diy aquaponics media bed | Backyard Aquaponics Gardening

diy aquaponics media bed

Aquaponics gardening is an excellent way of growing food in your own backyard. A small, simple backyard aquaponics set-up can produce enough food to feed your family and have extra to give away to friends!

Picture from ecohunk

The equipments need for your backyard aquaponics
-    Tank for the fish
-    Hydroponic grow bed for the vegetables
-    Pump
-    Tubing
-    Submersible heater (for cold area or type of fish that you choose)
-    pH testing kit

You can refer to this video to see the equipments.

Let’s get started with fish tank for the aquaponics systems.

The larger the tank, the more fish you will able to grow, the more nutrients will be generated to the plants.

Consider to use a small tank if you are a beginner in aquaponics gardening.

The minimum size of the tank is a tank that can hold 50gallon of water, about 190 liters.

Tips:
•    Save money by using recycle item. For example, recycle bathtubs.
•    Line them with EPDM pond liner to make them water tight
•    Place the tank at the intended location from the start. It will get really heavy afterwards.
•    Don’t place the tank in direct sunlight as this would cause an algel bloom

The size of the grow bed you’ll use will depend on the size of the fish tank: the more fish you’re growing, the more waste that is generated, and the more nutrients that will be available for the plants.

Generally, a volume ratio of 1:1 grow bed to fish tank is recommended. The Aquaponics grow beds should be about 12 inches deep, in order to provide sufficient support for the plants and to provide enough space for the bacteria to thrive.

You can use gravel for the growing medium.

Gravel supports the plants, acts as filter, has good water flow characteristics and yields good plant growth. You don’t have to buy filtering elements from the shop. Just get smooth, round gravel that is gentle on the hand and on the roots.

The size is about 1/3 to ¾ of an inch in diameter.
Don’t use small gravel as it may clog and obstruct the water flow and don’t use too large gravel either as it will not act as a filter and will not be able to support the plant’s root.

The gravel will also provide an excellent habitat for the bacteria, which are a crucial component of an aquaponics system.

Tips:
-    Don’t use limestone as it leaches calcium carbonate which increases the pH of the water

If the aquaponics system are set up properly, you will need just one pump for the system to run efficienctly.  Water  is pumped from the fish tank to the grow bed, and then returns to the fish tank via gravity. For this, you will need a water pump and pipes.

Many aquaponics gardeners use a timer-operated pump, setting it to switch on for 15 minutes every 45 minutes. This helps to oxygenate the water. When buying a pump, get one that can pump the entire volume of the tank in an hour – this will depend on the volume of your tank. Larger aquaponics tanks need larger pumps.

Submersible heater is not required if you choose the fish wisely. Read this post for choosing the fish in aquaponics gardening. However, if you are able to maintain uniform temperature for your aquaponics systems, it will speed up growth of both fish and plants.

The reason why plants benefit as well is because the bacteria in the water will be more efficient at converting wastes to nutrients, and the plants will therefore have more nitrogen available to them. Note that water heating is a requirement if you are growing fish that have optimal temperature ranges that are different from the temperature in the area of your setup. Water heating is also required if the temperature of the aquaponics system’s location fluctuates a lot, as this will stunt or kill the fish.

It is a good idea to have a good pH testing kit at hand, as it is tantamount that the pH of the water stays around 6.7 to 7.0. Fish can tolerate pHs up to 8.0, but plant growth will suffer at high pH. On the other hand, plants can tolerate pHs as low as 4.5, but fish will start to die at pHs under 6.5. Therefore, a pH range of 6.7 to 7.0 is optimal to both fish and plants.

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