Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

one option is to put your cable into PVC pipe, that will give it some protection and also from UV.
Just drill a regular hole in it on the bottom side to drain any water.
I would attach that to the fence as it is probably less likely to get damaged there.
Just make sure (as Sean notes) that you have RCD protection on it so it is safe for everyone.
Do your power properly to a meter (junction) box - as you will find you can never have enough power outlets.

You don't have to go as high with your drum for filter.
It only needs to have the outlet slightly higher than the grow bed.
So most of the drum can actually be below the grow bed.

Most setups can easily be modified - that would be the plan I would go for.
Don't try and get it all done the first time around. Start with something simple and let it expand.
New systems don't have a lot of nutrients anyway hence the filter not really being required until Mark-II.

As its a community thing maybe also consider some wicking beds - you can grow some extra things there.
Gives you something to do with the inevitable compost you will get.

Tomatoes really depend on the depth of the grow bed - they like some depth for their roots.
personally I would go with the dutch buckets as you can add stuff to them to help them along.
Also the dutch buckets don't need the same level of circulation as the grow bed.

Plan for a DWC - it is pretty easy to go from the grow bed to a DWC and then back to the fish tank.
Even if you dont put it in at the beginning.
You will get your lettuces much easier that way.
And your relatively small system will be able to grow a few different things.

Awesome help everyone!

I was able to get an electrician to run a power line under ground to my location from a power source that was closer.

Ive been allowed to spend 10k usd on both an aquaponic and hydroponic system. I would have liked to build it my own but I think my boss wants to go to with a commercial aquaponic company. Ill have to do some convincing lol.

Ill find out what happens in the weeks to come.

Do you mean additional nutrients? I know that tomatoes in soil need higher levels while flowering and fruiting. Wouldnt it mess up my fish?

yep - nutrients.
via dutch buckets you can provide a few more nutrients than you can directly to a grow bed.
If you go solids (eg. blood & bone) you get less feeding back to the fish tank than a grow bed that is actively dumping.

if you have enough fish then maybe not such an issue, but if nutrients are down tomatoes can want for quite a bit more than leafy greens require. Hence your herbs and lettuce etc will generally be fine.

as per my post above I would also put some consideration to wicking beds and composting.
they complement aquaponics very well and expand the things you can grow.
may be a better option than hydroponics.


Do you have a greenhouse ?

>> Ive been allowed to spend 10k usd on both an aquaponic and hydroponic system

One thing I would do with cash is buy a proper circular aquaculture tank for the fish. Not much else is really that significant but a good 1500-2000L circular fish tank makes a big difference.

you may also be able to sourfce HDPE or molded plastic stock troughs or large rectangular tubs etc for the grow beds.
However at end of day vertically cut IBC's would be fine IMO if you can source those.

Every so often when flicking chanels I come across a renovation show on TV from the US of A.

One of the 2 things that always surprises me is the metal conduit they seem to use to protect their electrical cables. Is it because they feel that they need the mechanical protection of the metal, or is it for safety? We use an active, neurtral, and earth wire for every (single phase) socket in Australia and use a lot of RCD protection - is it just active and neutral in the states with the metal conduit being earth?

Normally in Australia cables are protected when buried inside of orange PVC pipe, grey when on the outside of a building or not inside of a wall. Inside a wall or roof it's just cable.

The other strange thing is making a roof out of plywood with those tar looking tile things over the top

Curiosity has the better of me - when your sparky ran the wiring for the new socket what was the cable run inside of?

Electrical hasn't been layed yet. We only got the approval for it to be done.

Current greenhouse is 8x12 but i may extend it to 16'

Ill take that into consideration when purchasing a tank. We probably won't eat the fish so what would you reccomend?

1500-2000 L circular tank. 1000L can be a bit small.

The load is dependent upon the number of fish not the volume.
So while small you just have fewer fish.

You will find a few things that can be interesting even with ornamental fish.
eg adding a few different types that can co-exist, having some bottom feeders or even crayfish to clean up excess food etc.

The larger circular tank gives you lots of options in the future - and is suitable it you eventually move to food fish.
Best to do that bit properly fro the start. Not sure on USA pricing but expect you can get for around $500.

Scotty435 will be able to help you there.

With a good sized budget go back and review your goals, see what makes sense and after deciding what you want price it all out . If you have questions just post them up and someone here will try to answer them. Some of the commercial systems are less about aquaponics and more about aquaculture or hydroponics because that's they venue that the people designing them came from. It's hard to say how well tested these systems are in some cases. Greenhouses and commercial systems can eat up a 10000 dollar budget pretty fast (and don't forget if you have to plumb it or someone do some digging afterward that's going to cost something as well).

It's usually easier to dig large holes or put in large tanks before putting a greenhouse in rather than after (if you're going to add a large tank below grade then just build the greenhouse extension over it).