Hello from East Coast Canada. Saint John New Brunswick advice?

[dsul3791]

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to aquaponics and Im looking to start from my 70 gallon Fish tank in my rec room.
This tank has been up and healthy for over 8 years. My last shark just died from old age and now I only have a pleco left. I would like to add a small indoor garden growing lettuce mixes, arugula, romaine and spinach like stuff. I have read that the green leafy stuff will lower the nitrates naturally and reduce frequency of water changes and give me free-ish food.

So now I am slowly lowering the ph to around 6.8 and Im scouting for fish that will look pretty, be NON Aggressive, and thrive in a 6.8 ph and preferably like cooler water say 70-77F

Any suggestions?

Thanks up front
Dave From Canada

[Chris Klugh]

Nice. I think what your about to do would be awesome!

My first bit of advise, try to give us pictures and description of what space you have to work with.

I'm relatively new to designing AP systems, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I do have an AP system that I've Vloged.
Check out my 1 Year anniversary video that will showcase some of the issues that I'm having and need help with. It might help you get an idea of some future problems you should try to solve now.

https://youtu.be/Ph4n2kF0DUI

So going back to your build here, again, share with us how you have your set up now so we can poke at some of the engineering concerns to address.

Things to think about:

How are you putting plants into it? How are you going to seed it?

Flood and drain? Vertical space?

Lights? Trust me, your not going to want grow lights going on in the same room you intend to use for other uses. They are brightly annoying! This might actually be your biggest issue to figure out if your putting it in the rec room. If so, you might want to hold off on growing plants you can eat solely for the purpose that for house plants, they will grow as they can with what light they get, where edible plants, your going to want higher standards for it. Even I'm thinking of nurfing my edibles in exchange for house plants.