Aquaponics?

[sufficientforme]

I have become increasingly interested in aquaponics, does anyone else do this here? I am convincing myself this can be done a lot cheaper than the commercial kits which run a little under a 1000.00 for what I want. This seems like such a great concept both environmentally and sufficiency. I am curious if and how others are doing this type of self sufficient garden/food source.

 

[sufficientforme]

Oops I guess I should have searched first, looks like there are several older posts. Does anyone currently still do this?

 

[Wifezilla]

I am growing supplemental food for my ducks in ponds.

 

[hoosier]

I am growing supplemental food for my ducks in ponds.

Do they eat watermeal? Would they enjoy summer camp in Indiana?

 

[Wifezilla]

Hee hee hee. I think watermeal is supposed to be a good snack for ducks. They gobble up duckweed and string algae like crazy. So you got a camp bus? I can pack some little suitcases for them

 

[hoosier]

I have about an acre of it they are more than welcome to snack on anytime!

 

[azgardengirl77]

My husband and I have an aquaponics system that we started about 6 months ago. It is REALLY cheap if you get creative. We built a 14x35 greenhouse/hoop house, put in an inground pond that is about 800 gallons for our tilapia. The grow beds are all built out of recycled wood along with pond liner that you can get at any home improvement store and pvc pipe. We have more grow beds that we plan to add but in the mean time we have 1 4x20 grow bed, 4 2x5 grow beds and one of those plastic kids pools that is our grow bed for the duckweed (which we feed to the tilapia and our chickens). All in all for the greenhouse and all everything we have put in about $300.00 total....that's including the $200.00 for the greenhouse plastic....and we have a TON of grow space. We started with 10 pure blue Tilapia and they have started breeding, we now have about 60-80 fish total in the pond and we have sold over 200 of the offspring as fingerlings. The tilapia sales have pretty much funded the cost of the entire system plus some. Now, we live in Arizona so there is really NO need for the greenhouse, but where we live, out in the sticks, we have severe wind ALOT, so it is not necessarily to keep it warm in there but more of a shelter for the system so it doesn't get blown away.

 

[gettinaclue]

My husband and I have an aquaponics system that we started about 6 months ago. It is REALLY cheap if you get creative. We built a 14x35 greenhouse/hoop house, put in an inground pond that is about 800 gallons for our tilapia. The grow beds are all built out of recycled wood along with pond liner that you can get at any home improvement store and pvc pipe. We have more grow beds that we plan to add but in the mean time we have 1 4x20 grow bed, 4 2x5 grow beds and one of those plastic kids pools that is our grow bed for the duckweed (which we feed to the tilapia and our chickens). All in all for the greenhouse and all everything we have put in about $300.00 total....that's including the $200.00 for the greenhouse plastic....and we have a TON of grow space. We started with 10 pure blue Tilapia and they have started breeding, we now have about 60-80 fish total in the pond and we have sold over 200 of the offspring as fingerlings. The tilapia sales have pretty much funded the cost of the entire system plus some. Now, we live in Arizona so there is really NO need for the greenhouse, but where we live, out in the sticks, we have severe wind ALOT, so it is not necessarily to keep it warm in there but more of a shelter for the system so it doesn't get blown away.

Very cool!!!

I have been looking into this for a while and couldn't find anything for suitable heat source since I didn't want to hook up electricity.
I have come up with a wood stove made of a barrel. Burn during the day, and let the water keep it warm at night...in theory at least.

Do you have pictures? I would love to see pictures!

And welcome!!!

 

[LittleRoosterCroft]

Thanks for bringing this topic up! I was just about (and still will) start digging in the archives.

I am starting an aquaponics system inside this winter (just gold fish for now) and plan to grow herbs. Once I have a hang of this I'll venture into a bigger system. I hope to have a larger system outside growing tilapia but am still working on the logistics - where to put it, how to shelter it, etc.

I am curious to hear what other folks are doing too!

 

[azgardengirl77]

Feel free to check out my husband's youtube channel he created...he started taking videos so he can update once a week or so and keep track of whats happening

Go to youtube.com and in the search type in nlechm25

I believe he has 3 videos so far.

Enjoy and please let us know what you think!