Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The apple didn't fall far from the tree with my 8 yr old daughter, Stefanie. She'd definitely daddy's little girl, interested in everything daddy is into, so it's no surprise she's quickly becoming a keen aquaponicist.

I did the power tool and assembly work but it's mostly her ideas. She seeded it and takes care of it day to day, even monitors the water parameters! (with a little help here an there, as she needs it).









...this system was set up and seeds dropped in 9 days ago.

Nice work! Every kids bedroom should have one. Hope it doesn't overflow...

Neat setup!

Plan for the drain to maybe get slow and at the worst clog. Check the drain for biofilm slowing it down and roots clogging the drain. Locate the pump a few inches from the bottom of the FT so that if the NFT pipe leaks then the fish tank won't get pumped completely dry. Maybe add another drain at the end of the pipe where the other one is, at an overflow level just in case?

I want to make my AP similiar to yours. But when I see yours I'd always fear that it falls from its platform. Have you glued or screwed it to the wooden platform?

What seeds did you use? I wonder how to keep them in place. Other than that gratz on the working system, hope to be able to have on too in the next weeks!

Hey Jachymor - The seeds can be dropped right into the gravel or clay balls. As long as you don't shake the medium too much they will sprout fine just sitting in the media. HTH

Nice I like it I wish I had one on my fishtank as a kid

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Good job! I'm hoping my kids will get interested in this kind of stuff so I can teach them science without having to push it on them.

Score! I just started having my 8 year old daughter test my water. And my 6 year old daughter checks for deaths and feeds. I will have to pass this on. Maybe they'll want their own soon.

This is the one thing I'm worried about. Maybe we'll re-design this system some time in the future to somehow flood-proof it.

I'm sure you could rig up some sort of overflow pipe directed out the window. Dunno if the fish would agree... Maybe have the lowest point above the fish tank so if it overflows you get a bonus water feature.

Overflowing from root blocks would be my main worry. Possible another drain from the FT end that is set above the media directly back to the FT incase the media blocks. That way there is no water loss or flooded floor.

I'm looking at adding an additional outlet above the current one, right about level with the top of the media. I don't know why I didn't think of it right from the start.

WRT the roots blocking the outlet, what we've done is not planted within about 10cm of the drain end, and there's some filter sponge between the media and the outlet so it's easy to pull it back a little and clearly see into the overflow. Inspecting the overflow is on Stefanies's daily maintenance list, at the same time as feeding the fish.... I go and have a little look around myself too on a daily basis. I'm still a little nervous about it tho.

Sounds good! I've also had rubber hose clog with crud over time, with garden hose sized ones and nowadays with 1/2" hose. That could be another thing to check, that the flow stays strong and isn't slowing down over time. HTH