# My simple aquaponics DIY



## One_Cich_Dude (Feb 2, 2009)

After much reading here in the DIY forum, I was inspired to try a few things of my own. Pictured below is a shot of the tank showing the background made from sandstone pieces siliconed to corrugated plastic sign material. The plastic is attached to the back wall of the tank with silicone as well.

I used more silicone as a "grout" and filled it with gravel to help hide the gaps between the sandstone pieces.










Here is the sterilite tub I have filled with more gravel to create a "sandbar" in the middle. I used electrical conduit fittings for bulkheads. It sits above the level of the tank, and I use a powerhead in the tank to pump water up to the tub, and gravity to return water to the tank. I have a flow restrictor clamp on the pump hose to ensure it doesn't flow faster than the gravity return.










Inside the tub I have 4 collard green seedlings. I started the seedlings in polyfill floss stuffed inside plant baskets which I placed inside some little styrofoam donuts. These I floated on the surface of the aquarium to keep the floss moist. Seeds sprouted within about 2 weeks.










Here is the powerhead in the main tank that supplies water to the plant tub. I made a DIY prefilter for the powerhead using a 20oz. pepsi bottle and more polyfil floss.










Sorry about the poor image quality. The lighting wasn't conducive to good pictures without a tripod.


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

That's pretty awesome man! I've wanted to do something like this for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. Keep us informed on how it works!
:thumb:


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## Sav505 (Apr 26, 2005)

That looks really cool. I like the way you set it up.


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## the General (Aug 26, 2007)

I actually just did something really similar for my 160 last weekend; I thought it would be a good idea as my tapwater has nitrates (yuck), and I am upset that I can't provide my oscars with the clean water they deserve!

So I found some 5 foot tall shelf at IKEA, drilled a 20L I had, stuck it up on the shelf, and stuck a pump in the main tank to feed it.

On the rim of the tank I have 3 clamp-lamps with 24 watt 6500k CFL's, and I've got a bunch of plants in there right now I am trying to grow to remove nitrogen: pothos segments, some tiny spider plant, "lucky bamboo," and a big thing of water lettuce that grows really fast.

I can't wait until it turns into a huge tangle of roots. I'm going to keep a log of nitrates vs water changes and see if this helps.

really cool setup man, definitely keep us updated if it works for you


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## Snakes to Cichs (Dec 29, 2008)

Very cool and I have decided to do the same thing. Since the tank I want to do this with is in the living room I'm gonna try and clean up your system a bit. if it were up to me I'd just leave it how you have it though :lol: . Looks really good :thumb:


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