Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everybody, I am new the forum and relatively new to aquaponics. I have done a lot of reading and do a lot of home gardening and vegetable planting and want to start an aquaponic farm in Livermore, CA. I have 11 acres of flat land with a whole lotta sun exposure. I have access to recycled pool covers and have found they work well for lining ponds, I am curious to know if anyone here has had a negative experience or any experience using these long term. I have a general idea of how I am going to build and layout my design but I would like to get this right on my first try so any advice or tried and true methods would be helpful. I have well over 50 pallets of freeway construction blocks and will be using these to construct the walls for my above ground tanks. I was going to shoot for around 2,000 gallons of water per tank. I want to start with raising koi and growing things like lettuce, flowers, tomatoes, peppers and beans so I will need to start constructing my tanks post haste! I am trying to get the best bang for my buck and will be doing most of the work myself with the help of friends here and there so keep that in mind. Anyone who has advice regarding the construction of above ground cinder blocks feel free to comment. Best way to filter? I want to link them together in such a way where I can get decent current. Eventually I will be making worm beds for my compost and dead fish as well as BSF larvae beds. Eventually I want to be composting food waste, beer mash, grape pressings, etc and feed these nutritious larvae to my fish. The goal is to sell koi, high quality animal feed (dried larvae), heirloom and boutique vegetables, red wriggler worms, etc. Whatever brings me some $$. Just closed down my last business and now is the time for me to move forward with this as it is what I would hope to do long term as I find great enjoyment from fish, building things and gardening/growing things.

Hi Koinelius.

Welcome to the forum, and wow, that is one big wall of text. The enter key is your friend online, it makes it easier to read.

If you're making the ponds out of cinder blocks, I'd recommend just sealing with a pond liner/sealer, rather than your pool covers, making sure all the links are well and truly sealed with cement.

I think you should do some more research on the beds you want, before you plan filtration. There are lots of options, and plan on how much produce you want to get out of it, and what your capabilities are with building it. Amount you want/willing to spend.

Media beds are easier to manage and control than something like DWC, but DWC is cheaper to produce, and you don't need as high of a water flow to supply it, so you won't need as big of a pump - less electricity.