Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Okay I have a few questions.

1: I have seen quite a few videos where people are planting before the system is cycled. Some mention powdered seaweed and additional minerals that do not affect the fish. Is this a viable method for starting or should I cycle first?

2: If the addition of those are beneficial which ones should be used for planting a well rounded garden?

3: Is a food safe pond liner recommended or is their no danger of leakage from using a standard liner due to it being fish safe?

4: Which Media would be the most worm friendly? I have seen it used in Hydroton but have been considering using Perilite in some of my beds due to the smaller size.


Also I have someone that wants me to build one based off of a above ground swimming pool that is roughly 7600 gallons. She is wanting to have a very densely stocked pond of edible fish. The amount of grow area that she wants seems awfully small in comparison. Would it be a good Idea to supplement with a pond filter of some sort to help keep the fish healthy.

I really appreciate any help and thank you in advance for any answers.

Before you go turning a swimming pool into an Aquaponics System I would learn as much as you can with a small system.

When/if you turn the pool into a fish tank for an AP system - stock to your filtration level and not beyond.

That's what I thought too. I'm not to thrilled about the Idea myself as I have no experience but when It's your mother asking and she spent most of your childhood on and training S.W.A.T. ya can't really convince her otherwise.
LOL

Hundreds/thousands of dead fish might convince her but I wouldn't want that to happen.

I keep telling her that something like that would have t be a commercial sized operation. The amount of plants to fish would have to be huge. She keeps talking about adding a sand filter like in a pool to the system.

I'm just hoping my much smaller prototype system works. I'm looking at max 25' Sq. of growing space for the initial design. I might eventually make one around 200' Sq. that should easily support my family and have some extra to give away.

Well If my prototype does well I think I may have come up with a solution to the pool problem. Creating and Auto top off set up for the system and then using some of the water from the pool to irrigate her fruit trees and in ground garden. this will allow for a constant supply of fresh water and also rid the system of waste. The amount of these could allow for a sufficient exchange of clean water to fish water. (The only thing I don't like is the fact that this will kind of defeat part of the purpose of the closed loop system.

ok, I am planning to start a small system in the near future. The current plan is to use a 15 gal tote as my base and have appropriate ammount of grow bed. I plan to start out without fish and get the system running and plants growing, I hope to use mainly leafy greens like spinach and kale. on this system I will probably use gold fish or some other fish I dont plan to eat. This is a test/practice system for me to learn with and to grow some greens to eat. I am thinking have a single pump to and probably two grow beds positioned above the tote. I am planning to use a flood and drain system with bell syphons.

What are your thoughts? what size grow beds should I have? how long should the system run before I add fish?