Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am thinking of starting small and putting the 8' long fish tank against the 12' long screen wall (inside) under the shaded area in the picture then put my flooded grow beds about level with the middle white screen brace. the area does get sun but is shaded form direct sun I figured that will help keep the fish tank form boiling but is that enough sun for my grow beds ????


I was gong to try aquaponics a while back but things happened and I am just now getting to it . I sold my weight bench and found a 3'wide x2' deep x8' long 300 gallon water trough that I can buy with the money. (actual found a used one cheaper but the gas money to drive up past Orlando its just cheaper to by the new one closer to home)

I have to re read up on aquaponics now , it seems I have very short term memory as I get older I'm planing to start small 300 gal fish tank then mounted just above will be one row of four (4) grow beds made out of home depot plastic mixing trough for grow beds (24"x 35"x7" 20 gallon) only one with media to grow corn the other three will be floating grow beds so i can raise fresh water prawns under the plant rafts. then I would also like to add two or three 4" pvc pipes attached to the large upright white screen post to grow strawberry, hanging tomatoes. The water flow as I am thinking would be pumped to the top of the strawberry towers as it drains out of them it would go to the grow beds then when it reaches flood level would drain down form each grow bed to the fish tank giving some aeration ( I hope) I would like to try the harbor freight solar pond fountain pump to run water flow during the day and charge battery for that panel to run it all night (not sure how that is going to work out just yet) just trying not to run the expensive of a elec pump , timers etc etc etc

Looks to dark to me. A suggestion - plant a few veggies in pots in normal soil and place them there. If they grow then your aquaponics system should be fine as well. This way you avoid having to move a heavy system if it doesn't work.

that's not a bad idea , I can probably go to home depot tomorrow an get some seeds and starter pots and sit them at the height the grow beds will be and see if they grow or die

I'm presuming you mean the FT will be across back of picture while the GB's will run towards camera where the narrow strip of sun is?

Is it possible to put holes in the roof? Or maybe remove a glass panel behind the FT and fill it with a board so you can run pipes outside? You could run GB's in full sun without too much trouble, then have the return come back through the panel to a ST.

You could run narrow GB's along the glass behind the recliner - that shouldn't have any sun problems AND would provide ambience for the recumbent persons. You could also have GB's along the narrow sunstrip area for growing plants that DON'T like direct sun.

Might want to check height requirements for corn as well - unlike (say) tomatoes, I don't think you can make corn follow a trellis.

that's all screen to keep the bugs out not glass , I could put it all outside or just the grow beds but was trying to have it more protected form the hard rain, bugs, birds, squirrels, possums, etc....

yes I was planing on putting the FT in the far corner along the narrow strip of sun light , then have GB right over top the FT they would be about where the middle chair rail height bar is in the screen

the area behind the recliner lawn chair is screen but right next to the pool an was hoping to stay away form that cause the kids splash chlorine water all over the place and I'm afraid that would ll my plants

NO NO NO NO cutting holes in the roof screen maybe but not the roof ..lol

height form the middle white bar on the screen about where GB would be I will only have about 5 feet to the roof. corn is the only tall plant I an think of I mite have to do the outside grow bed for the corn

it is 11 pm here right now an the temp outside is 79 degrees its been a really warm year

Looked clear enough to be glass...

Maybe an outdoor wicking bed for the corn?

I wish it was glass

I'm going to try to get some starting pots and seeds later today and put them out there to see if they will start growing. It will e Monday or Tuesday before I can pick up the fish tank anyway

Ok I am trying Gabe's experiment. I planted three pot holes with sweet peppers, three with hybrid tomatoes , three with cucumbers , and one with cabbage (that's all the potting soil I had) they all germinate in 7-14 days so well see what happens

I set the seed pots back form the screen about as far as the inside of my grow beds will be as that will get the most shade and I tried but was not able to get it up to height the plant pot is about 6-8" lower then the grow bed will be (its actual right about the top of FT location) but close enough for this experiment .

I told my neighbor I was going to pick up the galvanized water trough earlier today to use for my fish tank and he told me that I can't use it for fish , I did some more checking a sure enough goggle says galvanized tanks are bad for fish

no I am back to the drawing board I gotta figure out some other tank now

Hi I saw your post if your spot is too shady or not. I believe this calculator will help you alot.

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/

With a spirit level, protractor and compass you will quickly determine more or less how much sunshine your spot will get during the different seasons.

Just a suggestion: Why don't you try a plastic barrel system first?

Couldn't you line the galvanized tank with pond liner? Then you can have fish in there.

Edit: not glavanized (whatever that may be I need to watch my spelling when working on a tablet)

vanity ...
first I just don't like the looks of the IBC or plastic barrels on my porch , BUT that said I haven't had much luck at the scrap yards [i](I did see one small 200-250 gallon stainless steel cone tank but way to small)[/i] or local adds being able to find anything else I do like so I may use one after all
Second and more practical reason is I wanted the Maximum amount of water area for the give area without over taking the whole porch.The idea was to see if the fish production would actual be enough to consider it a good meat source supply , which I currently have doubts about. I am considering raising quail to supplement the meat supply I can turn them around ever three months form a small group of breeders

yes I could but doesn't make sense cost wise to buy $300 stock tank then a $139 pond liner ................. at this point I am kind of swallowing my pride a bit and think that IBC sure is ugly but it only cost $120