Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i have to make an aquaponics system for my biotech class and have a few questions, what is an alternative growing medium other than soil, what would be the most effective plant to use, and the most effective fish. We have an apporxiamatly thirty gallon tank. thanks

Heymark,

Take a look under member systems, the smaller ones, and I bet you will find a really good match with pictures and everything.

3/8" pea gravel.
Basil.
Goldfish.

Welcome, Mark. Please have a look around. Plenty of info here.

Hey Mark, welcome to the forum, here are the links to the small, medium, and large systems posted by members.

Small Systems

Medium Systems

Large Systems

And here is the link to the thread for

All Member Systems

Pea gravel, lettuce, gold fish (the other white meat).

pea gravel (or 1/2 inch river rock) whatever is available cheaply.

I second the lettuce vote as it's pretty quick to grow and doesn't get too tall if you are growing under florescent lights and need to keep them close to the plants. (I particularly like salad bowl as a type of lettuce in my hydroponics.)

And yes, goldfish. The cheapest little ones are just fine. (Set up a pond for my cousin and got a bag of goldfish for a dollar. This was several years back but they were supposed to be 10 cents each but we wound up with 13 in the bag. I think 7 of those original 13 are still alive in that ornamental pond after about 6 years.)

Good luck with your project.

damn glad I an't growing goldfish in your part of the world I thought prices here were cheap!

monya, you'll find that the relative price of goldies is higher the more you have AVAILABLE to sell