Aquaponics are excellent for growing food for your homestead, or just as a backyard project for the family.

If that term is not familiar to you, stick around, you’re about to get a crash course and walk away with enough knowledge to build your own aquaponics system.

Aquaponics may sound like some foreign Latin dialect but really it’s a mixture of two words, aquaculture and hydroponics.

It takes the age old aquaculture ideas of raising fish in tanks or ponds and combines it with hydroponics, which is another age old practice of cultivating plants in water.

This symbiotic system works perfectly together because the fish fertilize the plants (via their waste) and the hydroponic system feeds the plants as it cleans the water for the fish.

Why Combine The Two

While it takes more work (and time, and money) to start, aquaponics takes the downsides of each system and utilizes them together to create one of the most perfect growing relationships known to man.

Aquaculture requires excess nutrients removed from the system while hydroponics needs nutrients to feed the plants. The two systems offer what the other lacks, 24/7 on demand.

Not to mention that it is an incredibly conservative system, as an aquaponic system only uses about 1/10th of the water compared to growing plants in the soil and about the same electricity as running a couple of light bulbs. You can forget about weeding or fertilizing your plants too, it’s all taken care of.

How It Works

The two main components of aquaponics are the aquaculture (fish) system and the hydroponic (plant) system. The aquaculture system lets off effluents that sit in the water. Effluents can include uneaten feed and other wastes from the animals (lots of ammonia-rich urine usually, you wouldn’t believe how much fish pee).

Without removal these excess byproducts slowly becomes toxic to the fish, and they cannot handle such high levels. This is where the hydroponic system comes in, it plays an important part filtering out the ammonia that would be toxic to the animals while at the same time feeding plants the nutrients they need to grow.

This continuous cycle of cleaning the water and oxygenating it continues for as long as the water pump is running and it enables both the plants and the animals to grow faster, healthier, and more productive than if they were separate systems.

What You Can Grow

Nearly any non-root vegetable can be grown in a hydroponic system. However, the best and most proven plants include cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, okra, and their related families. Root crops such as carrots, potatoes, and onions are not suitable for beginner aquaponics systems.

Since most plants have different growth stages and will use various minerals and nutrients along the way, it’s best to stagger your planting times until you learn your system. If your plants start suffering from lack of nutrients you cannot simply add fertilizer or compost, so take things slow until you know what to expect.

You can also grow your own duckweed or spirulina to feed yourself and your fish, but it is difficult trying to balance a completely closed system where there is zero input so I highly recommend waiting until you have a couple of years of experience under your belt before trying to grow your own fish food.

Animals that do well in an aquaponics system include most freshwater fish, and also freshwater crayfish and prawns. Tilapia are the staple among backyard aquaponics users but just about any fish will work including catfish, trout, bluegill, brim, or even goldfish. Check with your local government regulations before purchasing any fish.

The Basics

Before we get deep into DIY systems, check out this quick video with a basic homemade system walk-through of an actual working system. If you still have some doubts or questions keep reading, I’ve added several more videos and articles that demonstrate the basics in the DIY section too.

DIY Beginner Aquaponics Systems For All Budgets

Below are several DIY aquaponics projects for every level of experience. DIY aquaponics systems are naturally cheap and all the ones below are budget friendly, but we still included several very cheap setups (including one for just $10) for users just getting started or experimenting.

Easy Mini Setup For Experimenters

A mini aquaponic system is an excellent setup for those who want to get their feet wet (pun intended) in aquaponics. They have instructions for building a small system that is ideal for someone new to aquaponics, a teacher, students or hobbyists.

CHOP Aquaponics Setup
*참고사이트:https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/uac4da5d2-2f53-4527-9ac7-00d6360226a4/CHOP2-Based-Aquaponics-System

CHOP stands for Constant Height One Pump and is by far the most popular system for beginners. This system uses the fish tank overflow to fill the grow beds. This allows you to use one pump for the entire system which makes you even more sustainable and less reliant on electricity.

Simple $99 Beginner Setup

Home Aquaponics System has one of the best and most simple setups for a beginner and it’s perfect if you want to try your hand at aqua-gardening without going in deep. Using a plastic garbage bin as your fish tank cuts the cost down dramatically.

Plant Starter (or Leafy Greens) System

If you’re on a tight budget you can’t go wrong with this setup. You will have to play with it a bit and your growing space is limited, but it doesn’t get any cheaper. It makes a great seed starter aquaponics system too.

Awesome IBC  Setup

IBC’s, the big white plastic and metal totes, are used to make the most popular beginner aquaponics systems. The guys at Urban Fish Farmer showcase several methods, including ones that only require one pump and/or one ICB tote. They also have several example how-to’s that are great for a greenhouse since they do not take up much space.

Indoor Desktop System

With an indoor system you can continue to grow fresh food during the winter months. This first of many video series greatly details the construction of such a system. Not only that, but it looks good too. Many indoor aquaponic systems look pretty terrible in your house, but this system looks like an expensive water feature compared to others.

Amazing 300-Gallon Aquaponics System

Roe Sie, from the King’s Roost in Los Angeles, gives a tour of his shop’s aquaponics demo unit. Expandable to more than eight grow-beds, plus 40 pounds of tilapia, this system has an attractive, elegant, and effective design, with a surprisingly small footprint– about 9 x 12 feet, or the size of a prefab greenhouse.

If you’re interested in getting FOUR TIMES the yield of traditional in-ground gardening, using 90% LESS water and no fertilizers or pesticides, check this out. You don’t even need a big yard or lots of space. It’s perfect for urban farmers who crave organic produce and clean, safe, sustainable raised fish.

Mini Aquaponics Herb Garden For $10, Built In A Day!

Cheap, easy to build, works well, and looks great – It’s hard to beat this little system. Not only is it perfect for herbs but you could essentially grow anything that a regular aquaponics system could grow. The only disadvantage is it is top heavy and will need tying off to a wall if you want to grow something tall and heavy like tomatoes.

Reference:
Diy Aquaponics Projects For Beginners