Aquaponics in Oklahoma?

[Matt Cole]

I have been investigating to try Aquaponics, but never even had heard of it till 3 weeks ago. The concept makes sense and appears to be feasible.

I live in Oklahoma near the Arkansas border, where mostly farming has been in the ground. However, my soil is made mostly of red clay and is pretty much worthless.

I do not really want to spend a bundle of money, but would like to try this during the summer. I see most start out with 60 gallons for the fish, and the beds are 1/4 inch thick, around 3 square feet.

Does anyone have any suggestions to acquire the required material? I plan to check the local Lowes, and/or Home Depot.

[TCLynx]

Tractor supply is a good source for stock tanks as beds/fish tanks.

[Carey Ma]

It sounds like you have an ideal location to prove that AP is suitable to use anywhere. Most clay are non porous thus make good fish ponds. If you have access to lumber, you can easily build boxes as grow beds and line them with plastic or fiberglass. I just don't know what is conveniently available to you. 

For a smaller, longer lasting system, I would use stock tanks as TC suggests.

[Debra Colvin]

I don't know how seriously you want to approach this, but here's the quick and cheap list I've developed for my own personal use and experiments:


Concrete mixing trays work well as grow beds. - got mine from home depot-- roughly 10 bucks a piece for the ideal depth ones, 5 for the smaller. They are about 10 gallons.


Grow media-- red lava rock, about 5 bucks a bag, half a cubic foot each I forget how much you will need for the above grow beds, though.


Tubing and pumps are also easily found at home depot.


Harbor frieght has real cheap pumps, too.


I've heard of people using kiddie pools. Not the hard plastic kind, nor the kind you inflate, but the metal sided ones just over a foot high. Last I checked, Walmart usually carries them for less than 20 bucks. If the lining can grow algae, then you can use it with fish.


I would test them out before adding any fish, as I really can't vouch for the pools.


Also. If Walmart has them, chances are that Kmart has them too.


Alternatively, a plastic tarp placed in a cavity, like a hole dug into the ground or something, also works. My biggish pond has that as a lining. (The thing it ugly atm, but it works. I got the latest liner at Home depot, due to a raccoon taking a dip) If you really want one designed for this sort of thing, then the black plastic pond tarp is also available-- at an inflated price, imho.

That's all I can think of atm. Good luck!

[TCLynx]

If you have a truck, you can get gravel, lava rock or expanded slate/shale cheaper in bulk.  Just call around to the places that supply gravel for concrete.  Be sure to get some samples to test before you buy a truck load.  You want to make sure you don't get limestone.

[Matt Cole]

I deeply appreciate all quick replies. I like the ideas and will pursue them, posting on how I proceed.