Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good day everyone

a newbie aquaponics person here hehehe, just want to ask if this system would work....

I plan to use a 55 gallon drum for the fish and use 4 containers for the plants... 2 containers with a medium and bell siphon and 2 containers that s always flooded for duckweed... would this work? sorry no pics yet will post once i start.... thanks for anyone that would answer.... by the way i live in the Philippines which is a tropical climate.

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G'day to you.. Bottom Line - Almost ANTHING will work with the appropriate ratio of FISH to MEDIA,

55G is obviously not very large.. so what sought of fush do you hope to grow..
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Hi disisroy,

what sized are the tubs ? And what type of fish.

I agree with Buidoi that something larger might be better, but people have used the plastic 50-60 Gal plastic barrels for their systems.

have a look in the IBCofAquaponics PDF http://ibcofaquaponics.com/ (from the link at the top of page).

and search the forum for 'blue barrels'

an advanced search (see here for instructions viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27201) using 'display results as: topics' will help.

I plan to use 4 tubs maybe around 8-10 gallon size 2 tubs for fish food and 2 with bell siphons plan to use tilapia for the fish i think the ratio im going to use is 1 gallon per fish? this is my first try so dont want to go to big on the system... and the area where i plan to place it is not to big.... by the way can i use airconditioner water run off? and would rain water be a big factor? the place i plan to put the system is open air.. or do i need to put a tarp coer or something?? thanks

I plan to use 4 tubs maybe around 8-10 gallon size 2 tubs for fish food and 2 with bell siphons plan to use tilapia for the fish .... this is my first try so dont want to go to big on the system... and the area where i plan to place it is not to big....

that sounds fine. By fish food I gather you are talking duckweed or something ?

I dont know about Tilapia - but someone around will be able to help.

i think the ratio im going to use is 1 gallon per fish?
no - it really varies between the amount of wet media you have and the number of fish.
rules of thumb all over the place but basically the bigger the fish and the more you feed them the more wetted media you need. As you only going to have around 16 Gallons of media (60-70 Litres) you wont be able to have very many, and even fewer as they grow larger. I suspect 4 or so plate sized ones.

Most 1000 litre~250gal IBC sized systems have around 250 litres ~70Gal (1 grow bed) to 500 litres ~ 130 gal (2 grow beds).
That gets them around 10-20 fish. Some push a few more but it is not recommended.

can i use airconditioner water run off?
it is raised in a thread some time ago - but the simple answer is no. Aircon water is usually concentrated and may have things in it that you don't really want to drink or grow fish in. Use it on the garden.

and would rain water be a big factor?
no, you may need some overflow control/option if you get a lot.
But the rainwater itself is fine assuming you don't live right under a big factory or something.

if you capture rainfall it is better to use polycarbonate roof sheeting or plastic or a tarp.
Some galvanised metal roof, and any roof with lead zinc paint etc can cause issues for the fish.


the place i plan to put the system is open air.. or do i need to put a tarp cover or something?? thanks
no.... & yes Provided your sun does not get too hot you don't have to cover the system. If/when it gets really hot you may need some shade cloth over the vegies. I doubt you will have an issue with cold/frosts

The tank doesn't have to be covered but it will grow algae in full light - so most people cover it up in some way. Particularly applies to IBC's which allow a lot of light through. Shade cloth is often sufficient or a tarp. Or have the fish tank under a roof of some description.

In a small simple system it is often sufficient to just put the fish tank beneath the table/stand and grow beds.

Thanks for all your help on my questions... will go container hunting over the weekend hopefully have a system by august or september... wish me luck guys!!

