Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello All!

Long time lurker and learner. I recently gained approval from the other half to put a system in our sunroom and so I thought I'd go ahead and officially join the forum and share my progress.

It's the basic IBC system built almost exactly as outlined in BYAP's excellent PDF. I've stocked it with bluegill since tilapia are hard to come by around here in small quantities with out crazy shipping charges. Thought about yellow perch but figured bluegill would be harder to kill if I were to mess things up a bit.

You can see a the whole journey so far here: http://andydragt.com/aquaponics

I should say a HUGE thank you to all of you that post regularly, this is definitely one of the most consistently helpful sources of learning that is to be found anywhere on the interwebs

2 to 3 weeks since I first started filling the system and here's the lastest water test:



happy to finally be a part of the AP community!

Here's a picture of the new system sitting in our sunroom. We're south facing in the northern US, in this pic it's catching a little late afternoon sun as it sits in the corner with a west facing window as well:

looks good!
with the bluegill, you'll get good growth with a high quality fish food (high protein).. and they are tuff!
my yellow perch struggled when the water got into the 90's outside, but since i moved my small system to the basement, they're doing very well..
you might want to go light on the feed till the nitrites drop

Yeah, I'm going very slow. They only get a small amount once a day (local hatchery had great prices on quality pellets!) Just built some wood panels to go around the fish tank to cut down on the light (algae started showing up a few days ago).

moving a bunch of lettuce seedlings in today to hopefully catch up on filtration...

Wow, an IBC system indoors? Nice one!

Yeah, it took a little convincing but the wife finally gave in and it's become a fun and educational project for the whole family (including my 7 and 9 year old girls)

Just added some random ornamental plants to help with filtration while my veggie seedlings grow up a bit:



not sure they'll like the constant flood or not but they came in a floral arrangement and were otherwise destined for the compost heap...

My pH is dropping. Slowly, but it's dropping. Hope it makes it's way below 8 over the next week.

Wow, in the sunroom huh!

Love it, saw this last night on my phone and thought it looked familiar, then I read the first post. New surprises every day, you know that you are hooked now? Well done and thanks for sharing with us

First time I've seen an IBC system indoors but that is awesome! That way you can also have stuff growing year-round without having to worry about building a greenhouse or anything. That is awesome!

Gday adragt.. Yes, interesting to see an indoor system...

definately go with the advice of keeping feed down, preferably none at the moment with those levels in the system..

Thanks everyone! I'll back off completely on food for the time being, my blues will be fine.

On a side note, one of the biggest tasks before installing this system was to BRACE the floor under it I built a beam to support the far corner (it's along the foundation on 2 sides.

Already planning a 6' x 3' grow bed addition after a bit!

first harvest out of the system was this beautiful little strawberry, so tasty!

Did you have to cut it into 4 pieces to share with the whole family?

Nice little system by the way.

Welcome, Andy! Love seeing more Northern Tier folks on here!

Good on you for bracing the floor. Most wouldn't think about that!

@TCLynx: I cut in two and shared it with my wife (kids where at school)

@swanberg: Thanks for chiming in, I'm following your progress with great interest! I've been considering the possibility of a greenhouse in the city for quite some time. In fact another AP enthusiast and I are well on our way towards buying this:



and turning it into this:



With 7 rental unites and some other leasable space, the greenhouse becomes a bonus. Incredibly that part of the roof was constructed with spancrete to allow potential for a future 2nd floor. We'll probably just put in small commercial scale setup to feed our families and sell any surplus at the local farmers market 6 blocks away. Alas, it's a multi-year project but we're chipping away at it little by little.

WOW, Cool!!!!!! I love it.