DIY Aquaponics

[nutnspecial]

I would like to collect as much info and example in one place for people looking to learn about some great 'tech'.

Aquaponics is a closed system mimicking our own ecosystem on a comparatively small scale. The systems can be done on a household or community sized basis. The smaller household sized ones can provide fresh fish and veggies (even fruit) for a whole family with little upkeep or input once the system is established. Energy required is obvious sunlight, a semi controlled temperature, and usually some electricity to cycle water between fish and plants.

Fish waste feeds the plants, plants clean the water for the fish. A great clean cycle, requiring very little fresh water introduction, and the fish food can even be produced on site.
Imagine the financial freedom of cutting grocery bills way down (or to nill).
And also the beneficial health aspects of knowing your food before you eat it.

I aim to collect as much diy info in the effort to make this easy for anyone who it interests. There are many that are already utilizing this simple effective food production, and it'd be great to to get 'schooled' from firsthand experience too!

 

[Harold in CR]

If I can copy images I posted on other sites, I can show you how we are doing it. Built a 12' X 20" greenhouse, 1 tank under the grow beds and another tank in the center of the green house. That way, we can move the Tilapia and clean out the dirty tank, then, when needed, reverse the process.

I used 7mil plastic type material to line the tanks and grow beds, but, I got leakage after several months. What ever you do, buy the correct black rubberized liner from Home depot, lowes, garden suppliers, etc. Fountain pumps are good for circulating the water. Ours is a magnetic drive, so, when something clogs the impeller, it won't burn out the motor. Again, Home Depot. My Son gets this stuff for us and ships it down.

Our biggest problem is germinating seeds. We can't buy started plants, down here, in the jungle.

 

[nutnspecial]

Hi Harold, you can link to site too if you want. Posting images can be a hassle, and if there's already writeups etc somewhere else, I don't see any issue. I'd love to check it out!

I was thinking of using IBC 250gallon totes. One is cut in 70/30 proportions for the tank and bed, and they already have some fittings for water cycling. I actually found them locally for 10$/pc!!! Only catch is they held landscaping dye. So far I've used the first batch for material handling as they are customizable and have the pallet bottoms for a forklift/jack.
You're told not to use anything but foodsafe plastic, but I am curious if anyone has converted non-'foodsafe' totes for aquaponics or drinking water storage. I would think it would be fairly easy to measure water purity if used for clean water followed by a good cleaning.

The in's and out's of finetuning the system are highly valuable to newbs though, such as starting with a fresh ph, levels to watch/maintain, and when works best for a full renewal.

 

[Harold in CR]

Link to my green house, aquaponics thread on E-S, under Alternative energy. LINK

Also, in that same forum Alternative Energy, you might look up and post a link from the Gasifiers 2 page thread, and add that to your gasifier thread.

 

[neptronix]

I've been watching videos about aquaponics and other sustainable stuff for 6 years.
I have a cherry-picked youtube playlist here if you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtvz6ey2YS5OkUWgKpNUx0xlgaG46yong

 

[Drunkskunk]

I have a friend who does this. He raises Talapia and vegetables pretty successfully. The down side is the disease. he's dealing with a parasite right now that killed all his fish, and will cause him to need to destroy his crop as well. Any kind of disease or parasite that gets into a closed system ruins it. Trying to eradicate it will leave the drugs and chemicals in the system, so the only safe course is to start over.

It might be safe to drink out of a bottle or cup made out of non food grade or BPA containing plastics, but when the whole closed system is kept in non food grade plastics, those chemicals will build up over time. they will be either soaked up by the plant's, or soaked up by the fish, meaning you'll get higher concentrations of the various carcinogens as well as BPA than you would if you just drank the water.

 

[Harold in CR]

What we do is, we change the water after scrubbing down the empty tank. This is done a couple of times a year. We still have the same fish, although they are getting very big, now.

The sun is strong down here, so we have to run a fan to push the very warm air out the vented window openings. I need to get the sides opened up and put up chicken wire mesh, so the chickens stay out of the vegetable beds. Temps here rarely exceed 85 degrees F, so, that is a good thing. Rainy season is 8-9 months with plenty of cloud cover.

We feed Lettuce most days. It's a curly leaf variety and for right around $1.00 for 1, sometimes 2 heads, it keeps the fish frisky and healthy. 1 head lasts for 10 days or so, along with pellet feed. I need to import some duckweed and grow that. Tilapia love that stuff.

 

[nutnspecial]

Thanks guys! Playlists that show someone's research are priceless, thanks! I'm really excited to do it.

Harold, I heard some people start farming flies/worms for fishfood in leu of storebought food?

 

[Harold in CR]

Yes, soldier fly larvae are the preferred fish food. I have a friend several miles away, here in CR, that is doing that, but, he is out of CR until next month, before I can add more info.

I put some regular earthworms in 1 grow bed as a test. After 3 months, I dug into the grow bed with my hands and found worms both large and small. I don't know if any got cycled back into the fish tank, though.

Then, I got covered up with projects and have been too busy to get back to monitoring as I should. My wife does some of that, but, she is afraid to do something that might kill her "pet" fish.