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[Levi]

Figured I'd post about this, as I'm kinda proud of what I've made so far.  The basic idea of aquaponics is that you pump dirty-fish water from your fishtank up to your plants which eat the nutrients and clean the water.  The clean water is then dropped back down into the fish tank.  This removes the need for filters or aeration, and you get to eat your fish and your plants.

So after my plants out on my deck have died horribly for a third year in a row, I decided I wanted to try to grow vegis with aquaponics instead.  I've been working on building this since.  Its still not quite ready yet(I should be getting the hydroton grow bed media sometime this week), but I'm far enough along to show it off. 

Pictures below:

Older pictures:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

My system with my grow lights turned on:


A little closer:


I built my own growlight out of 3W leds:


The system as a whole without the leds turned on.


The plumbing:


The bell part of the bellsiphon:


The standpipe part of the bellsiphon:

The growlights I built out of an aluminium sheet, a LED controller, and a bunch of 3 wat leds(mostly red ones, but a few blue and white ones as well).  They operate on a timer that turns them on at 9:00AM and off at 9:00PM. 

The rest of it was made out of random containers, pvc tubes and fittings and a table bought at Canadian Tire.  I'm hoping the table doesn't collapse under the weight of it all, but I think it'll probably be okay.

Right now I'm waiting for the growbed media(hydroton) to arrive.  Then I can start the system up and let it run for a while to normalize the system.  Then I'll get a bunch of fish(probably goldfish) and start growing some vegis!

I'll post some more pictures once things have started growing. 

Anyway, its been a fun project and I've learned a lot from it.  I've always been pretty incompetent when it comes to building things, so this has been a great experience.

Edit:  Pictures from 2014-06-17:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The whole system under a grow light:


The whole system with the grow light off:


My growlight:


My grow bed:


The water draining:

[Arx]

Looks cool! Is this what you were soldering LEDs for?

[Levi]

Looks cool! Is this what you were soldering LEDs for?

Yeah.  And let me tell you, my blue-tack idea totally failed   I ended up redoing the whole thing properly with solder.  It was slow going at first, but I got better at it. 

[Yoink]

That is really cool. I'm not at all knowledgeable about such things, but a vegetable garden is something everyone should have/have access access to, in my opinion. If this method makes it easier and more cost effective to do so, well colour me intrigued.

[Anvilfolk]

Wow, this is awesome! Do keep it updated!

[Levi]

That is really cool. I'm not at all knowledgeable about such things, but a vegetable garden is something everyone should have/have access access to, in my opinion. If this method makes it easier and more cost effective to do so, well colour me intrigued.

It takes more to set up than a regular garden, but maintaining it ought to be a breeze.  Just need to feed the fish and occasionally add some more water(because it slowly evaporates).  I've seen some other setups where they have an automated fish feeder, so some people don't even need to do that. 

[freeformschooler]

That is really cool. I'm not at all knowledgeable about such things, but a vegetable garden is something everyone should have/have access access to, in my opinion. If this method makes it easier and more cost effective to do so, well colour me intrigued.

It takes more to set up than a regular garden, but maintaining it ought to be a breeze.  Just need to feed the fish and occasionally add some more water(because it slowly evaporates).  I've seen some other setups where they have an automated fish feeder, so some people don't even need to do that.

This is fascinating. Do you collect seeds to "replant" like a normal veggie garden?

[DeKaFu]

you get to eat your fish and your plants.

Then I'll get a bunch of fish(probably goldfish) and start growing some vegis!

Eat... goldfish?

[Sheb]

Aren't tilapias the standard aquaponics fishes? Also, have you any idea of how many fishes you'll need to provide enough nutrients for your veggies? What will you feed your fishes with? Is there a reasons to use growlamps rather than sunlight?

Also, using growlamps, you can go for way more than 12 hours a day if you want max productivity. 16 or even 20 hours would be perfectly fine.

[Levi]

This is fascinating. Do you collect seeds to "replant" like a normal veggie garden?

Probably you could.  I'm not going to though, seeds are cheap enough. 

Eat... goldfish?

Well, I won't eat the goldfish.    I'm more interested in the vegis, so any fish will do for now.

Aren't tilapias the standard aquaponics fishes?

Yes, Tilapias are the aquaponics standard fish.  I've had a hard time figuring out where to get them where I live though.  I figure for now I'll start with goldfish or something and if I get more ambitious I'll upgrade to Tilapia if I can find some.

Also, have you any idea of how many fishes you'll need to provide enough nutrients for your veggies?

I've heard that a rule of thumb is about 5 gallons of water per tilapia, and I've got about 30 gallons capacity so I can probably have about 6 fish in there.  Goldfish are smaller I think so I could probably add more.

What will you feed your fishes with?

Fish food from the pet store. 

Is there a reasons to use growlamps rather than sunlight?

Mostly because my apartment deck doesn't get a lot of sun.  I'd also be able to grow food during the winter which is nice.

Also, using growlamps, you can go for way more than 12 hours a day if you want max productivity. 16 or even 20 hours would be perfectly fine.

Good to know!  I might add more hours then.  The main limiter is that this is all in my bedroom and I wouldn't want to sleep with those lights on, they are really bright.   

[Sheb]

Just buy some milar or something and make a growth tent. It's really cheap, and gives good results.

However, if you're not interested in the fishes, isn't the whole thing just an enormously expensive way to produce fertilizers? I mean, it's still a cool project, but unless you plan on adding tilapias later on, or just like aquarium, it seems inefficient. Looking into cheaper source of feed might be a good idea too, later on.

[Levi]

I don't think fish food is very expensive, although I admit I've never had an aquarium before.     My main goal was a fairly hands-off system for growing vegis without the need for sun/potting soil.  Maybe hydroponics would have been a better choice, but this looked better to me at the time.

[Sheb]

Well, cool project anyway. BTW, I have access to tons of scholarly literature through my university, so if you need any research done, just ask me. 

[Levi]

I will certainly if I run into any troubles.   

Edit:  Sheb, why did all my fish die and my tomatoes turn blue!?! 

[BlindKitty]

As far as I can tell, mostly from tomatoes turning blue... Well, chloride is not a good idea in such setup.