My First Aquaponics System - A How To

Before we get into my first system build, if you're unfamiliar with what Aquaponics is,
READ THIS.
My first do-it-yourself aquaponics system was a lot of hard work but I learned quite a bit and am blown away daily by the results! This write up is meant to give you an idea of the approach I took. I'm not a fan of technical writing so most of the nuts and bolts have been left out. There are many resources online including step by step videos outlining the finer points of the installation, plumbing, etc. The principles are very basic. I encourage you to read earlier posts to familiarize yourself. Enjoy.

I'm one to dive right into something. That's why I decided to build my first aquaponics system with no formal training and minimal forethought. Ha! For me, there's no better way to learn than to jump right in. Over the years, I've learned to expect to make mistakes and embrace them as a learning tool. It's the best way to learn, in my humble opinion.

My first system was constructed with found and recycled materials. I had a large stack of cinder blocks in the yard from a previous tenant which I used to construct a 4 X 8 foot box which was 2 feet deep for my fish tank. These cinder blocks were dry-stacked, meaning that I used no mortar to hold them together. Instead, I used 1/2" re-bar and drove it into the ground between the openings in the blocks to reinforce everything. This way, I could tear it down easily and move it if I had to. Also, I'm one of those "Go big or go home" kinda guys, so a 400 + gallon tank for two 4'X4' grow beds was way more than enough but I wanted to leave room to expand in the future.

This was to be the centerpiece of my new garden, and I wanted it to look nice, so I went to the local landfill and purchased a cubic yard of recycled glass. Many landfills have "recycling" programs now and this stuff is beautiful and cheap. About $30 a yard. So, next I lined the area around the tank with old Tyvek, which is a material used to wrap houses during the construction process before the siding is installed. Spare sheets of this stuff can be found thrown in dumpsters around construction sites. The stuff the glass is on in the pic below is actually an old in-ground pool cover I salvaged off of Craigslist. Most of this stuff can be found for free on Craigslist if you have the patience to wait for it...

Next, I went to the local pond supply place and bought a liner to fit the tank. This one is about 40 mils thick and was about $200. There are much cheaper liners out there, but I wanted this to last for years, so I spared no expense.

Here's my roughed in design. I've got my recycled glass bed held in place with recycled 2 X 4's, my dry-stacked cinder block tank is lined and filled with dechlorinated water, and I've stacked 4 columns across the back to place my grow-beds on. I used old 2 X 6's to span the columns and support the weight of two separate 4 X 4 foot beds. I've planned on getting 12" deep beds to support a wider variety of vegetables. But first, I'm gonna wrap this with wood to make it look nicer... Once again, let's check out Craigslist...

OK, my de-chlorinated water has been sitting a couple of days, I've wrapped the exterior with wood, and bought a double-barrel aerator and two air stones to start adding some oxygen to the water. I also bought a used heating element with a separate digital temperature control/ thermometer readout from the local hydroponics supply house. It was only $10 used and I bought it mainly because of the attached digital thermometer. The heating element itself won't get much use here in Texas... Notice the raised beds in the background made out of railroad ties and the hollowed out keg planters. I'm always on the lookout for things that can be repurposed...

Here's the aerator and heater/thermometer... This heaters acts as a  thermostat and kicks on automatically when the water reaches a certain temperature. Not that it would make much of an impact in a tank as large as this. Like I said, I bought it mainly for the thermometer...

 

Here's the front. And now it's time to purchase the grow-beds and pump. Used, of course.
I'll also be stopping by Home Depot to pick up some plumbing for the siphons and returns...

 

Grow-beds can be expensive. Always ask your supplier if they've got used beds laying around, then get a guarantee that they're not cracked or damaged. My supplier gives me a couple of days to fill them with water and check them out. Here's the used section.. Sorry about the blurriness of some of these pics. I never stop moving!

 

Now that I have the beds and they check out, it's time to do some plumbing.You may notice the home-made raft I made. I wanted to experiment with various seedlings from different plants to see what kind of root growth I could get using Deep Water Culture..





To make the raft, I bought some small planter cups from the supply house, found a used a foam pool raft, cut it into pieces, and measured out where I wanted the planters to go. I placed some gravel and seedlings in shortly after I put fish in the tank, and later transferred them into the grow beds after I noticed significant root growth.

