Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I started an aquaponic setup on mid March 2008. I had been browsing the net for a few weeks now about aquaponics. At first i wanted a hydroponic setup,as i did more research, the apeal of an aquaponic setup grew and grew. So i decided to take the plunge and have my own setup right in my backyrad.

The total size of the aquaponic system is around 30 square meters. The fishpond and the growbeds are made out of concrete. I was contemplating on using other materials for the growbeds: plastic, wood or blue barrels but ended up with a concrete dseign. I ended up with just one big growbed 16 ft by 32 ft with around 9-10 inch depth. I would be using a flood and drain method here with a 1/8 HP pump. The pond is 12 feet by 16 feet and has a depth of 21 inches.

This is my first attempt at aquaponics and so far im learning the ropes. I made a few mistakes in the design and the setup of the system, hopefully the lessons learned from this attempt will be incorporated in farm 2. : >

Thanks to backyardaquaponics this site is a great source of information. In fact this site served as my field manual in setting up my system.

Here are some pics of my setup. So far its not yet running but,it soon will. You can read a more detailed description with more photos on http://cityfarmerph.blogspot.com/ .

Sketch UP



Pond Construction


Main Fishpond


Growbed

seems like photos won't post using the image tag.

Use the "Add Attachment" button CF.... max size 256kb, max of three photos/post....

And welcome, hope you get the photos up.... really want to see what you've done

Here are some of the construction pics. Im planning to grow some tilapia and some eels in my setup. For the vegies i'm gonna try broccoli,lettuce,tomatoes and some herbs. Sad to say strawberries won't grow here... i would've wanted that.

for a more in depth description, i have been documenting my progress at

http://cityfarmerph.blogspot.com/

Any comments or suggestions would be great :>

Hi City,
one thing Rupert didn't say, is you need to attach the pictures in reverse order so your story runs well.

Looks like a good system starting to grow

That is one big grow bed! I look forward to seeing this working. I have often thought about using concrete beds, but I had not considered using blocks. Welcome to the addiction!

What have you used to seal the concrete on the inside of the growbed ?

Maybe its the pic , but that gravel doesnt look too washed , I see youre using my method for that one - dump it in & use a filter on the pump for a week to clean it up

I hate washing gravel

That growbed pic is still incomplete, i will be using a pond liner to contain the gravel and the water. The gravel that you see in the photo are just the extra gravel from the pond construction. I just spread it as a base.

For the pond waterproofing i used some elastomeric paint sealer before the final layer of concrete was applied.

Good idea also on the gravel washing, i think i'll do the same. I can't think of any other way to wash 3 truckloads of gravel...

ah ok - i just saw the pic and assumed that gravel WAS the growbed , I was thinking WOW , thats one big , deep bed . I wasnt thinking & didnt realised that it was to lift the height of the bottom of the bed relative to the pond - silly me

I'd still put a final coat on top of the concrete in the pond if youre not using a sealer for that . Food grade concrete sealers are available & well worth the expence for the opiece of mind , knowing that nothing can leech out of the concrete into your food supply

very impressive sized system anyway !

Hi CityFarmer

Welcome to the forum. Looks like a great start to your project..
What type of fish are you planning on using? What kind are veggies are you going to grow? Have you worked out any other details such as stocking rate of fish..
Washing gravel is a pain..Try to dry screen the smaller particles out first before washing to save the use of water..Its the dust that sets like rock in the bottom of the growbed

Great work and nice blog!!
LB

Very impressive CF, will there be any problems with lack of sun on the GB area do you think?

Boris: thanks, ill take that into account.

I think ill be dividing my pond with a net, half of it would be growing Japonica eel and other half would be growing tilapia. I need a divider because, i asked an aquaculturist here if they can be grown together, he told me that the eels would eat the tilapias.

For the vegetables, pretty much of my crop would be broccolli and lettuce and a sprinkling of tomatoes and herbs.

EllKayBee: yep, im worried that the lack of sunlight on half of my growbed. the other half is fine. Im still thinking if im gonna cut more trees,well branches maybe. That part of the growbed is under the massive branches of a 50+ year old mango tree, i dare not cut it because it provides us with all the mangoes we can eat and more. I think i would need to put some sort of growlights to compensate in the future. Maybe an array of 3x 4ft flourescent bulbs if it really lacks sunlight.

I have a question regarding tilapias. Wha is the main difference between the black variety, the white variety and the red ones. The red ones here cost 3x as much as the others. Does their meat taste the same?

some people have mentioned an interest in growing eels, but I don't know that anyone is doing it yet.

Unagi, is it smoked eel?

Edited by CL

Unagi is grilled eel with a special japanese sauce.

CharlieLittle:Strawberries grow here but only in the mountains where it is colder. I live in the lowlands where it is hot and humid pretty much all the time. The country i live in (Philippines) is a tropical country in southeast Asia.If the sun isn't shining then its raining. We don't have winter either...That is why stawberries and other kinds of berries may grow here but won't fruit.