This is a picture of my Tilapia fish in the tank below the grow bed.

Hi Lou

The aquaponics experiment looks great! plants look so healthy!
I am glad that is working well for you, you are so enterprising, good for you! Do you also eat the fish? or are they just workers in the tank?

Silvia

Silvia,

When they get big enough to harvest in the fall, yes I will eat them. The workers in the tank are the guppies & mollies but none were in view when I snapped the picture. The Tilapia are now around the 6 + inch size, they were 1/2" to 1 inch size when I bought them. They should grow to around a foot long by the time the weather turns colder.

Lou

Looks great. Did you put it together yourself or buy a kit? I saw a post on FB about a local company that sells the kits. Wondering if it would be worth investing in one.

ocalagirls,

We bought IBC 300 gallon totes from a guy in Ocala and modified them as instructed on a you tube video. I bought the water pump and air pump on eBay for cheap. all in all under $100 because I had some scrap PVC plumbing leftover from other plumbing jobs setting up my garden automatic watering. The growing medium is the most expensive part but even on that you can go cheap with river run pea stone as the grow medium. I spent $200 for the expanded clay pellets which I now know was totally unnecessary. Pea stone would suffice.
See the link below.... watch the video.... and see if you are able do the job yourself.

Lou

Here is a link that might be useful: Back Yard IBC Aquaponics

This is a picture of my salad greens growing in my aquaponics grow bed.

These are a picture of ripe Roma tomatoes growing in my aquaponics grow bed. The large leaf plants to the left are eggplants. Salad greens at the bottom are growing all throughout the grow bed wherever I find empty spots to sprinkle the seeds.

Your plants look great! I would love to see more about where and how you have the tanks set up. Are they in full sun? If I recall correctly, you have the plants above the fish - do the fish get enough shade that way? And how tall is the whole thing?

I guess that I missed your first posting about your aquaponics set up. I too, would like to see more pics with more info. Lou, what a great set up you got going there. Are the fish supplying all of the fertilizer needs for the plants?

Christine

Having seen the setup in person it works quite well and it is amazing how fast those fish grow.

The top edge of the grow bed is exactly 4 feet up from the ground. The size of the grow bed is 4 feet by 3-1/2 feet wide. The growing medium (I used expanded clay balls) is 10 inches deep. The grow bed is turned 90 degrees from the fish tank and set back on top allowing you access to the fish tank below. You can plant your plants very close together because there is no competition for nutrients. The moving water through the clay balls bring the nutrients to the plants. The fish supply all the nutrients except for a few minor minerals which I provided by sprinkling some Azomite when I first set it up. I have 25 Tilapia fish and some guppies and mollies in the fish tank. The white plastic tubs were painted dark green by me on the outside to limit the light for the fish and to limit algae. The setup sits under a clear corrugated plastic canopy 8 feet above the setup in a wide open sunny area. I feed the fish organic pelleted fish food because I will be eating the fish when they grow to the size for harvesting. The water temperature varies from 75F to 85F and the PH is now stable at PH 6. I have an electronic monitor for Temp, PH, and conductivity (dissolved minerals in the water). I also have a different type monitor for ammonia. Certain bacteria break down the ammonia to nitrites then other bacteria break down the nitrites into nitrates and the plants use the nitrates for food. Once a balance is established between the amount of fish and the amount of plants both will flourish as you can see from my pictures. This first setup is my learning & testing setup, when the weather cools down I will set up seven more IBC totes to grow more different type veggies. From what I see the Australians on you tube growing in their setups nothing is impossible to grow... even corn in low beds just above the ground. If I missed anything feel free to ask questions.

Lou

This is a picture showing the canopy over the Aquaponics set up.

This is a closer look at the setup. The picture shows the set back of the top grow bed for access to the fish tank. To the left I have a 4' X 8' plywood leaning on the setup to block the afternoon sun from the fish tank. You will notice the grow bed is at the same height (4 feet) as the plywood.

