Let’s quickly cover the main components you will need to build your own aquaponics system. First you will need a fish tank. How large should this tank be? Well that depends on many variables. How much are you willing to spend? How much space do you have? How many fish would you like to keep? There are many other variables appropriate to your situation, go through these and make sure you get the tank most suited to you. Generally most people starting out opt for a 1000L (about 264gallons) fish tank. The larger the body of water you are dealing with the more stable the water is in that container. Therefore a basic rule of thumb has been developed by members of the aquaponics community that it’s best to start off with a 1000L tank. This is a guide only and if you want to start with something bigger or smaller that is up to you. The tank is usually some form of plastic or marine fibreglass. When buying the product ensure that the material is safe for fish. The easiest way to ensure that the item is safe is to only buy “food grade” materials.
Next up in building your aquaponics system are the grow beds. Grow beds are where you place your plants on top of some media to be fed nutrients from the fish tank. Generally grow beds are made from similar materials to the fish tank, as long as it is also food grade. The grow beds are often around 3ft by 4ft by 1ft high but also vary widely depending on what you want and what you have access to. Grow beds are filled with gravel or clay balls (or other suitable media like scoria). Keep this in mind when working out the water holding capacity of the system. The grow beds are an essential element in aquaponics, not only do they hold your plants but they also hold your bacteria colony that converts the ammonia to nitrates (plant food).
The sump tank is optional but definitely an important part of the system. The sump tank is simply a water reservoir. If you only have a fish tank and some grow beds that means you pump the water directly from the fish tank into the grow beds. The water level in the fish tank will fluctuate by how much water you have to pump out of it into the grow beds. A wildly fluctuating water level in the fish tank is not good for the fish. In this instance you want a sump tank. You pump the water into the fish tank and it overflows into the grow beds (as one example) which drain into the sump. The fish tank contains a special overflow pipe (discussed in our next article) to stop it from emptying out if the pump fails.
The water pump is an integral part of the system. You need to move water around the system and you need to do it quickly and effectively. A system with a 1000L fish tank needs to have that water moved through the system about once an hour (this is also a rule of thumb). At the same time most people pump into the grow beds for 15 minutes and then let it drain for 45 minutes. So you might want a pump that can pump much faster than 1000L/hr. Sizing your pump is dependant on your system so do some research before buying.
Pipes! To move the water around the system you will need pipes and other plumbing fittings. PVC is the most prevalent piping in aquaponics but other pipe types are also often seen like polyethylene pipes and HDPE (high density polyethylene) pipes. To put the system together you need pipes in standard sizes, elbows and t-sections as well as some ball valves to control flow through the system.
Putting all these together and you’re starting to build an aquaponics system!
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