Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,

My name is Jeff, and am in Roanoke Virginia. I am 31, married, and have two children ages 2 and 5.

I have been interested in aquaponics for some time, but have not yet built anything. Just like to read so far. I would like to build a nice outdoor setup one day, but want to wait until we move. We don't plan to be in this house too much longer, and I don't want to have to tear down something after a year of use.

My kids love fish, so much that when ever we go out to eat they always ask us to go to a local Chinese food restaurant, they like to go there because of the huge salt water tank that they have inside. They also now love plants. We are doing a vegi garden outside this year (in dirt) and we started many different kinds of vegetables, herbs, and flowers indoors in those little peat puck things, and my kids really enjoy checking on them every day to see how much they have grown. They help take them outside in the morning and bring them back in at night. We will be planting them in the garden this coming weekend.

I got an idea today, and wanted to join up to ask some advice on it. I have a 10 gallon aquarium that is sitting empty at the moment. I was thinking of taking this tank, cutting a piece of stryofoam that fits inside it, and cutting out holes for netpots kinda like how people grow lettuce on rafts, but much much smaller. We have a large picture window in our living room with a window sill large enough to hold the tank. I was thinking of setting this up for the kids and using it to grow little stuff like an indoor herb garden, things like basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro, maybe a lettuce, etc.

My only concern is that since this design is so simple, and the roots will be where the fish swim in a deep water culture, that the fish may eat the roots and kill the plants. I wanted to avoid buying a lot of stuff like water pumps for an ebb and flow and a growbed on top if possible.

Anyone know of plant friendly fish that won't eat the roots?

I am going to start a new thread with my question in a more appropriate forum.

nice to see you here

i will look out for your system thread
and good luck with your system