Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,

I'm an aquaponics beginner, running a small system in Port-au-Prince in Haiti. We have tilapia, but at the moment we have too much ammonia, so I think that means we need more plants.

I'm figuring out what else to grow. I have never done any gardening in a tropical climate before, so I'm not quite sure what to plant. The weather here is always hot, always humid and often wet.

I was thinking okra, kangkong, sweet potato and maybe moringa. (Though I might just grow moringa in the ground.) Does okra take up too much room? We only have 48 sq ft to work with. The aim is to supplement the diet of a bunch of my friends, so as much yield as possible, and a bit of diversity. Ultimately, once we have this system humming along, we'd like to train more people to do the same and spread aquaponics in Haiti.

Thanks for your help.

Ammonia means your bacteria is not converting the ammonia to nitrites and nitrates. Either your system is new or you don't have enough bacteria.

It's pretty new. I don't know the exact age of the system coz I didn't build it; it was here when I arrived. There really are very few plants in it.

The amount of plants doesn't matter on your ammonia. How big are the grow beds, or your filter system. The bacteria is what reduces the ammonia.

Any of the Asian leafy greens would be good. Will provide good food for you and your friends. Many can be used in salads and many can be cooked. Do ago ogle search for them.

Wow there are SO many Asian and African and pacific vegetables!

Most people here would be unfamiliar with them
As primarily caucasian, anglophone, extra tropical residents

I'm in the proper tropics here so I'll share some names..

You'll know many subtropical veggies but there's some that are special

Kangkong (ipomoea aquatica) is just the best warm climate aquaponic plant in existence!

Genjer (limnocharis flava) is also delicious

Water cress we can get here but it's grown in the cooler mountains

Water chestnuts ( elaeocharis dulcis) are productive and delicious. Asian cultivars can be as big as small apples

Lotus ( nelumbo nucifera) more than gorgeous flowers - edible petals, seeds, roots , leaves

Blue waterlilly (Nymphaea caerulea) edible flower with mildly narcotic effect
Traditional food for Australian aborigines

Duck potatoes - saggitaria species

Neptunia oleracea / n plena - fascinating veggie I ate in Vietnam
Floats on water like a raft. Nitrogen fixing aquatic
plant. Has potential to make nitrogen inputs to aquaponics self reliant !
I've eaten it in soups and steamboats , nice

Aibika (abelmoschus manihot) Papuan tree spinach - tasty and nutritious, tender greed does great in aquaponics. Fish love the leaves too
Only prop by cuttings

Sawtooth coriander ( eryngium foetidum) loves ap

Laksa mint ( polygonum odoratum) great in se Asian soups and salads

Lemon grass

Paddy herb ( limnocharis aromatica)

Bac hao / celery stem taro ( colocasia sp) petioles in steamboats

Gotu kola ( centellA asiatica) great health herb add to salads

Brahmi ( baccopa monniera) memory herb, good heart herb, just loves flood n drain ap

Bitter gourd ( momordica charantia)

Lotti ( colocasia esculenta) variety of taro harvested for runners as soup vegetable
In Bangladesh and Singapore

Japanese bunching onion (allium fistulosum) cut n come again forever in ap

Garlic chives (allium tuberosum) as above

Water ginseng ( Talinum triangulare) tender delicious spinach

Ceylon spinach ( basella alba, b rubra, b cordifolia) evergreen climbing spinach

Binahong ( anredera cordifolia ) cholesterol lowering spinach

Sweet potato - leaves popular as spinach

Katuk ( sauropus androgynus) shrubby leaf veg, high in iron, eaten by women to increase milk flow

Okinawa spinach ( gynura sp) tasty raw or cooked, cholesterol lowering

Mushroom plant ( rungia klossii) Papuan salad veg

Galangal ( alpinia galanga) would beca lot easier to harvest in AP! Great chicken marinade

Kencur ( kaempferia galanga) essential in Indonesian cooking and medicine. Well suited to ap

Pakis ( diplazium esculentum ) vegetable fern very tasty from indonesia

Gondo ( unknown) water veggie in Bali rice fields thats better than kangkong


That's a start
There's plenty more

hi JakartaGreen, i would like to know, where to buy the seeds in Jakarta.

thank you very much

Hi Laoshi,

Wondering if you ever found an answer to this.

I'd also like to know...

Cheers,