Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I´m a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador and I am attempting to make aquaponics a sustainable option for the locals... I have about $3000 in funding and after a pain staking period of contruction I managed to build a 4000L tank and have two grow beds ( about 1.5 m cubic). The good news is that everyone is super excited about this idea... the bad news is that I have no idea what I am doing. Can anyone help me with some statistics? How many fish per gallons? Produciton rates? Water temps, pH, etc? THINGS TO AVOID? Any info would be appreciated....

Welcome Qbox... you need to talk to your neighbour.... DTHawk... he's doing (and has for a couple of years) what you're intending to do... in El Salvador....

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PM him... I'm sure he'd love to chat to another like minded person...

I would say above all to take it slow, slow introduction of fish and plants, because it is easy to "break" a brand new system by dumping a lot of fish in there right away. Especially if you're learning the ropes try to do things gradually. Don't expect the plants to take off until about three months of stable operation, use small little seedlings and stuff until then. Have the plants and fish grow with the system as it matures in biofiltration and water chemistry.

Another thing to avoid is trying to over-manipulate parameters like pH. I've killed fish that way. Look at it as just making a nice stable home for the animals, plants, and bacteria to do their natural things. Your system is large enough that it will have some nice stability as long as you don't try to push things in one direction then another.

Hay there and welcome!!!!!

Probably a good idea for you to get a system thread started in Member System so you can detail what you have done so far with the set up and operation of your system.

Do you have a way to get some pictures of the system posted?

Some basic numbers that might help you find the ballpark (as noted above, always start out slow or with less fish and work your way up.)
So how much fish can a system support, that is usually more closely linked to the amount of growbed you have than to the fish tank space. If you are running flood and drain gravel or media beds (best to avoid limestone/marble gravel though) then 100 liters or 25 gallons of grow bed can support 3 kg or 6 lb of fish (this is the final grown out weight not the weight of the fingerlings when you first put them in or you will immediately outgrow/crash system.) Again it is best to start out with a bit less fish than the system could theoretically support since it takes time for the system and the caretakers to learn what to do.

Get a test kit that can test for pH, high range pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. The test kits with little test tubes and dropper bottle are more accurate than any test strips.

Read up on the Basic info and Useful Info sections of the forum to learn about the nitrogen cycle, pH, hardness and all sorts of other good info to get you started. There is also threads that will help you figure out what all the crazy terms like CHIFT PIST and SLO mean.

Beware of planting very aggressive plants in a large shared grow bed since they are likely to take over and crowd out other plants you want.

Find other APers near you so you can check out their system and compare notes.

Pick a long member system thread to read through from start to finish to see if you can learn from their mistakes before you have to make them yourself.

Come back and ask specific questions as you come up with them.

Welcome again and Good Luck!

You guys are AWESOME!!! I will try to get some pictures up soon but living in this third world nation limits what I can do. And please don´t judge how it looks, I have to build using free labor here so it looks shotty but it should last forever. I am sitting across from DHawk right now and he has been telling me (the live out in an adobe hut, dirt floor, no potable water, peace corps volunteer) to update through the internet everyday... we got a good laugh out of it but I will open a systems thread so that you all can see what I have going on and the cute Salvadorian children helping out with cleaning and such... Thanks again for all your help!!

If you look through some of the DIY type system threads the range is everything from top notch fabricated growbeds and stands all the way down to aquaponics using trash and junk and just about everything in between. I don't think anyone will mind seeing what can be built with free labor!!!!!! Actually, many of us are probably now very interested to see it.

Good Luck with feeding the locals!!!!!

Welcome to the madness Qbox It will be fun seeing others take ownership of this project. I may have some pics to add here if I can find them.

Welcome Qbox

i hope you have success it what your trying to do
and welcome to the madness and addiction that is AP

i hope to see you in the members system thread real soon

looking forward to what you can do with free labour and your own

good luck