Excellent advice from Darren,so this is just an add on,I built a six two metre tube NFT system using a 55 gallon barrel on its side for the tank,a 5 gallon bucket as an RFF onto a 15 gallon barrel configured as an up flow with bottle caps and then with the pump sat in another barrel. Stocking was eight catfish which did get rather large in the end but all worked well,no real problems with water quality,the only main problem was the emitters being such a small internal diameter were prone to block,so each tube had two and we added a return to the tank so as we always had good flow through the filters,oh and not really much drama with solids collecting in the tubes,planting was lettuce and Chinese celery.

one last question

after i assemble my system what do i do next? let the system run with out fish n plants first for a day or two or just put fish n plants in immediately? do i need to put anything other than water? thanks

You can put plants in immediately - they may struggle a bit because they won't have much in the way of nutrients, but they'll get started.

A lot of people cycle with fish, starting off with just a few and then adding more fish as the bacterial colony develops and can handle them, but with the size of system you're planning, 'just a few' fish is going to be all it can take! So I think it would be best to cycle fishless. The easy way to do that is to get set up, run your pump with nothing but water in there for a couple of days (this makes sure all the chlorine etc is out of the water), and then drop a little fish food into the tank and leave it to break down. Other things people use to cycle their systems are ammonia (you need to get the stuff with no fragrance or soap added, and would only need a tiny amount), or pee (only if you're healthy and not on any medications, best to seal it in a bottle and age it first if you go that route), or a little liquid fertiliser. Whatever you decide to use, you will need a lot less than you probably think!

Get a good test kit, and test your water for ammonia - if you use fish food, it may take a few days to show up. Then nitrites will show up, then nitrates. Once your ammonia and nitrite levels have gone back down to zero, put in a little more of whatever you're using to cycle, and keep testing; if the ammonia and nitrite levels don't spike, or go up just a tiny bit and then straight down again, you're cycled and can get your fish!

Is it advisable to get some water from the supplier of the tilapia i plan to get so there would be the needed bacteria already? or not? and i guess it would be just a few liters the most.... would that help with cycling my system? i plan to grow tilapia maybe a few at first ? thankful for all the help you are all giving a greenhorn!! buying my drums this week so hopefully set up by august and pictures to follow for sure....

You can cycle your system with or without the extra water. The bacteria you want are almost everywhere in nature. The higher numbers in the suppliers water may help get you cycled faster but there is also a slightly greater risk of introducing a disease into your system . I'd probably add the extra since your adding some from that source anyway.

is it necessary to have a sump tank?? or its for more advance system... im getting more confused the more i try to learn hahahaha......

also do i need a filter system such as a swirl filter for a small system such as mine?

Sump tanks are useful if you want to run CHIFT PIST (constant height in fish tank, pump in sump tank) to ensure that your fish tank won't run dry if you have a plumbing failure, or if you just don't want the water level in your fish tank going up and down as your growbeds fill and drain.

You aren't likely to need a filter on your system, they're mostly useful when you've got lots of fish producing enough poo to clog up your growbeds, or if you've got DWC or NFT components that you want clean water for. You might end up with fish poo accumulating in your duckweed containers, but it would probably be simpler to just put a strainer sock on their water inlets and rinse it out every so often instead of building a filter.

Have you read the IBC of Aquaponics? There's a link right up at the top of the page, in the black menu bar. It's got a ton of useful information about a bunch of different types of systems.

+1 great advice - The IBC of Aquaponics style of setup is the place to start here.
(you can do it with drums or tubs etc, just as its done with the IBC)

In a basic system you only need a fish tank and a media bed/s. Nothing else.
Pump in Fish tank simply pumps water up to the media bed.

When the beds are over the fish tank there is least risk of fish tank pumping dry.

If you have a lot of plumbing and pipes then the sump and CHIFT-PIST becomes a bit of a fail safe as you cannot pump the Fish Tank dry. A simple CHIFT-PIST does not need filters - the media beds do all the work.

you can easily add filters later for example if you want to increase number fish - but best to keep stocking low in a new system and while learning the ropes. Best to keep it simple for the Mark-I version.

thanks downloaded it and will read it later thanks for all your help will post pic as i start my project thanks again... please dont stop your advices