Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello!

Just trying to gather information right now...I'm a complete noob. I've read Sylvia Bernstein's "Aquaponic Gardening", and I'm trying to figure out the best location for my system. I'm a tinkerer by nature...I like to learn new skills.

The back of my house faces' South, and I have a 11'x15' screened porch attached to the back. It gets quite a bit of sun in the morning, and afternoon/evening. I have room in the back yard to build a greenhouse, but, I'm curious if the screen porch is enough. Here's a pic.



I would (obviously) get rid of the grill, the furniture, the white trash lights. Right now, I only use this space for grilling...which I can move easily.

So my question is...can I make this space work, year round? I can put up plastic panels in the winter. Would a dedicated green-house make more sense?

Like I said...I'm a NOOB...I'm just looking for input.

Peace,
Bob

Welcome Bob.
I don't have much info for you, but I'm new too and also a Hoosier.

Thank you for the welcome POC!!

hey Bob, welcome aboard..
can you close off the screened porch?
what kind of temps will it reach in the winter? it should work... good luck!

Hey Keith,

Winter is my main concern. I can make clear plastic panels to cover all the screens, and insulate the roof and floor. If push comes to shove, I can always put a heat source out there. The porch is right off my kitchen/dining area, so it's very conveinient. Temps in the winter vary greatly here (think Chicago weather). This past winter wasn't too bad, only a couple of days below 0° F, but mostly 20's and 30's. If I built a green-house, I would probably need to have a way to heat it as well. I'm just starting to plan, I'll probably set it up on the porch this summer, and see how the growth is...that should give me time to move it to a green-house if needed before winter.

Peace,
Bob

i'm in northeast ohio right on lake erie (snowing today!), and can relate to weather worries.. i moved my small system into my basement after my first summer, and have been expanding in that space since 2010, i'm up to 200 fish, mostly yellow perch, but most of my tilapia have made it through the coldest part of the winter when the tank dropped to 48 or so..
the yellow perch are doing well.. if you can find good bluegill stock, they would work well too.. i'd like to try catfish but my wife is allergic to them, so they're out..
lots of folks here willing to help with information and advice
the addiction has begun

Welcome to the BYAP Forum!

Which direction does this face? Do the trees loose their leaves in Winter.

If this doesn't get much sun I would go for a separate greenhouse where you get more light or use your basement, that way you can still grill without being eaten alive by mosquitos! If it gets plenty of sun then you could make this into a good greenhouse and might get some heating of your main house on cold sunny days as well. Keep in mind that you'll probably have to insulate the wall away from the sun and along the base. If you decide to build a separate greenhouse you might want to check out zsazsa's thread on his solar greenhouse.

Cheers

Howdy neighbor.
I am in the same part of Aquaponics. Got some stuff, just not sure where to set it up at. I need to get my fish tank in order. the conservation district is having a fish sale and blue gill 3 - 5 inch are .75 cents each. fingerlings come in rather large bags and would provide too much fish. Then I got a week to have my tank up and running. I am thinking of putting inside my house so I can grow year round.

The back of the porch faces South, so I get mostly morning and evening sun. The leaves are gone in the winter, so I do get sun in the afternoon on that side. A greenhouse would get more sun year round then the porch, I'm just thinking about using space that I already have. The back side of the house faces South, so I could probably work up a decent lean to design that will get sun most of the day.

There's no real good place in the house to set everything up, I make wine, so I have a good bit of square footage dedicated to that.

Maybe I have too many hobbies?

My thanks to everyone for the welcome!

Peace,
Bob

A lean to greenhouse is the way I would go since the back of the house faces South. One less wall for heat to escape the greenhouse. Adds an extra layer of insulation to the house as well and depending on the space you can use water barrels along the back wall of the greenhouse to store heat in the Winter.