me know..i'm in fairport harbor, and have about 200 fish in my basement, mostly yellow perch, with 50 or 60 tilapia as well..
what kind of water temps are you getting?

best of luck!

hey how is you system going? i looking to build something simmular! i would like it to be a stacked garden, with nft on bottom layer and grow beds on top. all indoor useing led light i am building.

what problems or complactions have you ran into?

any updated pics?

T8 lights works the best. If youwant to use LED lights, you got to get the very expensive ones. I tried 10 different LED lights so far, and have been using T8 lights from Lowes.

Good luck

Thanks to all for the input. Answers to your questions below. I thought trout was the deal, but after more reading, gonna go with Perch instead so I may be talking with you Keith, perhaps Tilapia too.

I will be regulating the water temps this winter and spring with a thermostat. We will see how the temps look as this summer heats up.

I have not built anything yet, but the plan is to get the media beds worked out first. Gonna use a flood and drain with a simple loop siphon arrangement. Once I get the siphon(s) set right and working, then I will plumb the rest and get the flow right, leak test, out gas all the chlorine, and plant my seedlings. Plan on cycling it with some feeder goldfish from a pet store to kick things off, and once I get the water where it needs to be (fingers crossed) will get some real fish!

There will be plenty of pics and as I get going I will start my thread on the systems pages. I plan on doing a full video log /documenting it including growing some of the same stuff in conventional pots for a benchmark comparison. This first one is sort of a "proof of concept" - not that I don't think Aquaponics will work, but I have designs on presenting it to my church as a ministry / door opener to impoverished folks, so want to have full docs etc.

So no problems yet Bike, but like most endeavors worth the time there will be things to handle!

Stage one - Media flood and drain siphons working, build grow lights
Stage two - Plumb and build system, leak test and establish flow rates, start seedlings
Stage three - Cycle it and plant seedlings
Stage four - fire that bad boy up!

Thanks again to all and stay tuned.

Kevin