Aquaponic Gardening

A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Studing aquaponics BEFORE starting a system up......ideas and comments welcome.

I have a traditional square foot garden that I have had great success with but I will have to give it up due to being disabled and no longer able to weed it. I found the subject of aquaponics on YouTube last week and it seems like a great thing for me to try.

 I have always grown organically so this really appeals to me. Due to very limited income at this time I will probably use a lot of recycled materials to build my system.  Plus the fact that I live by the motto of reduce, reuse, and recycle. Any of you who repurpose things to use in your AP systems please pass on your ideas.

I have not desided if I am going to use a small greenhouse or grow outside or both. So ideas on that would be great. Either way I know that I am going to start small with grand hopes of expanding soon.

I am remodeling my bathroom and putting in a shower since I can no longer safely get in and out of my garden tub. So I plan on using the tub for my fish tank. The tub is approx. 4 and 1/2' long by 3' wide and 2' deep. Would this be a good size? Deep enough to keep the water temperatures ok during the hottest weather in Alabama? Also can someone tell me how to calculate how many gallons of water it will hold once I measure it to know the exact dementions?

Also I am thinking of sinking the fish tub to just above ground level so that I can keep my grow beds and crops lower since I would be unable to use a ladder to harvest the crops. Have any of you done this? Ideas/suggestions?

I will more than likely go with fish native to Alabama definately catfish and maybe bass or bream. For those of you raising these PLEASE give me some tips.

Ok I guess I have rambled on long enough for now.........Blessed Be.

 

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Also does anyone know where I can find either chanel cat or bluegill fingerlings? The only ones I have found are for stocking ponds and are only sold by 1,000 increments. That would be WAY to many for me. I can find talapia in smaller batches but would prefer to stay with natives but I may have to research raising talipia.

Well, some of the same places that sock large ponds may also be willing to sell smaller numbers.  Here in FL the normal minimum from the place I buy from is 100 but they will sell less but the minimum dollar amount doesn't change.  I've occasionally gotten a bath of fish to share so if you can find another Aquapon in your are you might do a joint order.

 

There are some fish places that might be willing to ship but many places are wary of shipping catfish since their barbs can sometimes puncture bags.

If bending and reaching is difficult then definitely do up your grow beds kinda narrow or lay it out so you can reach from all sides and have them set up at a comfortable height.  I've been using 100 gallon stock tanks on blocks which is a nice height for growing most of the smaller plants.  Climbers might be good if you arrange the trellis so that they then run over head and hang down just above head height so you simply reach up and pick the tomatoes and cucumbers.

 

Since I'm not very tall I like the 30-32 inch wide beds up at about hip height and you might have the son in law set up something like a cattle panel up at a height you can reach up and tie strings to.  Fence top rain pounded into the round and then rail brace clamps holding rails up to secure the cattle panel overhead could do this for a reasonable price.  The only real challenge would then be cleaning out the old plants after they have covered the overhead and need to come out.

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