Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My system consists of a 300 gallon pond, three grow beds, an NFT system. In addition, I am raising chickens and creating a Jean Pane style compost water heater to get me through our mild winter. I also have a keyhole garden linked to chickens and a the compost pile. It has been running for about two months and I have worked out most of the kinks.

I have not yet built the compost pile yet but everything is ready.

This is the pond. On the left is the aerator, and on the right is the waterfall. I like to sit and watch the waterfall and fish so I haven't covered the pond.

Here are the grow beds. The first two utilize a bell siphon, with the third is a constant flood bed. The NFT flows into grow bed three.

This is the NFT system. It really heats up the water.

I put up some canopies to shade the pond a bit and it helped lower the algae levels in the pond.

Our chickens. We are limited in how many we can keep. Bummer. In the background is our old compost heap to be rebuilt soon.

Finally, here is our keyhole garden.

Mike, does the black NFT cause problems with the temps? What type of fish are you raising? Looks like you could use some seaweed to help out with your growth. Love the chooks!

Chris,

I had some tilapia fry that got sucked into the grow bed, before I put a net over the intake. A few survived, I ordered some more but in the meantime threw in some guppies that went crazy. Two weeks ago, I got some adult tilapia from a fellow who wanted to shut down his system. Since they went in the plants have really perked up recently. The NFT is warming the water but I am still in the ok zone for the Tilapia. We have had a hot summer and the hot gravel was wilting the plants.