Nano-Aquaponics

The system in all its glory!

Purple basil sprouting after directly sowing into the bed

I figured it is about time the fish in my freshwater tank started pulling their own weight and, after visiting a friend's aquaponics set up, decided it would be worth a shot to make one myself. Aquaponics (a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics) uses waste from fish and other aquatic organisms to feed plants, forming a more closed nutrient loop that benefits both fish and plants. So far I've been rather happy with the results. So, how does one turn a 15 gallon fish tank with a few guppies into a food producing power house? Well, I have yet to actually harvest anything but here is how I made my system and a few pics from the 3 weeks it has been running.

The first step was visiting the local hydroponics shop and picking up:

• a small pump (you don't need anything too beefy as it only is pumping the water about a foot and it doesn't need to pump that quickly)
• an ebb and flow plumbing kit which contains a bulkhead with screen for the flood portion and then a drain portion with a riser and screen on top of a bulk head
• a length of 1/2" and 3/4" tubing
• 10L of hydroton (I already had mine but you'll need it or 3/4" pea gravel works as well)

I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up some Tristar strawberry starts and a 3 gallon Rubbermaid bin. If you don't have it handy, you'll also need a small clamp light with a 26W daylight CFL, 2 lamp timers (15min increments for at least one), some 2x2 lumber, and some wood screws.

After gathering the supplies, I cut some of the lumber into 6 2' lengths. Four of these lengths were screwed into a square that will be the light support. I drilled an appropriately sized hole for the 2 bulk heads in the tub and unscrewed, attached, and rescrewed them on.  I then attached the 1/2" hose to the inflow at one and and the pump at the other. I put the 3/4" hose on the outlet (to muffle the sound of outflowing water). I washed the hydroton (important step!) and then put it in the tub and set the tub on top of the light stand and other 2 pieces of lumber that I'd put across the top of the aquarium. After setting one of the timers to be on for 15 minutes and off for 45 minutes, I plugged it in and set the other timer to run on for 12 hours and off for 12 hrs. I'd intended to let the new system cycle for a few weeks so that bacteria could take over the new grow bed but became impatient and planted 3 strawberry starts in the bed, carefully making sure that the crowns were in the dry portion of the hydroton. The plants responded well (easily 2-3x the size of the other 7 starts I planted in a strawberry pot after 3 weeks) and so, as part of an experiment, I started some purple basil seeds in rock wool, on a heat mat in my seed starting chamber (description coming soon!), and directly in the hydroton bed. While the seeds in the seed starting chamber came up first, the ones in the aquaponics system have caught up and look like they're about to put out their first set of true leaves. I may change out the wood for an aluminum frame in the future and might add a few worms from the worm bin as the system matures. I know it isn't the prettiest system but it will look much prettier with delicious sweet strawberries included. In short, if you have a tropical fish tank already set up, this is a great way to recoup some of those costs, help keep your fish happy and healthy, and grow some food in a relatively small space. I'll be sure to make an update when I'm swimming in strawberries and basil! Does anyone else have a an apartment aquaponics system going?