Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Trying out a new technique developed by Dr. George Brooks in Arizona. This is a self contained aquaponics unit. It costs less then $600 to build buying everything brand new from scratch with the food safe pond liner. It is based around an above ground swimming pool which we have millions of here in the desert. It is still cycling at the moment using a fishless cycle with Ammonium Nitrate. This picture doesn't show the holes drilled in the raft, but it gives a pretty good idea of the system. There are two tanks for fish run off air lift pumps, and they feed into a clarifier tank in the middle.

Welcome to the forum Adagna .

Looks like it will work but fairly limited space for the fish. I'd probably change the clarifier to an upflow filter. What type of fish are you going to grow?

There are only 5 of these set up at the moment here. Based on the original units results I should be able to house approx 8-10 harvest size tilapia or catfish in each tank. I went with this system due to it's simplicity and foot print, as well as the fact that it can be broken down and moved and set back up in a day if need be (we are renting a house right now). In the near future I think I am going to convert this to a single 100 gallon stock tank with the clarifier tank instead of the two smaller units. It's still in the fledgling stage of testing and development so I am sure things will change as we play with this system. Our local community college class is setting one up in addition to the standard NFT, DWC, and Media bed systems they already have to teach aquaponics, so I will get to be a part of that as well.

Sounds interesting. Tilapia might be a better choice for this system but it depends on what size they harvest the catfish at. It will be interesting to see how it goes so keep us posted

Hiya Adagna welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will like it here, plenty of great advice and encouragement.
What are you using as a biofilter in your system?
We like pics here too.

This system relies on the roots for surface area for the bio-filter, as well as the bird netting in the clarifier. With the 24" depth on the DWC you can get some serious roots. The added benefit is that the bio filtration happens on the root surface so many times the Nitrates don't even have an opportunity to enter the water column at all

Interesting concept looking forward to seeing the progress.
Personally I'd like to see a larger ft but you need to work with what you've got I guess.
Keep us updated please.