A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

System setup

Hi: I am get started in aquafarming and have thought about running two tanks, 1. for fish and 2. with Prawn's. Living up on the coast, I will need to setup above ground. I haven't checked with Lowe's yet to see if they carry any pumps and what this is going to cost due to being on limited income. I need as much info as I can get for this area and not from over sea system's.

Thank you for your time

Bill

wa5ghr@sbcglobal.net

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Bob Terrell on January 31, 2013 at 8:35am

Bill, Lowes does carry some pumps,although not cheap. You might check the net for local suppliers, mine run off pumps from Harbor Freight and air lift pumps that I have made. (air lifts are very easy to make). I am in Abilene so I am interested in how you do prawns and how well it works when you get all set up.

Bob T

Permalink Reply by Dave & Yvonne Story on January 31, 2013 at 9:49am

Currently, I am in Tucson, but will be moving my systems to south of Van Horn.

I have several systems up and running, catfish, carp, prawns, and tilapia.

I have deep grow-beds for trees (2 moringa trees were too tall in one season that I could not protect the tops from freeze

Durning the summer I had 2 aquaponic systems running on solar alone.

I have 2 grow-beds and two fish tanks in a greenhouse and 3 tanks outside. One is protected two are not.

I have a tilapia breeding tank inside a temperature controlled room.

So, maybe I can help.

I use pumps from Amazon.

I use plumbing from lowes

I use300 gal, 150 gal and 50 gal tanks from rubbermaid. I also made 2 grow-beds using pond liners.. best prices that I found were at Ace hardware..

If I can be of further assistance, let me know

OH.. I use homemade containers to grow my plants in grow-beds.. easy to clean out a container for fresh seedlings

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Bill Walker on January 31, 2013 at 9:01pm

Thanks on the Harbor Freight, I will have to look them up on line and see about the shipping. We are a small town on the coast and when we get the storms comming in everything is under water for a while. I will have to build everything on blocks and it will go under big tree out back not much room.......Bill

Bob Terrell said:

Bill, Lowes does carry some pumps,although not cheap. You might check the net for local suppliers, mine run off pumps from Harbor Freight and air lift pumps that I have made. (air lifts are very easy to make). I am in Abilene so I am interested in how you do prawns and how well it works when you get all set up.

Bob T

Permalink Reply by Bill Walker on January 31, 2013 at 9:03pm

Dave I got your email and thanks for the post.....Bill

Dave Story said:

Currently, I am in Tucson, but will be moving my systems to south of Van Horn.

I have several systems up and running, catfish, carp, prawns, and tilapia.

I have deep grow-beds for trees (2 moringa trees were too tall in one season that I could not protect the tops from freeze

Durning the summer I had 2 aquaponic systems running on solar alone.

I have 2 grow-beds and two fish tanks in a greenhouse and 3 tanks outside. One is protected two are not.

I have a tilapia breeding tank inside a temperature controlled room.

So, maybe I can help.

I use pumps from Amazon.

I use plumbing from lowes

I use300 gal, 150 gal and 50 gal tanks from rubbermaid. I also made 2 grow-beds using pond liners.. best prices that I found were at Ace hardware..

If I can be of further assistance, let me know

OH.. I use homemade containers to grow my plants in grow-beds.. easy to clean out a container for fresh seedlings

Dave

Permalink Reply by Nat Guyton on January 31, 2013 at 9:03pm

I got my pumps from petmountain.com, have a look there.

If you're near Houston, Danbury Fish Farm might be a good place to get fingerlings.

Permalink Reply by Bill Walker on January 31, 2013 at 9:08pm

Hey Nat, Danbury is about 25 miles from, thanks for the info. I was going to check at the pet stores in Lake Jackson and nurseries......Bill

ModeratorPermalink Reply by Bob Terrell on January 31, 2013 at 9:24pm

I am using th Pacific Hydrostar, 620 GPH, submersible fountain pump, supended off the bottom by 6 inches. I have gone through some of the other bigger pumps with little success. This one seems to be doing fine. It has laster longer than any other I have tried.

Bill Walker said:

Thanks on the Harbor Freight, I will have to look them up on line and see about the shipping. We are a small town on the coast and when we get the storms comming in everything is under water for a while. I will have to build everything on blocks and it will go under big tree out back not much room.......Bill

Bob Terrell said:

Bill, Lowes does carry some pumps,although not cheap. You might check the net for local suppliers, mine run off pumps from Harbor Freight and air lift pumps that I have made. (air lifts are very easy to make). I am in Abilene so I am interested in how you do prawns and how well it works when you get all set up.

Bob T

Permalink Reply by Steve Vaitl on March 21, 2013 at 6:44am

Bill, if you are looking at using an NFT system, I just ran across this info from their catalog I got in the mail a few days ago. Looks like they have some reasonably priced systems for lettuce or other foliage type crops. But they also have individual items too.