 The rule of thumb for plumbing in your stand pipe, bell siphon, and media guard is as follows:

Your siphon should be double what your stand pipe is. So, if your stand pipe is 1", your siphon should be 2". Lot's of folks suggest using polypropylene instead of PVC because it's safer can be melted straight and glued together with a torch instead of using chemical glues. It's a better idea but for the sake of time and ease of use, I used PVC and the primer and glue that's appropriate.

The first mistake with the plumbing that I made was not following the rule of thumb. I used 1 1/4" PVC instead of 1" thinking I would get a better flow rate out of the bed, which was true,  but I only used 2" for the siphon, so the amount of water building around the stand pipe in the siphon was reduced a bit. This fixed itself later on and they worked fine once I put a timer on the pump. The second mistake I made was actually using the rule of thumb. If you've got big hands, 4" PVC is too small for the media guard! On later models, I switched to 6" and it worked much better for me. You've got to be able to reach in and service your siphon occasionally. For more information on the plumbing aspects of this type of system, YouTube it. Lot's of great videos.

Now it's time to fill the grow beds with media..

After much research, (and lamentation when I found out how much Hydroton costs) I decided to
go with basic river gravel. This stuff is cheap and easy to work with. Although you're getting a hodge podge of rocks, (some of which have a bit more lime in them that I would like considering pH levels) they're  a good size and I like that they've been rounded off by years of tumbling in a river. This makes it easier to stick your hand into the bed and plant or extract things. In the subsequent model I designed for a friend, we used crushed granite which is pH neutral but I still like the way river rock feels. The rocks for these beds only cost me $37 for a cubic yard. If I were to go with Hydroton, which is marble sized clay balls, it would've cost me about $600. Hydroton is the industry standard and it works exceptionally well, but for my first system, I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible. I washed the gravel off in a wheel barrow before filling the beds so I wouldn't foul up my water when the beds emptied back into the tank.

So, I've got my 8" high stand pipe sticking up through the bed using a bulk head fitting, a 2" siphon with a cap sitting over that at around 9" high, and a 4" media guard encasing that and it's all surrounded by gravel now. Now it's time to add fish and inoculate the tank. I used 20 gallons of water from my buddies pond. It's a mature ecosystem and it's been going for years, so I knew there would be plenty of beneficial bacteria in his water to jump start my ecosystem. Just for a little extra kick, I added some Microbe Lift, which is an award winning additive that speeds up the cycling process.

Some friends of mine clean and service ponds for a living, so I called them to see what their schedule was looking like for getting me some free fish and they were on their way to a cleaning that day! That afternoon, they showed up with 50 Koi and goldfish, and we added them to the system. The idea was for them to help get the system going by eating and pooping for a couple of weeks, thus feeding the beneficial bacteria, and getting the nitrogen cycle up to speed before I invested in Tilapia and other fish I planned on eating. As I design more of these, these fish will be traveling from system to system. Here's the running system sans growing media...

Now to plant some food! I started with strawberries, basil, peppers, and a tomato in one bed, leaving room to experiment with various seedlings as conditions changed.

In the other bed, I decided to try something a bit bolder. 
"The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various Native American groups in North America: squash, maize (corn), and climbing beans.
In this technique known as companion planting, the three crops are planted close together and benefit from each other. The maize provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants utilize, and the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the sunlight, helping prevent establishment of weeds. The squash leaves also act as a "living mulch", creating a micro-climate to retain moisture in the soil, and the prickly hairs of the vine deter pests. Maize lacks the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which the human body needs to make proteins and niacin, but beans contain both and therefore corn and beans together provide a balanced diet." - Wiki

I started the Three Sisters bed with straight seed. Normally, crops like corn and beans take 10-14 days to germinate. Not this time! In A DAY AND A HALF, these had germinated and grown a couple of inches!! Mind blown. Here they are just a few weeks later...

And here's my raised beds I've been watering with a little of the water from the Aquaponic system...Everything is super happy.

Here's the other bed. Things took a little longer to take off in this one because I was experimenting a lot with it. I moved and replaced a number of things, but as you can see, everything in this bed is super happy as well.

 

In this pic, a bean reaches out across the beds to grab some basil. If I were to do this again, I would've planted the corn a couple of weeks before the beans to give it a height advantage, as the beans are growing much faster and need the corn to climb.



Here's another look at my happy beds.

Well, that's it for now! I hope this provides you with a basic understanding of what goes into building a system. There's much more detailed information and some great DIY guides for designing siphons, installing the plumbing, etc. on YouTube.
Keep checking in for regular updates, and thanks for being hooked on 'ponics!

Simply,

Dillon