Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This is my system that I've been working on all winter, I want to get in touch with other people who have been bitten by the aquaponic bug and live near by. The system is one of my own design, I'm not too fond of plastic so hence all the brick and wood. I have 30 common carp in the tank and I'm ordering 30 more soon. I'm new to aquaponics and I'm hoping that it all works because I've invested quite a lot of time and some money in the project. I've put some pea seeds in the gravel bed to see if I can get an early pea crop before I plant it up with tomatoes and cucumbers. Anyway hope you like the photos that is if anybody looks at my post

G'day Wedge,

Great looking system you have there.

I'm sure it will work great.

I would hold off on adding more fish until it has cycled.

Like your system setup wedge, good use of space. Did you do all the brickwork yourself? I agree with Arbe, you don't want too many fish in the system until you have a few plants and the cycling is done or else you will need a good filtration setup . Very nice looking setup.

Thanks for the advice guys. I feel encouraged cause a lot of the people I know, think I'm nuts.

Yes did all the work myself hairy camel thanks for comment

Love the system. It's obvious you've put a lot of time, effort and money into it.

I do have one concern and that's the wooden bridge over the tank. Wood becomes damp in a greenhouse and then gets slippery. I think it would be smart to add a rail or two.

Cheers

Fantastic design! One concern is the peas, they have this wonderful property of adding nitrogen to soil, but that is not something you want in AP, as nitrogen is abundant. It could affect the fruiting of your tomatoes and other fruiting vegetables.

Beautiful work wedge!!

Great work wedge, what did you use to line the GB's??

Hi kitacooch
I used 0.5'm pvc

Wedge, nice looking system! I have grown peas and toms in my system with no problems. I grew snap peas, and they're pretty short lived, and then yanked them out. I've never had a nitrate reading in my system...going on 8 months now. I have about 40 total tilapia and gold fish, appx total water of around 450 gallons, 7- vertical towers, 1- 3' x 8' DWC bed, and 3 GB's about 45 cu ft total. Good advice on waiting for system to cycle before adding fish. My only other advice is top be patient. It's not 1 of my better virtues, but pretty much a requirement in this AP stuff. Great looking brick work by the way.

Wedge, what did you use to span your FT before you laid your GB brick? Wood, precast concrete? Do you have the distribution piping buried in the GB's? Is your pump in your FT, or is their a seperate sump? You might want to try some greens, lettuce, etc first...before a lot of flowering plants...at least for the first 60 days or so. I wouldn't worry about adding railing to bridge, just add a couple pieces of non skid tape and you should be good.

Awesome setup Wedge

Keep those photos coming I can't wait to see it all progress.

What a beautiful design!

That is one very nice setup and for those who have done a bit of handywork over the years you can see you have definately put a lot of work into it. Congratulations. This will be a popular thread in the years to come as people closely watch your progression. Look forward to it.