I have just finished (yesterday) putting together stage 2 of my aquaponics garden.
( 3 x 220ltr fish tanks/2 44gal drums/3 x 6mtr hydro)
Stage one consisted of our pond which has been in the ground for 2 1/2 years, I put hydropinics over the top and a bath ready for gravel and plants.
Most of the plants I put into the system I ripped out of the grass/weed filled ground and just stuck them in the water. They are not dead yet (4 weeks
ago) Amazing stuff.
My second stage is for redclaw, using 3 glass fish tanks and aquabridges to connect them, only one pump is needed. This system today is ready for
gravel and plants.
The 3rd stage which I'm planning now, is 3 x 900lt tanks and 5 grow beds. I'm going to have perch and possibly barramundi, although these you can
catch with a fishing rod on the side of the road in the wet season, so maybe not. I have the tanks ready to go, just requires plumbing and a pump and
fish!
I have tried gardening the ole fashioned way and permaculture, and neither of these compare with aquaponics.
There's is basically nothing you can't grow, including potatos! Aquaponics uses 1/10th the water of normal food production.
The fish do what they do best and the plants do what they do best, it's perfect.
The next step is setting up a community garden in our town (am currently working on)and I'm going to donate a system for show in this garden.
I would love to see our nursing homes with a system each of their own, since they are not labour intensive once built, and you don't have to bend,
it's ideal for those less capable.
That's my plan anyway...
My fourth stage (at home) will be a system inside with no outside light source, using an aquaponics led light system, in a bathroom downstairs. You
essentially use red and blue led lights to grow the food, but I'm interested if fish progress the same way, so that's what I'll be testing.
After this I want to stick my fingers into a salt system, the same principals should apply by filtering through the vegetation.
It's a bug that's bitten me and I'm hooked!
The best thing about it, is most of it can be made from recycled materials.
Great thread OP
