Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i am in the process of building a aquaponic system without any, or as little as possible pvc's or plastic, yuck! i wanted to get feedback on what i have for this very basic system and what i will need.
what i have so far!
1 fish tank- 100gl 2ft by 2ft by 4ft galvanized watering tub
2 vertical grow tubes- 4in-5in diameter bamboo
3 5in terracotta pots
4 black lava rock (growing medium)
what i need?
pump?- must be able to pump 8ft vertical
airater?
water heater? i live in south florida
biofilter? could a natural pond work?
would appriciate any and all feed back!
sincierly joe!l

Welcome therooster!

You will need to coat or line the tank, zinc is bad for fish. (this might just be bad for crustaceans, others may help here)
I wouldn't think you'd need a heater in S FL
You will have to look at the head height / flow graph for any pumps if you want to pump up 8'. I tried to have a setup that was 6' but my pump only could go 5' so had to dial back my plans.
Not sure what youre saying about a pond as a biofilter.

biofilter- where the nitrates are broken down to nitrites?

Yes. But he is not sure why you think a pond would serve this purpose. In particular, what in your pond is going to serve the purpose of converting the ammonia to nitrites, and nitrites to nitrates. Are u planning to fill the pond with some type of filter media?

It is our understanding that a pond simply filled with water will not be a very effective biofilter, but perhaps a settlement tank?

What is your particular objection to PVC? The health concerns of it leeching chemicals into the recirculating system over time, or the environmental impact of producing it?

If it is the former then you have the option of using pressure pipe, which uses a different type of PVC to standard waster type PVC pipes (at least in Australia, where it is rated for use with drinking water), or you can uses the correctly graded black poly pipe.

If it is the latter, then I'm not sure of the different environmental costs of each pipe type.