Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,

A friend of mine wants me to build him a system.

Here are some questions though...

Its to feed a family of 6 people, how many grow beds do you guys think would be best for something of that size?

If its ornamental, (dug in pond) can i do anything about reducing algae growth in the pond ?

6 grow beds (min)... I'd suggest 10....

Yeah how much in the way of veg do they eat? DO they grow any at the moment in the ground?


Stats I saw last night said that standard American diet consists of about 5% vegetables, so many people will get by on small systems...

6 grow beds of what size? IBC size or BYAP size?

Depends, as EB says... how many veges you/they eat...

Six beds gives you not only enough room for requirements.... but for crop variation.. and/or rotation/succcession...

But is that the "bad American diet" or the good American diet?

Jezz... they can't be using much lettuce on American big Mac's...

I'm not actually sure it is lettuce Rupe

.... well it certainly isn't cheese they use either....

I watched some Peak Oil documentaries on Netflix, and freaked out so much that I filled up my car with gas and drove to McDonald's and got a few double quarter pounders with cheese but I couldn't eat all of them so I threw them out the window, and continued driving until the gas ran out. True story!

Water lily's maybe? They'll still consume some nutrients, but probably in a more predictable manner than algae I assume. They won't double their mass on a sunny day anyway. Of course then you need even more fish since you want a certain amount of veggies. Or maybe a gazebo or some other sort of shade that won't fill your pond w/ leaves? Or the 4 kids could stand around it during the day and hold their arms up to block some sun... builds character.

Estimates for 1971 that I have in a book say that 200 square feet is required to provide the annual fresh vegetable and processed vegetable consumption for the average American. They were only considering lettuce, onion, tomatoes, cabbage, celery, carrots, cucumbers and green peppers. They go on to say that this translates into about 40 square feet of greenhouse growing space because this can be about 5 times more productive.

Probably need extra space for green beans, boccoli, herbs, melons, brussel sprouts, beets..... and the list goes on. At least this gives you a starting point.

The book is Solar Greenhouse, Design, Construction and Operation by Rick Fisher and Bill Yanda