Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Pictures of my 125g Aquarium system are at the end of this post. I hope everyone enjoys them, as I've learned a lot from this forum over the past year.

Details:
Fish Tank - 125 gallons aquarium
Substrate - pool filter sand
Grow bed - 75 gallon hydroponic reservoir
Grow media - hydroton
Sump - 75 gallon aquarium
Light - 400w Metal Halide on vegetables, 180w CFLs on aquarium
Pump - 700gph aquarium pump
Fish - 2 Acarichthys heckelii (threadfin acaras), 12 cories, 9 Australian rainbows, 9 black neon tetras, 1 whiptail catfish, 2 oto catfish (really small cleaners), 1 nerite snail, an abundance of trumpet snails. 2 soon to be introduced rainbow cichlids.
vegetables - a lot of junk...I've just been chucking in seeds. Mostly lettuce, peas, and basil. But, there are dwarf sunflowers and zucchini in there too.

This setup has been running since February. Unfortunately, the tetras introduced ich into my system so for the last month I was battling ich. I used mostly heat to kill it by raising the water temp above 86 degrees. It killed most my vegetables (cilantro, beets, etc.) and I lost a few fish. Anyway, the ich is gone and the system is making a come back.

The tank is planted also with several aquarium plants.

I wanted to do the whole outdoor route but couldn't pull it off because of several factors. So, I decided to run a test system in my basement while I prepared for an outdoor system. I've never had an aquarium or anything, but I've had a blast building this system. Shout out to my good friend Jeff who helped build the GB and FT stand..actually he built designed and built the stands. If he shows up on this forum everyone tell him that he should do AP instead of raising ducks.

Two more:

One more: pre ich veggies

Looks great, phi. Good choice on the cory cats-they ought to keep the sand fairly well stirred up to keep any anaerobic action going on under there. If not, maybe an earth-eater cichlid is in order? The geophagus surinamensis has been one of my favorites for awhile and they're fun to watch sift the substrate and blow it out their gills.
The tank looks beautiful and I like the foil-boxed-in growhouse.
Ich-part of tropical fish-keeping. They named it right.

Thanks! I like the surinamensis! They look awesome! I was actually looking for some geos and couldn't find any around here at the time. The threadfin acaras (Acarichthys heckelii) resemble geos in many ways...I think they are closely related somehow. The heckelii exhibit some of the same characteristics including sand sifting (although not as extensively as a true geo).

I've thrown a few malaysian trumpet snails in the tank as well, so they should keep the sand pretty stirred up.

I guess this isn't a true produce your food AP setup, hence the "experiment"...but, it's a lot of fun.

Your tank looks fantastic phi! Would love to see some more photos of it!

I also used an aquarium system as a test before i set up a bigger system. I also just wanted an aquarium Which then resulted in me getting 2 more.

My biggest problem is getting the plants to grow. You dont seem to be having that problem at all though Keep up the good work mate.

Thanks! What type of fish do you keep in your Aquariums?

Aquariums are a lot of fun! I got into AP because I love to grow veggies, but I find myself getting drawn more and more into the different fish you can raise and watch.



Do you mean Aquarium plants or AP plants? I haven't had the best of luck with either just yet. The AP plants are finally starting to take off and the Aquarium plants are hanging in and starting to grow a little. I really have no idea what I'm doing with the Aquarium plants as all this is new to me. The AP also, although at least I know what the plants are and have grown them in dirt before.

I've attached a pic of the newest additions: Two rainbow cichlids...I'm hoping a male and female. And a pic of just the tank.

Looking at the shape of the fins and foreheads, I'm fairly certain you have a male(left) and female. They are cool cichlids and yellow can be a tough color to get in your aquarium.
I had a single that paired up with a convict cichlid and stayed predominately black to fit in. Put it in a different tank and it went back to its normal coloration.
Looking good!

