Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everyone,

I am a college student in St. Paul Minnesota. I am finishing out my Senior year and I think it is time to start taking my passion for aquaponics seriously.

I want to build two different types of systems within the next two years (one in my room, and one IBC), but I would like to keep studying aquaponics; gathering any important formulas,common problems, and find any recorded data that has monitored the ideal settings for each bacteria within the Nitrogen Cycle.

From this, i have a question about this forum:

Do I follow a trial and error route and use this forum as a troubleshooting tool to ask specific questions and get answers,

Or

Do I use this forum as a database and prepare myself to have the best idea of how to initially build and sustain an aquaponics system?

If you can answer and explain, I will greatly appreciate your response!

Welcome Colin

I have a couple of small systems but still a relative novice... learn something new every time I check out this forum. I don't think there's a good answer to your question. I suspect the best answer is "both". I researched on various sites but most useful information was in this place. Was wanting to understand it all before I started. But I eventually read some good advice which was something like "don't overthink it". So I set up a system and have subsequently learned a lot more by trial and error and feedback from this forum than I did in my initial research.

I'm guessing you're likely to get more specific advice if you post a bit more detail about your proposed systems.

Enjoy aquaponics... hope you have lots of spare time

Hi Colin.

Welcome to the forum, Dave is right, we're a bit of both.

Have a look at the IBC of AP at the top of the page, it'll have all the basic information you need, then have a read through the stickied information threads. They contain a lot of good information.

We like helping people out, and solving their problems, but we get cranky when somebody walks in and says, "EVERYBODY, DESIGN MY SYSTEM NOW!!!" or "LOL, I don't want to research myself, just tell me the answers.".

But an IBC is quite a simple design, chop it 3/4, use the top as the grow bed, the bottom as the FT, pump in the FT to the growbed, drain to the fishtank. Quite simple really.

Welcome to the addiction!



Lol, but that's soo much fun! kidding of course. To answer your question; I personally have found that a lot of members will talk about what they have in mind, post up a design or two, and usually people will provide some kind of feedback, or ask questions to provoke thought. So like what has been said; both of your ways to use your forum are good.

Great, yeah I will have to look at this forum for both. I was browsing through the information on the forum and I found the Nitrogen Cycle information that I was looking for in the first place.

I will do my best to use the forum, and I can't wait to better understand Aquaponics! Thanks for the responses.


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