Ok... let's talk types of setups.

There are two basic methods for supporting the plant and providing space for the roots:

Media based systems - A media based system uses some sort of soilless mixture as a substitute for dirt in which the plant roots can grow and support the upper part of the plant.

There are any number of types of media one can use ranging from expanded clay pellets (marketed to the aquaponics market as "Hydroton") to pea gravel. The two things you have to concern yourself when setting up a media system are weight and PH neutrality. Hydroton is ideal in that it is relatively lightweight, reusable, and PH neutral. The down side is it costs an arm and a leg. Pea gravel works quite well, is cheap, and readily available. The down sides are weight (a cubic yard weighs more than a tone) and you have to be careful about content. All rocks are not created equal. Limestone, for example, will slowly break down and raise your PH so you will have to constantly monitor the water and compensate.

Raft systems - This is basically a sheet of foam insulation that will float on top of the water with holes in it. You place a small cup with spaces through which roots can grow in those holes with a small amount of some sort of media in the cup to support the plant stalk. The up side is it is cheap,  very easy, and lightweight. The down side is it is less flexible as you are limited in where you can plant to where you cut the holes. Also, since it has much less surface area that the water runs across it does not provide as much filtration nor as much area for the good bacteria to grow on.

Water flow

There are also two basic types of water flow

Constant flow - In a constant flow system the water runs in a continuous stream through your media or under your raft

Ebb and flow - In an ebb and flow system the water is allowed to fill up to a certain point then drain out in a cycle ideally lasting somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour. The plus side of the ebb and flow system is that with each ebb cycle you pull air down into your media which keeps the "bad" anaerobic bacteria at bay. The down side of the ebb and flow is that it adds a small amount of complexity to the plumbing.

Which is better? Ebb and flow vs constant flow... Media vs raft...? Well, this is the stuff of religious debates. I can only say give each a try and decide what is best for you.

Before I go rambling.... erm... blogging about the day to day "what's going on in my garden" stuff, heres a bit of info about the construction of my first two systems. I built these systems out of a couple of these:

Just a side note about these sorts of totes. You should find out if you can exactly what they were used to haul before you bought them. These types of totes are often used to haul some pretty nasty stuff. This particular one was used to haul agave nectar.

Step 1: Cut the top off...

Step 2: Add a couple of fittings for a drain:

One of the great things about the IBC totes is they already have a nice plastic fitting in the middle that standard PVC parts available at your local hardware store will fit nicely into. For mine I put a short downspout with a couple of longer horizontal tubes with small holes drilled that will aerate the water for the fish as it trickles back down in the tank;

Note: For a constant flow system larger pipe works well. However, for a bell siphon (we'll talk about these in a future post) you will want a smaller pipe to create sufficient suction.

Here's how I plumed this particular tank:

Step 3: Make yourself a base to set the top on.

Basically this consists of a chunk of plywood with a hole cut in the appropriate spot.

Step 4: Put the tank on the top and hook the plumbing up underneath.

In our next episode... the magic of the bell siphon....

So... where to start?

Last fall I ran across a gardening concept known as aquaponics that was totally new to me. Living in central Texas, one of our main challenges is water, especially during those long hot summer months. I read this article about a technique that recirculates water in a closed loop and uses only about 10% of the water needed for traditional gardening. After receiving yet another gazillion dollar utility bill from the city the thought of cutting down on water usage but still being able to garden piqued my interest.  

At first I the more widely known technique of hydroponics in which one mixes up a bunch of nutrients in a water bath like some mad chemist growing "franken-veggies" in the lab came to mind. However, as I read further I quickly learned that aquaponics takes the whole nutrient bath concept one step further by allowing mother nature to do the job of creating the nutrients for you. 

I thought to myself, "Wait a minute, you mean that I can use 90% less water, not have to worry about constantly mixing up nutrient brews, and on top of that you don't need anything more elaborate than a couple of containers, some PVC pipe, and a water pump?" COUNT ME IN!

So what exactly is "aquaponics"?

In short, aquaponics is a system that consists of a fish tank, a container of some sort to hold your plants, some sort of PH neutral medium to support the plant roots, and a pump to circulate the water. It's basically a mini-ecosystem that works like this:

• The fish do what fish normally do in the water
• There is a pair of bacteria that go to work on the ammonia the fish produce
• The first bacteria converts the ammonia to nitrites
• The second bacteria converts the nitrites to nitrates
• Plants thrive on those nitrates and in return removes them from the water, essentially cleaning it for the fish.
• Extra credit if you throw a colony of worms in the plant grow bed to take care of the solid waste from the fish that will eventually build up and have to be rinsed out of your media.

Too darned simple, it's got to be more complicated than that! Well, that's what I thought. I've now been doing this for just under a year. I started with two small systems made from recycled "IBC totes". In that short time from those two small systems I have enjoyed:

• All of the salad greens I could eat for a few months
• A couple of varieties of peppers
• Kale
• Cabbage from which I made some excellent homemade sauerkraut
• A couple of varieties of squash
• Basil
• Climbing Spinach
• Eggplant
• Okra 
• Tomatoes grew well, but with a thriving garden comes other opportunist critters, one of which kept picking the fruits just as they started to ripen

Keep in mind here that we are only talking about a couple of puny less than 4'x4' grow beds here! As a bonus I have also enjoyed some fresh Talapia grown in the fish tank.

I have been gardening all of my life and can honestly say that this is by far the most productive and lowest maintenance garden I have ever grown. Everyone who has seen it tells me I need to start a blog. So... here it is. As time goes on I will post pictures of my first couple of beds as well as document my progress in expanding the system with an eye towards totally "transfarming" by backyard into an elegant and edible landscape.