Aquaponics System

On the bottom is the fish tank.  There is a pump in the right rear that pumps water from the tank up to the first grow bed.

The water flows in at the right rear.  The plants are in 2" cups that hang just low enough that they barely touch the water.  There are 3 strawberry plants, 2 lettuce plants, a couple Swiss chards and a cucumber plant in here.  I think eventually this will be half strawberries and half leafy greens such as lettuce, Swiss chard or spinach. 

From the first grow bed water is gravity fed down to the second grow bed.  I had been using this grow bed to start seeds but I think I am gonna take the lid off of this one and just grow some duckweed in here for the 2 Fantail Goldfish.

From there, water is gravity fed to the largest container.  This is where I will be growing much larger plants with deeper roots that will not fit in the smaller grow beds.

Here is a tomato plant in the back.  In front of that is a basil plant.  The back right is a week old cucumber plant.  Directly behind the basil, is another basil plant that is growing in soil.  Both plants were the same size when I removed one from the soil and put it into the aquaponics system.

Here is a better view to compare the 2 basil plants.  Click on the picture to make it big.  In the foreground of the picture is a lettuce plant.  I don't know why it doesn't like to grow normally in this system.  I may have to just grow spinach and chard and quit messing around with this lettuce.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGGdf8n8_g&feature=youtu.be  Click on the link to see a video tour of the whole system.  It is much more informative than this blog post.