I have long wanted to do some Aquaponics. The idea of combining aquariums and growing food appeals to me, so I thought I should give it a go and keep a little journal of how this attempt goes.

I have had aquariums on and off through most of my life, and there is something serene about watching fishes swim around, hopefully enjoying their life in the watery home I made for them and I hope that the food I try to grow will help keep their water super nice.


My current aquarium are 29 cm x 29 cm x 50 cm, not very large at all, and is a home to two gold fish and two algae eaters who do not mind the cold water. I have a waterfall filter, and it is surprisingly good at keeping the water clean, and I also run an air-pump to help move things around and add oxygen to the water.
As all who are bitten by the aquarium interest, I want more liters. I want bigger tanks, and perhaps one day I will have my dreams come true. To be honest I would prefer to build my house underwater and look out into the real underwater world, but alas, it is less expensive to putt water into aquariums.














The grow bed onto of my tank is a colander bought at IKEA, and it fits and sits well. I use river gravel as growing medium, and planted my seeds onto cotton balls that I placed above the waterline, but close enough to be moist. The bed isn't very deep, but here is hoping it will work well enough.








I spent all of yesterday watching all sorts of aquaponics videos on YouTube, trying to figure out how I could do the same with out an elaborate setup. I will post some external links to some of those video's that inspired me to make my version at the bottom of this post If you are interested to check them out.

I also put down the left over 'butt' of a lettuce, and the end piece of the leek. I am curious to see if they will grow more or give up. By the look of it the leek has already started 'something', the cut was clean yesterday when I put it down in the bed, but it could be just normal behavior from cut down leek. I am going to follow it closely.






















I bought some plants for the aquarium when I first set it up, and found out just recently that it was a Pilea Cadierei, and not really a underwater plant at all. It lived quite well for several months, but once we moved the tank, they never bounced back up. I have now taken them out of the water, and placed them in soil, hoping they might survive still. Trying to revive these plants are project two, and I will keep a journal to see if they make it or not.





It looks like something other than the plants lives inside of this container, making art with its tracks.


I wish my self luck with these experiments!

YouTube video's:
Cheap and Easy $35 Aquaponics / Hydroponics Setup
DIY Indoor Self-Sufficient Aquaponic Garden For $10!!!
Miniponics DIY Aquaponics for under 10$
(None of these video's were made by me, and I own no rights to them.)