Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi yall. I spent a good part of the past weekend reading about aquaponics. I found this forum, and joined.I live in columbus. I keep bees, farm alpacas, and try to grow giant pumpkins.(only got to 200lbs last year due to heat,no water, and injury) I'm currently trying to figure out a system that uses a 300 gallon (1100 or so liter for those down under) tank. I need something that looks nice so I can put it in the front yard, something that I can do on a seasonal bassis, and something that can be easily broken down since Im going someplace away to college in a couple years.(im 15y/o). The seasonal basis part is my mom probly won't go for the idea of fish in the basement, and a very persistant cat, and few less motivated cats. I'll just have to keep reading and figure it out. Just cuz its hard to figure out dosn't mean I don't do it.

Great forum yall-chris

Welcome Chris!

Sounds like you have some good hobbies, AP is another interesting one for sure.

I'm from Lancaster originally and went to OSU. Use the search function on the forum as most ideas and questions have been explored already, but feel free to ask questions too as everyone here is very welcoming and helpful! Have fun!

Another Ohioan, whoo hoo. We're taken over one person at a time. Hey Chris, I live in Tiffin. Just a short drive away from you.

I am a newb, so do not look for answers from me, just questions at this point. But there are many helpful people here that can fill in the blanks.

Vince

I've got a 300 gallon system going, current set up has the fish tank sunk in the ground though. Would need a big flat bed and a fork lift to easily take it with you though.



could be easily dressed up a bit to look nicer for the front yard and the layout can easily be changed.

I dont want to take it with me,just make it so I can take it down. As in avoid making it permanent. My biggest issue is a seasonal system. Its gonna be 8 degrees F tomaroww evening. I dont think there is any fish that can survive like that in a 300 gallon tank. So I need to have fish that have short grow out, and don't need hot water temps.

i'm in ohio near the lake..
you won't really find many fish that have the kind of growth rate that tilapia do, but, there are plenty of fish that you could use..
i have yellow perch and bluegill..
a few yp died in the summer when it got way to warm (110gal rubbermaid stock tank) but the bg are pretty hearty.. now that they're in the basement, i can keep a better eye on them.. the perch are growing ok, as are the bluegill, but if you want them to grow out in one season, you'll have to buy bigger fish to start with
i used 2 barrels to make 4 growbeds for my first system, and only moved one pair into the basement for the winter.. and using glass fishtanks w/ a flourscent light

I'm in Toledo, and have had a system for two years now. My outside system is a solid chunk of ice now. So, yeah, I don't think any fish would be able to stand up to that!

Kristopher

Maybe ill just do goldfish for the first year to get a handle on things.

Nothing wrong with that Chris, you can get a lot of pleasure out of a system with goldfish.

viewtopic.php?p=4043#p4043

Well I suppose I can throw in with the Ohio group. I was born just south of Dayton, graduate of Miami of Ohio. And could eat my body weight in Skyline Chile. Now though I'm in phoenix AZ. I'm new to Aquaponics but just spent a small fortune today laying in all the supplies. start building tomorrow. I'm turning an old in ground pool into my system. Go Bengals. Man they stink.

hey chris
what about a barrelponics system to get you going, till you can build something a little bigger/ more permanent?

Hey 36hrday, start a thread with pictures of your pool, that sounds like an awesome project. Can you imagine if 1/2 of the pools in the desert were converted to AP??? BTW have you seen gardenpool.org?

http://gardenpool.org/

Also Dufflight on here is using a pool, and few others I think too.

Hi Chris!

I'm in Minnesota. There are more than a few of us doing AP in cold temps. Lots of good advice on it in various threads here on the forum...

Yeah, I have a barrelponics and it works OK. I would recommend using the tractor supply rubbermaid tanks, though, since they are designed to hold water on their sides. TLClynx has several in her system. Only problem is price, probably ten times the cost of blue barrels.

i got the 110 gallon rubbermaid tank for $59 at tractor supply, it had a bigger outlet than the 100gal and was 10 bucks cheaper. it wasn't big enough to keep the water at a stable temp over summer, and got way to warm for yellow perch, the bluegill did ok in the heat. if you use them for growbeds, i'd recommend some kind of reflective covering around them