Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am ordering the stuff to make a few lettuce rafts (net pots float on top of the water). I was gonna make this a hydro system with a rubermaid container, but I got to thinking...

Could I use a larger 50 or so gallon tank and keep fish under the lettuce float? As long as I keep an airstone in the water and keep the fish fed, this should work, correct?

I've seen most systems use a tank for the fish and grow beds for the plants, but what about combining them in such an arrangement?

Any input is appreciated.

no reason why it wouldn't work, but you'd need some mechanical filtration for the solid fish wastes and also media for your nitrifying bacteria to colonise.

if you're only looking at growing lettuce then the easiest way i can see to accomplish what you're thinking is to run an aquarium canister filter.

50 gallon is about a standard 4" aquarium. you will find that you need to clean the filter sponges out about once a month with a decent fish load.

Steve.

Suggestions on what type of fish life would work here? I'd like something eadible!

Yabbies or talapia... or maybe blue gills??

Don't know about bluegill.... but tilapia being herbavores will probably eat all the lettuce roots as fast as they can grow.

maybe separate the tilapia from the roots?

I am trying a bead filter for my aquarium currently. Its really easy to clean just turn two 3-way ball valves and pump the $#!T into a bucket, let it run clear and flip the valves back the other way, done! No $H!T