Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well, here she is. 2 years of lurking, 2 years of planning, 8 months of doing stuff in a variety or ways and I turned the pump on for the first time on Saturday.

This is the Greenhouse. We are a little limited on space and there are some weird angles. Windows mostly from our house (now its drafty inside ) 6 ft wide by 15 ft long. Don't know how many meters that is, perhaps 2x7 perhaps 1,000,000 x 12.




We weren't originally going to use an IBC but there was one available for $50 at a yard sale a block away. Actually had to build the greenhouse around the dang thing.



A pair of rain barrels to keep it all topped off. Sand pit on the left is a mass heater.




Went with an NFT style system to fit in the small space.

Umm what are you using for biofiltration?

looks like a lot of buildings around you, how much sun do you get in there?

Top of the IBC is dug in for a sump, bio filtration is in there.

Light is OK. The building to the right is oddly shaped and that part you see juts out, the rest of the building is set back more.

What are you going to grow?

System looks great. What are you using for bio

I am trying out a plastic media matrix made from recycled water bottles. On the expensive side ($125 for ~3 cu ft after shipping) but I was struggling to find a way to get enough hydroton or gravel into our awkward space. I stacked the strips with scrap pvc and am hoping that it makes an apartment building for crawfish later on.

We have lots of seeds from the past 4 years lying around. We started a bunch of them under a grow light in our basement and I stuck the rest in rock wool in the NFT system (kale, zucchini, lettuce ect,ect). What ever grows, grows for now, in the long run I hope to get some squash and brassicus in there. For four years running we have gotten decimated by squash borers and harlequin bugs, both have soil stages in their lives, so fingers crossed that we can get some going in the system and break this cycle outdoors.

Got seedlings! Kale and Rapini coming up in the system.