This is a picture of the electronic monitoring of the fish tank water showing (left to right windows) PH, Temperature, Conductivity (dissolved minerals)
The readings are 5.96PH, 83.8F, 0.770 Conductivity

Lou, where did you learn about this?

Can you expand on your explanation of conductivity. I have quality pH and conductivity meters. But, I don't have any idea what to do with the conductivity meter that someone said that I needed for the veggie garden - for foliar feeding.

Christine

Conductivity is a typical way to monitor and continuously trend the performance of the water quality. It measures the amounts of TDS (total dissolved solids) I use it to monitor the water quality in the fish tank. My meter will switch between Conductivity & TDS readings.

In your application you would use it to monitor your mixing of the foliar feeding solution to achieve a proper balance. (in other words, it would keep you from mixing too heavy a concentration and burning your leaves) If you keep notes you can vary your solution ratios slightly to see which concentration is best for each type of your plants. It's just a bit of scientific gardening that a few of us employ. (achieving the green or brown thumb effect of gardening)

Lou

Nice setup Lou, I have been watching a lot of youtube videos as well, Rob Bob- an Aussie has a lot of good stuff. I was wondering about the heavy rains we get but I see you have the fiberglass panels, do they help with the summer sun and cut some of the heat out like a shade cloth plus divert the rain ?

Christine,
I participated in a two day hands on working seminar to learn about Aquaponics.

Steveb3,
You never did write your email address in the body of your email, GW would not divulge your email address to me and told me I was unable to reply.
Those are not fiberglass panels, they are clear plastic corrugated panels UV resistant. The panels reflect the UV rays which keeps the plants cooler in summer yet will still allow them to get the benefits of almost full sunlight. I noticed they cast a very very light shadow on the ground yet when I step under the canopy it's like I stepped into the shade. Yes they were expensive. They seem to be working well as the tomatoes & peppers in the aquaponics grow bed are still setting fruit through summer so far. My normal regular tomato & pepper garden out in the naked sun, tomatoes are toast and the peppers have quit setting peppers. I will be setting up seven more IBC totes when the weather turns cooler to work on them.
The link in one of my earlier posts on this thread shows how to modify an IBC tote for aquaponics. There is a lot of info about aquaponics on the you tube videos.

Lou

The website listed below is an excellent teaching tool for those who would like to be taught the process, from start to finish!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Urban Farming Guys

This is a closeup picture of my Tilapia male breeder. If you look close under the fish you can see the little extended tube for fertilizing the eggs with sperm. The Tilapia males take on a pinkish hue on their face when they are ready for mating.

In this picture you can see the male herding the females into his corner. Please pardon the algae on the glass, normally I keep it clean but during mating I don't want to disturb them with the brush.

It is hard to tell from the pictures but those fish are BIG....it is a 125 gallon tank.

I have been interested in aquaponics for quite a while now. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats on beginning the process of feeding your self and feeding the world. A lot of folk think you just fill a tank with water throw some fish in and away you go. You sharing of some of the details necessary for success will help many who lack the confidence to get started and also those who may be over confident.

Jake

Jake - As of yesterday, I harvested my second batch of (14) tilapia. Last month the harvest was only 8 fish so I wouldn't risk too many in case I did the purging process incorrectly. My family and I are just so pleased with the size and taste of the tilapia, a fish that I would never buy in a store.

You are so correct when when you infer that aquaponics looks so simple - it certainly is not in reality. There was a lot for me to learn but now that I know what I'm doing [kind of :) ] it has become an important part of our modest 2 acre homestead.

Christine

I have tasted these fish mentioned above. They were delicious. I also have photos, but I will have my mum AKA Happy Fl Gardner post them.

6.0 pH is a little low isn't it? I am targeting 6.5-7.0 in my upcoming system based upon charts showing that level to be the ideal for plant takeup of all nutrients.

What is your take?