Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here are some pictures from my AP. I finished reworking all the plumbing today. After looking at the pictures below I realize I really need to paint my house! lol. This is the side of the house that gets sun all day and it shows it! lol.










If you look at the plumbing in the first two pictures and the last picture you can kind of see what I changed. At first the pipe was up off the media and would have caused an algae problem so I changed it today. I also added more media today. I started out only have 3 50lt bags of hydroton in the grow bed but after water was added I realized that I needed to add more because it wasnt packed densely enough.

I started my cycle today with raw shrimp and will also be adding pond water to aid with bacteria. I will be keeping Mozambique Tilapia since thats the only kind you can have in Texas with out a permit (the permits cost about 400$ after you are all said and done). With the permits you can actually sell your fish if you want to but we would rather not do that. I will also have to add a heater so that the water stays above 80 degrees but I will worry about that next paycheck lol.

PS, sorry about the pic size I didnt know they would be so BIG!

Great work Narny!

Let the cycling begin

Great start have fun

Looks good, but I would put some kind of clamp on that clear tubing. If that comes loose you will empty your fish tank fast.

You will probably need to change the clear tubing since it will be a problem later on.

I plan to clamp it this week. I was having this same thought today when I was taking the photos.


I went looking for the black and home depot didnt carry the one inch in black so I will have to either find another place locally or order it from the aquatic supply company I use.



Just a curiosity... Do you all have home depot in Australia?

Well we have like bunnings and now marsters which is kind of like home depot

I built my garden "cage" today. I used PVC, zip ties, and plastic garden fencing. My husband said I went over board lol but if it works then its all good imo. I will be posting pictures tomorrow since I still need 2 more pvc tubes to make the top hold tight. Considering this is my very first DIY project EVER that I planned all on my own and I did all by myself with out my husbands help and that worked out... I am rather proud of it lol.

I do have a question, how many grow beds would I need if I wanted to keep one fish per 5 or 10 gallons? I know it varies based on what plants you grow etc but can someone ball park it?

The easiest way to to work it out is that you can have about 2-2.5 fish per 50L bag of clay, roughly... So if you have 4 bags of clay in that bed you can have 8-10 fish.. If you add another bed with another 4 bags of clay, you can roughly double your fish numbers.

Thanks that makes it easier to understand.

I planted this week! I have planted some things I have never grown before like asian long beans and the BIGGEST tomatoes I have EVER heard of called Mortgage Lifters. I dont know how they will do here but there is only one way to find out right.

I still have cumin and stevia to plant but I will start those inside. The stevia is very difficult to get to germinate so I figure I will start one or two in the grow bed and a few inside to see how it works out.

These are pictures of the "cage" for the asian long beans and I will probably use zip ties to help the stability of the tomato plants as they grow just so it doesnt take up to much room.

I am using the sq ft gardening technique. Square foot gardening is the practice of planning and creating small but intensively planted gardens. I hope to be able to increase the amount of yield per bed since I wont have to worry about weeds trying to out compete my veggies.

Looks great, you should be proud.

I planted the rest of my seeds today. I planted a few stevia plants and a bunch of cumin because my husband uses it a lot for cooking. I will also be planting stevia in the house but that will be in dirt. I only have 200 stevia seeds which REALLY isnt a lot considering they have a terrible growth rate. Wish me luck.

these are the mortgage lifters I grew last summer..

Those are some big tomatoes!

My asian long beans are SPROUTING! I couldnt have planted them 4 or 5 days ago! I am very excited. I will post pictures as soon as I get them to load. My phone is being slow.


EDIT* Added Picture