Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So the wife and I recently decided to give this aquaponics thing a try. We found a design on YouTube that really inspired us, so I drew up some plans and we went to work.



We ended up using two totes in the bottom for the fish tanks and the third for the pump and some filters. We started off with 15 goldfish, but we've had one fatality so far (he managed to get into the pump tank and get stuck on the pump. We've fixed that problem since). The three grow beds on top use basic bell siphons.



We're looking to try growing some lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach, and strawberries. There are 60 holes in the tubes for mesh pots, three grow beds, and a floating section. Hopefully we can get 75 or so plants in there. Doesn't seem too bad for a 2x8 footprint.

No clue how well it all is going to work, but it was a fun little weekend project and it's a nice way to teach the kids a little about ecosystems.

Any tips or suggestions are always welcome!

Welcome to the forum, love the design.

Great use of vertical space! Best of luck!

very cool

Great design! Looking forward to updates and seeing it filled with plants

Nice! And welcome to the forum.

Cool set-up

Are you going to stick with gold fish or are you going to try some edible species??

Sweet design PlainGuy.

I dont think you would get much in the way of edible in those small containers though...

I have seen people pull off tilapia in small containers. They like that kind of abuse...

How many would you get in each one?

We had read about edible fish, but weren't really thinking of trying it with this setup. We don't even know the first thing about cleaning fish as of right now . That, and until we know what we're doing, I'd rather stick to the cheaper fish. We might try it later on with a new setup. I've seen it said here a few times that it's quite an addicting habit, and once you start it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I've been giving some thought to the next station, but it would most likely be a similar setup with vertical tubes strictly for strawberries.

Perhaps 4 or 5 would fit alright. Tilapia really don't need much room.

Really like this setup, I would like something like this, but I'm afraid that if I put something outside, it might get clogged with all types of rubbish... We only have a very small backyard, and there is only a small wall separating it from a park... don't want to know what "youngsters" might try to throw into it, or just climb over the wall and ruin it :s

but maybe I can try something like this in a separate room some day...

So far, things seem to be running well. We're still waiting on some seedlings to start growing so that we can transfer them into the mesh pots. We went ahead and started 20 strawberry plants that already had roots on them, but it's only been a few days so far with those. Also, no dead fish (well, since the first one that got stuck on the pump).

One thing that I'm dealing with though is water loss. I know that there is a certain amount of evaporation that is to be expected, but I think I'm losing most of it from little drips here and there in the PVC. I had read that you weren't supposed to use PVC sealant because it could contaminate the system. Will silicone around the outside of the joint cause an issue? The drips are fairly minor, but it seems like they add up after a while. Any suggestions?