Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Only just getting around to signing on here after running my System for about a year now.


Basically my system is a 5000 litre raised pond made of railway sleepers and rubber lined. On top of this I've built two enclosed grow beds with supplemental lighting for the wintertime, as there's limited sunshine and very short days.

We are keeping Rainbow Trout in the pond and had success with various veg on top.

Ive read loads of treads on here before and while setting things up, so a big thank you to all the resident experts.


Best regards from Ireland

Welcome to the forum Tom

Welcome to the forum. We love pictures...

First attempt at adding photos, so hopefully it works. Will post more later if this works.

A couple more photos





This year I've added a homemade radial filter as I wasn't getting enough of the solids out of the water. So basically I have approx a third of the water fed into this filter. And the output of this is fed into those pink containers with the lettuce on top. This has worked out well as all the fine stuff seems to settle here.

The rest of the water is fed directly into the two grow beds.

Also if anyone in my locality want's to get in touch, I'll be happy to help out.

For me, a long with the usual headaches of cycling a new system, and acquiring the trout. It's generally been a very fulfilling experience.

I've sourced a reliable hatchery who are happy to help out and supply me with fish annually.

You'll need to get approval here from the authorities to keep trout so just get in touch if anyone needs any advice.


Also as a warning to those who are into Aquaponics- it's cextremely rewarding, nutritious, and addictive.

Hi Tom, I'm a little north of Dublin here and very interested in your system. I'm yet to build ours, am still at research/planning stage of things, and I've been instructed by the other half to build a "test" system first before jumping into the huge tank/full garden thing that is so tempting. Did you build a cold frame around your system? It looks interesting. Is it heated inside?