Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey folks! I'm a professional aquarist and educator and built an aquaponics system in my lab to use as a teaching system to illustrate another means of nutrient export and grow herbs and vegetables for the turtle in the system and the husbandry team. I teach a lot of Aquarium Science students and veterinary students and whenever space and budgetary tyranny allows, I like to use different types of life support systems to teach fundamentals of life support, water chemistry and animal husbandry.

I've been lurking on this forum for a while and it appears to be a thriving community of cool folks who have been doing aquaponics with different system designs for quite a while. So, I'm taking the plunge.

My system is a 500-gallon fiberglass tank with a 150-gallon sump driven by an Iwaki pump that turns the entire volume over twice per hour. Two sparge bars on the inflow: one at the root level of the growing rafts and the other near the bottom to push fish poop to the mechanical filter. Pretty simple system, really, plumbed in 1" sch. 80.

For critters, 3 Koi that would eat transmission parts if I fed them out and a Sabine Map Turtle. There's a haul-out and basking area for the turtle with a UVA/UVB lamp (12-hour cycle) and a standard heating lamp (24/7).

Lighting is provided by three LED racks that once drove photosynthesis over a former coral reef exhibit. Just began with plant starts in rockwool about 4 weeks ago and am ready to move the early risers into the grow raft.

I"m here to learn more, try and avoid facepalming blunders and participate as I can, when I can.

Cheers!

Hi trigger.... Just re-establishing myself here after being gone sine 2013. Looking for others interested in aquaponics in the US ( I am in Massachusetts) so we can share local experiences. I will be starting a build this spring so i have a long way to go...

nice to meet you and good luck!

Rob

Rockwool is more for hydroponics. When I first discovered it and after more research I got to scared of the particulate possible hurting the fish. Rockwool is almost asbestos or fiberglass insulation. Only took a few trips to an attic to me be weary of anything fiber based.

I prefer things like clay pebbles, pea gravel and peat or perlite. I use a mix of perlite and coconut husk to start seads or plants. After the get 4 inches they go into the gravel.

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