Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Aman;
I started with a barrelponics system, and now I'm starting a commercial system. I highly recommend barrelponics. It's not the best system ever devised, but the manual is great, the materials usually easy to find, and the system thoroughly teaches the concepts you need to get started.

Thanks Karen

I can't wait to get started on it

And also in some amazing way, a blue barrel teaches all kinds of other worthwhile stuff.

When I moved to the country 10 years ago I discovered there were seasons that actually had some influence on the world in some way. For some reason I hadn't really noticed seasons quite so much in the city. Aquaponics also gives that kind of connection with the food chain or something... I dont know. But for the cost a blue barrel, it's really worth it

Thanks BW

Really enjoying your 120 in 20 blog as well

Keep up the good work

aman

I started out with barrells, there very easy to expand onto, my barrels that were tanks are now sumps to my IBC Tank and Halfbarrel beds There a very Easy cheap way to get a feel for things.... i also agree with the building of a system using specially made components as its all in preportion and works well....

All depends on what you want to do....... play and tinker or just have a system that works off the bat, nothing needs to be done..... I love to tinker





Hahahahah Im not the only one out there who just Sits and loses hours of my week just watching.... i swear u can see them grow!!!

Wow not noticing seasons... Somehow it's really hard for me to imagine that.. I guess cause I grew up in a suburban cow town. In a big city it might not matter so much what season it is. Concrete doesn't grow... Okay well it does, but not in the same way.

cool thanks.

You see stats and know people are reading, but never really feel it Its always reassuring to hear proof that someone is enjoying it. It's strange how one real voice is worth tens of thousands of "hits".

It must be so hard for those people on late night radio. You can hear in their voice that they dont really believe anyone is actually tuned in. Morning drive time radio can tell they have a captive audience, but pre-dawn radio is for DJ's who can cope with total despair

And willing that tiny jumping spider to just have a peek around the other side of the leaf its on. JUST MOVE TO THE OTHER SIDE. JUST CHECK IT OUT SPIDER! the other side of the leaf HAS AN APHID ON IT!

Thats why I have no delusions of psychic ability. I've spent hours attempting to use the force to direct lady bugs to a meal 2 inches away, and they never seem to do what I want.

It's lucky I make really really good coffee, or I'd become disillusioned by the entire thing.

It might just be me, ... you notice the seasons change, but it doesnt really matter. Your world is the same temperature, you dont get wet when it rains, you dont get sunburn when it's hot, you eat seasonal food all years round, even the grass stays the same colour all year. Its a freaky world in the city.

I was born, and spent the first 2 years in a desert, spent the next 7 years in a different country in the tropics, then moved to suburban adelaide for 20 years before moving to a farm for 10 years, and until moving to the country, for some reason had never noticed that some stuff dies back in summer, and other stuff grows.

I blame everyone who isn't me

I grew up in very temperate definite 4 season climates and most of them got snow from late fall through winter and into spring.

Now I'm in a subtropical climate and it's all crazy.

Anyway, the barrel ponics system is a good choice if you don't have much DIY experience and it will get you a functional though small system but you will be able to expand on the idea if it suits you. However, if you have more time for research and are already handy with the plumbing and building, you might think about other ways to do things (like cutting barrels around the middle rather than long ways) when cut long ways, you need a fairly good support structure for them to keep em from bowing out. Now not a big deal if you plan to just build the barrel ponics frame and have done with it but if you are not going to build everything that way, cutting barrels around the middle means you just have to support the bottom and the sides won't deform for lack of support.

Anyway, if you can get food safe barrels for free or very cheap, the barrel ponics is definitely a good choice if you need a step by step construction manual.

Most of the people who show up having system stability problems are usually in the initial start up phase and if that is not the case, it is probably a pH issue. Once a system is up and running, you still need to check the pH regularly since the bio-filter will naturally cause pH to drop and if your source water doesn't buffer enough naturally you may need to add something to keep the pH in the desirable range. This generally isn't that difficult but there are people out there who will build a system and then only come here asking for help when something goes wrong and many of them don't even have a test kit and without the basic tools to even know how things are going in the system, yea they are having trouble stabilizing them.

As Rupe says, if you follow the rules and have a test kit, it really isn't hard. Actually it's too easy for many of us and we go on to tinker and keep trying to improve the wheel and stuff.