Thanks to some friends of ours we started experimenting in aquaponic gardening last winter, we have been doing conventional gardening for several years in Colorado and have great passion for organically growing our own food. I built a small indoor PVC system in a closet in our house using a small 30 gallon tote for a fish tank and an LED growlight for lighting.
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| Notice the drain (bottom right) has been upgraded to a 4" to 3" elbow reduced to 2" |
Basic parts list - with links to Amazon
2x2 lumber for the frame
4" PVC Schedule 40 (2 - 8' sections cut in half)
7 - 4" 90 degree elbows (3 of them street and 4 regular)
3" Hole Saw
A few pictures of the system being built
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| The outlet of the 4" drains into the fish tank. I used a small 3/4 inch sprinkle fitting at first but quickly realized this is too small. Eventually I changed this to a 4" elbow reducing down to 2" and then entering the fish tank at 1" 1/4 |
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| Started out with fluorescent lighting and then switched to LED |
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| The inlet at the top coming from the fish tank, eventually I installed a splitter and diverted some water into the small tote with media in it for the nitrification process to occur (see pics below) |
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| Small feeder goldfish |
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| Airstone is important |
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| Straining the clay media before adding it to the system |
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| Adding plants in the netpots |
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| Kale is starting good |
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| This is the most important part of the system and something I added when I realized my Nitrate and Nitrite levels were not where I needed them. Part of the water is split to go into this small tote filled with media, it has a 4" pvc pipe with cuts in it for keeping the media out of the drain. There is also a small 1" stand pipe in the center not quite as tall as the media to overflow down the drain, this keeps the water level pretty high in the small tote. This is where the bacteria grows in the system that converts the fish waste into nitrates for the plants. Water leaves this tote and drains back into the fish tank. I also added compost worms into the media from our compost pile, they eat the fish solids and produce their own fertilizer. |
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| More kale |
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| Cucumbers did really well in the growth phase but failed to produce any fruit, I think the system is too small for fruiting vegetables or perhaps wasn't mature enough. |
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| The pipe on the left is the drain from the small tote with the media in it, the pipe on the right is filled with media and is where the system drains into. |
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| Cucumbers |
After successfully running a small indoor aquaponics setup through the winter, we were ready to increase the size of our system and move it outdoors.
That is really cool Paul!
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