My First Aquaponics

Yeahh... finally my first backyard aquaponics project is up....I still need more pebbles to fill up 1 grow bed. I have more than 100 tilapia in the tank so I need another fish tank when they grow bigger. It is very exciting seeing plants growing and that's my morning ritual...feed the fish and watch the plants. My trial plant is basil and 'bayam'   but I have taken out all the 'bayam' replacing them with 'kailan' and mint. 

I was inspired to start my own backyard aquaponics by a few bloggers a couple of years ago. Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics (growing plants without soil) and aquaculture (fish farming). I find this aquaponics system very interesting...the fish waste is feeding the plants and the water that go through the grow beds into the fish tank is filtered clean. No changing of water or cleaning of fish tank and no fertilizer needed. As long as your siphon is working you will have a healthy system. Well, they still need to be checked regularly to remove pests. I could imagine organic vegetables and fish from my backyard. 

My initial problem was the setting up but thanks to affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com, he has a very detailed explanation on the setting up which I followed almost all details in setting up  mine.

In late February 2013 while I was in KL, I visited affnan aquaponics to see up close and personal and at the same time bought a pair of siphons that he created himself. He was very generous in sharing whatever experiences he had with his aquaponics and patiently answering all my questions.

a visit to affnan-aquaponics

With a siphon created by affnan-aquaponics and the step by step from his blog, I started my own first backyard aquaponic yeaah...of course with the help of family members. I was so excited...it took me a while though because the materials are not easily available and quite expensive in KK. One of my sisters who has some off days on weekdays accompanied me on my tank and pebbles hunting...thanks sis. I couldn't find the tank I wanted so in the end they had to be ordered from KL and pebbles were collected from the river.

Tank hunting with my partner in crime...my sister

Collecting river stone

Pebbles from the river for my grow bed

With my sis & her hubby...picking Tilapia from Ko-Nelayan Tuaran

My first completed backyard aquaponic with over 100 tilapias...yaayyy

The advantages of pebbles from the river is it's free and they hold the plants stem better, the disadvantage is they are very heavy.

Basil looking great and just transferred 'kailan'

As of today there are 3 dead fish. I am not sure what caused them to die the others are looking good. Hopefully no more dead fish.