I was referring to my AP plants. My aquarium plants are going crazy atm

My fish:

1 x male flame dwarf gouramis
1 x female flame dwarf gouramis
1 x chinese pleco (i think it is a chinese one )
1 x bristle nose catfish
8 x neon tetras
2 x ghost knife fish (these guys are way cool!)
2 x harlequin resbora
??? x red cherry shrimp

A pic of the male gouramis



I love the driftwood and rocks in yours. I have been trying to find some locally, but i live on the beach so it is only really limestone and soft woods Very jealous of you tank

Some aqurium plants can be tricky.check google for the hardier ones. They can also get cold feet. As the gravel/sand is at room temperure not water temp. Unless you have under gravel filters. To fix this you can get a cable type heater that suctions to the bottom of the glass and moves the water through the medium with convection flows. This will not be enough to heat the water though so youll still need a heater.

Also they need a better medium then gravel/sand. If you havent set it up properly you can get a clay type ball that you bury around the roots. A 24hr fertiliser is needed aswell which replaces nutrients taken up.(without causing algae due to over dosing but youll need a iron test kit to get optimal dose rate.) Then after water changes youll need to top up with micro nutrients.(tablets).youll find once the plants break the surface they will grow much better. This is due to easier access to carbon( the building block of plant growth)

To beat this in the water co2 is injected. Best to google it. Ive tried many brands and have gone back to dupla.made by the germans.

This is all for the hard to grow fancy pants plants. (mouthfull)
Their are many that will grow without all this. So best to research.
Lighting is also very important.

Im using tapatalk so cant see where your from but if your in adelaide let me know cause im for ever throwing plants out.

Also cichlids tend to destroy a planted tank. Thats why you see most with driftwood or rock decorations. Sand is great for them as they make little dug outs becomes their territory.

Hope this helps.

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Sorry re read.you mention imperial measurements so your not around these parts.lol.

By the way it does look beautiful.congrats.

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Jimbo: Glad to hear that you think they are a male and female! I'm hoping they pair up.

rsevs3: Good looking gourami. I like the look of the ghost nite fish also...very different. I've also thought about putting some shrimp in the tank, but am pretty sure the threadfins will eat them once they get larger, but I could enjoy for at least a year before that happened. The driftwood and rocks all came out of local creeks in the area, we have a lot of granite around here...just google "Stone Mountain Georgia". There are several smaller versions sprinkled around the area. The wood is actually really soft and I don't expect it to last too long. I have a farlowella catfish that loves to chew on it also (still trying to get a pic of him).

Green troll: Thanks for the tips! At first, I wasn't planning on growing aquarium plants as I was interested in aggressive cichlids...but then the interest in plants took over so I went the route of supposedly plant friendly cichlids. The rainbows seem to ignore most plants so far, but they have declared war on one and completely destroyed it. I guess it's going to be hit or miss with what they like. As for fertilizing, I'm just going to let the fish provide the nutes in the water column. I'm trying to be as low tech as possible since I already have lights, heaters, etc. I made some diy root tabs to put in the sand for the root feeders like swords, made them out of osmocote and gel caps....will see how it works out.

Just threw in a lot more dwarf sunflower seeds along the back of the GB last night...I think it would be cool to have a hedge of these. Also, dropped in some zucchini seeds. The lettuce and basil is really taking off, but the peas are just sitting around thinking about it.

Java ferns and anubias nana both do well with rather little nutrient and light in an aquarium.
I have black ghost knives also. They are awesome, but no shrimp can go with them. They even killed my 4" Bamboo shrimp and they're not even 8" long yet. Oh well. Congo tetras, rosy barbs, a pearl gourami and lots of smaller species plecos in my 125 with plants. hen I have a 56 gallon tank with an angelfish, a geophagus surinamensis, a gold severum (beautiful fish) one of those parrot hybrids (funny looking but bright orange color), a dozen albino cories and another small pleco.
You might also try to find some indica rotala (or another indica ----- species) plant for a background plant. Of course its less nutrients in the growbed.

You have some seriously cool looking fish there Jimbo! Very cool indeed.

I just found some drift wood the day before yesterday that i have soaking now. Will post some pics when it goes in after it has been soaking.

phivtoosyx: maybe it is too warm for your peas? I think they are a winter veg and it must be warm in that little grow box?

anubias nana has to be one of the best its slow and hardy