Which comes first?

[crawdad]

There is the old idiom of “which came first the chicken or the egg”. Well, I have a similar question.

Which system do you set up first, the aquaculture side with the fish in it or the hydroponic side with the vegetables?

I mean they both have to work together, but they have to be balanced before they work correctly, right?

[JCO]

Well, I think the jury is still out on the question of the chicken and the egg, however, I would set up the fish first and get them peculating then start concentrating on the greenhouse (I am assuming) veggies/herbs.

To cleanse the fish water, I would suggest you construct a bio-filtration system to house a medium for removing Nitrite from the water. I use plastic bio-balls such as you see in aquarium external bio-filters.

A construction suggestion could be a fiberglass box 4’ in height and 8’ long using sheets of construction Styrofoam as the core glassed over with fiberglass matt and cloth. The water could then be pumped from the fish to the bio-filter via PVC with the tubing running over the box with holes drilled for the water to be distributed as equally as possible.

The water trickling through the bio-balls with the help of Nitrobacter spp bacteria will convert the Nitrite to Nitrate. If the box is elevated above the height of the tank and slightly lower at one end, the water can be returned to the fish via gravity.

Once the system is established, you can start using the water for your hydroponic system.

Good Luck

[waterrancher]

Or you could start them both at the same time. Depends on what you will be using as a grow bed medium. I use pea gravel grow beds. Fish tank water is pumped into the growbeds, the growbeds house the bacteria that keeps the fish water clean and are the planting area for the veggies as well. Worms live in the gravel helping to clean up any solid waste build up.
Once started it takes about four weeks for your system to be cycled. That is your fish water will be free of ammonia and nitrites, Nitrates will be removed by the plants you are growing.
So you then feed the fish and eat your veggies. In a perfect world!

[JCO]

Firstly, please allow me to say welcome to our forum. It’s always a great pleasure to have intelligent, interested and experienced members to share their experiences.

Your method is in fact a tried and true form of aquaponics and I congratulate on your success.

Although I am not a promoter of pea gravel as I prefer the constant flood system and floating Styrofoam sheets with the plants sitting in plugs with their roots constantly in water. But that in itself just shows that there are a number of ways to produce fish and veggies/herbs.

[waterrancher]

True That.

[LisaM12]

Your first step is to gather together the following components:

• Glass or plastic fish tank; 3 to 20 gallon size (1 to 2 square feet for growing per every 10 gallons of water)
• Air pump; large enough to match the number of tank gallons
• Air stone
• Tubing to connect air pump to air stone; approximately 3 feet
• Water pump; needs to lift 18 to 54 inches at 30 to 100 gallons of water per hour
• Tubing which fits outlet on water pump; approximately 3 feet
• Gravel; 2.5 pounds per every 5 gallons of water of the tank and color doesn’t matter
• Grow bed; 3 to 8 inches deep
• Growing medium; enough to fill grow bed
• pH test kit and chemicals to balance out the water if necessary
• Heater; optional
• Light; optional
• Plants; these can be purchased after the first cycle
• Fish; can be purchased after the first cycle

If you want to go bigger than 20 gallons you can; just adjust the sizes for the other items accordingly. You will also need some tools; yes, there is some assembly required with this project. You will need electrical tape, sharp scissors and a drill with a ¼ or 3/16 inch bit then also a ½ inch bit.

Assemble the fish tank together by adding the gravel (rinse it first) and prepping the pumps. The grow bed. Drill 1/8 or 3/16 inch holes every two inches in the bottom of the grow bed and one ½ inch hole in a back corner. Place the water pump in the fish tank and set the grow bed onto of the tank; feed water pump tubing up through the ½ inch hole. Allow sufficient tubing to loop around the inside of the grow bed; bend end over and tape.

Add growing medium to grow bed but don’t completely cover the tube. Punch small holes about every two inches in the looping tube. Finish covering looped tubing with growing medium. Fill fish tank with water and plug in water pump. This is an excellent start to your aquaponics. How to make a small one is almost completed.

Connect the air pump and place the air stone in the fish tank. Check the pH; ideal is 7.0. Allow to run for a full 24 hours. Add fish then about four weeks later, add your plants.

[Oliver]

Give this a read:

Aquaponics 101 Part Four: System Start Up

Oliver

[keith_r]

way to revive an old post!