Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Is Australia the only place you can get supplies for our AP? Is there somewhere in the U.S.? The shipping from Australia is up there or else we'd just get everything we need from there.

There ya go Joel..... looking to branch out? Well we need a chapter in Kalgoorlie first!

What kind of supplies are you after liberty?

Depends what you are after Libertymtn. It might be just as cheap to buy from here

I'm still shopping for all the pieces to create my first AP monster, but everything I have looked at so far is from stores in the U.S. Surprisingly, a lot of the materials I've looked at are probably going to be purchased at Wal-Mart, TSC or other smaller hardware stores.

Rubbermaid tubs can be found in many places here, barrels and IBC totes are not hard to source either. Pumps, pond liner, net pots, etc. can all be had on Amazon or EBay.

Haven't found a nice rectangular bed that was inexpensive and readymade, like the BYAP ones. For a rectangular bed I think that has to be wood and pond liner here.

And the BYAP fish tanks are a nicer size than the ones I've considered buying here, like say a 300 gallon Rubbermaid versus 6' or 8' round blue plastic tank from Tractor Supply versus a nice white poly water tank...

Dave, Lowes sells Tarter bunk liners or go to TSC and look for feed bunkers. 10' feed bunker with legs is like $120ish or the liners are $90 or so from Lowes.

Thanks for the replies. We have tanks - 1,000 gallon fiberglass rectangular tank (we'll line it with pond liner and reinforce the outside with plywood all around), Rubbermaid stock tanks, etc. It's the smaller things like the pumps, etc. that we aren't sure where to go to get them. Where do we go to get the clay balls for GB's? We can get all sorts of river gravel around here - maybe we should just stick with that? We have several IBC tanks that we are using for other things but we can get more. I think we need to start with one of those to learn on and then go to the bigger tank/GB's. I want to start buying what we need for the tanks, GB's, etc. and have them already on hand once we get the porch up. Is there a webpage with a list of places that carry items that are used in AP's? What you listed above was already a big help...we have Lowes and Atwoods fairly close (within 30 miles one way). Thanks again, we're going to start checking at TSC/Atwoods/Lowes and see what we find...Ebay, too.

For bulkheads, pumps water test kits etc, you can order online at www.jehmco.com

Dont know if you have already looked at aquatic Eco systems, we have a bunch of Aquaculture/Aquaponics stuff.

For media instead of gravel you might also consider expanded shale, it's used as a lightweight aggregate for concrete, Rob (Web4Deb) distributes expanded shale, you could PM him for quotes.

I have gotten all my pumps from my local Lowe's although I am completely aware they will fail after a year or so. I got a decent linear piston air pump recently (on amazon), the prices have come down a lot. Other than that the only mail-order thing I would get would be maybe Uniseals. Or and I got net pots from EBay, a grow light from EBay too (came with a cigarette lighter for some unknown reason!)

Searching for koi ponds usually gives lots of results for products to buy, not many are needed for AP though. I bought liner from this place: http://www.webbsonline.com/

Thank you all so much for the replies - they are being really helpful! My hubby is so busy that he's not really *into* this project like I am...yet. He will be, he just doesn't see the need to get *into* it until we are ready to start building. Meanwhile, he has plenty of other projects on his plate. So it's mostly up to me to figure all of this out and get it going for him. Not unusual. We're a good team. I'm reading as much as I can. Can't say I'm understanding all of it, especially when it starts getting more technical, then my eyes start going blurry. Ha! Koi suppliers/ebay would also have the test kits, I'm assuming? Do the test kits stay good in storage for a good long while or go bad quick? I would buy most of what we need through Backyard because they are so great but the shipping is so high. The one dvd we got cost us just shy of $50 after the shipping was added. !! And it won't play in any of our dvd players except my computer. My son came to visit last week and said he is shocked that it even plays in the computer. My husband and I have been watching it together when we can. I have a notebook that I'm using to write down the tips/info as I read so I don't forget them. Thanks again -

I think I should also add that we are looking for *quality* products - not ones that will wear out in a year or so. We are willing to pay the price for good stuff for this kind of project.

You can get test kits at any pet store, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is the one I have been using. Use the drip-style kits and not the ones that use paper strips, which are not as reliable.

Also a good thing to read is the IBCs of AP, has a section about the basics in there:
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/aquap ... onics.html

That should keep you busy for awhile!

Quality costs more money, I have never been able to justify $250 water pumps for example when I can get $40 ones over and over again, LOL. Also you might consider being cheap on the first few systems, because you will want to rearrange things over the first and second designs, and spending too much on say an overlarge water pump is wasteful and may just kill your hobby. Once you learn and things become settled then you may buy for quality rather than price. IMO

Also, don't think you have to have a huge system to have any fun - a couple hundred gallons can be a decent system to learn on. HTH

Will, we are liking the idea of the feed bunks for GB's. We've owned cattle all of our lives and so we are very familiar with them. We know how stout they are because cattle are so rough on things. So we're checking into those. Would be so easy to set up.

Dave, thanks for the tips and for the link - going to check it out.

Ryan, are you speaking of aquatic eco systems in general or a website in particular?

FonZzz - thank you for the link!

Faye - yeah, if we have to buy from Australia to get what we want...we will.

The downside of feed bunks is that they are very shallow, a foot deep or greater is better, but from what I've seen they are not a foot deep.