Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

After lurking on these forums, I've finally gotten almost all the stuff I need for my system. So far it's:


26L tank
Not sure how big my grow bed is since I just picked up a plastic container



I'm planning to use a flood and drain. Hopefully everything will work. I'm planning to plug my pump into a timer so that it'll pump for 15 minutes then drain for 45. I'll be starting out with some bok choy which I've had regrown from after I cut off the top part and ate it


One thing I'm not so sure on is my growing medium. I couldn't find any pea gravel around here (I just moved here a few months ago so probably wasn't looking in the right places) so I settled on akadama, which is used for bonsai growing? It's pretty dusty right now but I'll hopefully be able to wash most of it out. Has anyone used akadama before?? I couldn't find anything on it in regards to aquaponics.

Also, how would I attach flexible plastic tubing to the bottom of my plastic container that I call a growbed? Superglue? Epoxy?? And if the answer is aquarium silicone, assume I can't find it here (because I'm terrible at knowing where to go to buy stuff) and I got silly looks when I tried to ask shopkeepers....

Welcome to the forum

Update on my system! Finally managed to get everything put together this weekend. There are a few things still not quite right with it. I managed to drill a hole for my drain pipe in my grow bed in a very ghetto fashion so it leaks just a little. Hopefully will pick up some aquarium silicon to seal it off.

The akadama/bonsai soil I bought actually is just clods of dirt and not really gravel so I need to find a medium again. I hope by the end of next week to get everything planted and running.

I'm planning on doing fishless cycling since I will be out of town for a weekend and I'll feel super guilty when (not if) I kill my fish.

Hey, One thing about the pea gravel you should think about is the weight. With the water (1KG per litre) and the gravel you may be looking at rather significant weight. Are you in a high-rise building. I'm not sure but it may be worth thinking about the weight.

You don't want to find your system has gone through the floor!

To spread the weight a little you can put the shelf feet onto wooden blocks so they have a bigger foot print.

As for aquarium silicon, again go to Mong Kok. Although I just went to a regular hardware store and used what they gave me. I don't think it was 'aquarium' but it did the job.

Hey Paedur.... how are things going with your system...

Hey Paedur! I am in a high rise building. I totally forgot about weight, but I'd be VERY scared if the floor can't handle 46kg of weight on a shelf. I will look for the little feet for the shelf though.

I actually found the silicone at a Japan home centre. It doesn't specifically say aquarium silicone, but it says it can be used in aquariums, among other things.

so my growbed has a very slow leak (and it leaks conveniently into my fishtank), should I even bother to fix it? when I drilled out the holes for teh plumbing, I wasn't able to do it in 1 go since I don't have the right tools so I just slowly chipped away at it with a much smaller drill bit, resulting in something that was a little off for my pipe threads...

With leaks, the questions are:
Does it matter
Will it get worse
Do you care

As it's leaking onto the tank I guess it doesn't matter. And it's fixed so it shouldn't get worse.
So do you care? Personally I'd fix it.
A squirt of silicone will do the job.

You got water test kits to check your numbers? Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. And Ph.


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Yup! I do! I'm trying to do fishless cycling so just waiting for the ammonia to kick in. Not worrying about pH at all right now since there are no fishies to kill.

I just applied some more silicone this morning. Guess will have to wait for that to cure!

I did not do fishless cycling, but do you have to kick-start it someway by adding ammonia? I think you need to add ammonia (either as a chemical or just wee in it) and then eventually the nitrifying bacteria will grow. Once you get readings of lower ammonia and increased nitrites and nitrates you are cycled.

So I think you need to add ammonia. I have no idea how much.

Also to speed things up you can get some bacteria from a friends aquarium. Get some of their tank water and rinse their filter medium in it, then add that brown cloudy stuff to your system.

For me, when I was cycling I bought two bags of the feeder fish from Mong Kok. Very cheap. That was over a year ago and many of those feeders are still with me!

If you start it very slow (one or two fish in your small tank) I would do fish cycling. It's more fun than an empty tank.

BTW if you don't have a friend with an aquarium, I can offer you some of my water. I don't have a filter so can't give you any of that. But the water itself should be ok I think.

Hey Paedur,

Thanks for all the help so far! I'm just ended up putting some pee in my tank for it to get cycled. It's pretty cloudy now but it's only been about 2 days since everything's really been up and running. My ammonia level is through the roof right now, but hopefully it'll start dropping in a bit. I'm not doing fish cycling this time because I'm actually going out of town for a few days and I wouldn't be around to monitor levels!