Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just bought a 3 acre mini farm right outside Fort Smith, AR which I am going to turn into a Small Commercial Aquaponic Farm with a Highway Frontage Farm Stand. I have been a user of the site for many years while I have researched everything I could about aquaponics. With the purchase of the farm I am now ready to jump all in and have decided to finally become a member of the site.

I am currently in the middle of my first stage. Turning a garage into a greenhouse, namely, by tearing down one of the farm's garages to its frame and replacing the siding and roof with poly sheeting/venting. And ramping up production to produce $1000 worth of produce weekly.

Afterwards my second stage will compose of me growing my own fish feed to eliminate that cost.

Lastly my third stage is to become energy efficient through use of a Solar Array and Battery backup.

Pictures coming soon!

Good luck...

Not wanting to rain on your parade Stimpix but I have been specifically advised by a structural engineer to not replace the metal sheeting on a shed with poly film or poly carbonate. Removing the metal sheeting also removes a lot of the structure's ability to resist wind loads.

I hope you don't take offence but if it was me I'd want to be told something I didn't know that could cause me problems later.

Like Rupe said good luck.

No offense taken. I will gladly take any advice. However, I think this will work. The previous owner who had it built used cheap siding and the roof is shingled.........that is the only reason I'm converting it. Well that, and trying to save on construction costs. Structurally, the beams inside are solid and I hope these hills that surround me will give me a little wind protection.

Besides, I'm going with 8mm twin wall polysheeting from farmtek:

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/ProductDisplay?catalogId=15052&storeId=10001&langId=-1&division=FarmTek&productId=33814

So I hope it will hold up well.

Best wishes with your project

plenty have tried and failed with commercial AP, probably a good idea to start off a smaller pilot system first and re assess from there.

Don't forget plenty of pics are always a hit on here.

With replacing the siding on your shed you could always add some diagonal bracing to make up for the bracing qualities of the original siding.

Once you have removed all of the sheeting you will likely find the structure to be very prone to movement, you could then add sufficient diagonal bracing to stiffen it up before you re sheet the walls.

Just a thought

Well since we had that bad freeze and are experiencing lower than average temps, I am changing my design somewhat. I was going to use IBCs above ground for tanks, but have decided to just dig a tank instead so the soil can naturally insulate it. My tank is going to be 4ft x 5ft and 8ft deep. I will conrete the sides and bottom and place pond liners over the concrete. Finally I will build a cover to keep most foreign material, pests, and sunlight out. I'll throw some pictures up this coming week.

Welcome to the madness. I just foiund you so will try to keep up with your thread. I subscribed so I will be noitified when and post is posted here