Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I need to know where to start. I've watched video after video and have an idea but still not sure exactly what size of anything or what is most important....just wanna start out with the basics right now. The space would be a small apartment balcony (about 3 to 4 ft. by 10 ft.) Need some ideas and help, please!! Thanks so much!

start small and cheap. What to use depends on what you can source easily. Generally i would say make a system out of blue barrels but you can get creative. Just make sure the container will not leach and that it didnt have anything toxic in it beforehand.

Thanks for that, Brian. If I start out with the barrel, say 50 gallon kind, what size pump would I need or do I even need a pump. If I went without a pump, how often would I need to transfer the water from the fish to the "garden"? This may be a dumb question but.... If I don't know, I don't know, right.

General rule of thumb you want to turn your fish tank over about once an hour.. MY personal feelings and experience is this can range greatly but it's a safe place to start....

however, take special attention to the head height because a 50 GBH pump will only pump 50 GPH at 0 feet 0 inches.. when you raise the height you pump to 2 foot it may only be 30 GPH.. you can always buy a more powerful pump and then slow the flow with a ball valve if you need to.

if you are just keeping fish and discharging the water to clean the tank then you are just keeping an aquarium and this is not aquaponics. It's a valid strategy, but you may be limited in how much people on this forum can help you.

brian

OK, yea, this is WHY I need help...I have NO IDEA (and I'm not screaming when I use all caps, I'm just emphasizing) what "head height" is or what GBH means. Seriously, I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm really trying to understand all of this. I am VERY serious about this and want to know what I need to know to make this work. I feel so overwhelmed but I know, with some help, (Ok, maybe hand holding) I can do this. I just need to understand it.

I understand that the fish need to go in the barrel where they will make their home....what I don't know is what kind of fish do I start with?....baby fish so they can grow, or with adult fish so they can lay eggs right away etc.

Do I need to something to ease the fish into this tank? Are there special things I need to add to the water before placing the fish there? Do I need rocks, dirt or anything in the bottom of the fish tank?

I've seen other sites that suggested that, once the water leaves the fish tank, it is suppose to be in a holding tank in order for it to go through a process that creates the nitrogen needed for the plants. Is this true?? if so, what's the time period for this? AHHHHH, I'm so overwhelmed!! This is why I'm here. Please don't give up on me.

Thanks so much for being willing to help.

GBH is a typo, it is GPH gallons per hour.

for fish, search and read up on "cycling an aquarium" or fish tank. you need to understand the nitrification process. i like to start with very few, small cheap fish.

when treating starting water, it depends.. if its tap water you need to know what the municipal uses to clean it.. usually chlorine or chloramines, once you find out search and read up on what to do to neutralize them because they will kill fish.

while nothing is hard or complicated you have a lot of stuff you need to expose yourself to before starting and you arent going to get it all in an introductory thread like this... this information is already available countless times on this forum in dozen (maybe hundred of times).

maybe start in the "Aquaponics F.A.Q." and "Basic Information" subforum .. start with the stickies. Maybe read travis's barrelpinics or the ibc's of aquaponics, you can find them via google and they will get you started with the basic information.

Thank you SO MUCH! Ok, I knew the GPH but wasn't sure about the GBH.

OK, I'm starting to understand this better. It just occurred to me what you meant by the head height. Ding, ding, ding,...I'm just a little slow some days. lol

OK, so I have to get me a tank, a pump (with consideration about the head height), some pvc piping (are there any chemicals there that might not be good for this situation?) a "platform" for growing plants etc. Now, will I need a special light for the plants if they're in a window area (balcony)?? Are those expensive and how do I determine the size I would need?

sorry dude, i am not going to write a beginner book in this thread, people are more than happy to answer your questions but you need to do some reading on your own. These are all basic questions that have been covered 200,000 times on this forum and in beginner guides, noone wants to read the 200,001 thread with the same info.

OK, thanks so much. I'll head over there and see what I can find. You're the best!! Have a great day!!

p.s. I'm not a dude.

Since your system is going to be on a balcony, consider if your balcony is designed to hold the weight when you do your planning.

Beat me to it Scotty. On that balcony there is enough room for an IBC but that is probably, almost certainly, a bad idea.

Check out the IBCs of aquaponics lots of ideas and information there.

Yes, I have considered that. Thank you very much for the input. I really do appreciate it.