Now, fill the grow bed with expanded clay which will be your growing medium. Secure the end of the tube with a clip to block it. The tube from the pump should go up through the hole into the grow bed, letting the line play out across the bottom of the grow bed. The grow bed should be larger than the tank on which it will sit so make sure you don’t place holes close to the edge.Īttach the submersible pump to the fish tank on the side of the tank by using suction cups or on a flat rock. One hole will need to be larger to accommodate the pump tubing from the tank. Prepare the grow bed by putting 3/16 inch drain holes spaced 2 inches apart on the bottom of the bed. Make sure you also put in a plecostomus cat to help keep the fish tank clean.

For a small home aquaponics system, goldfish or koi are the best choice.

You should add 1 fish for each gallon of water to allow them plenty of room. You should allow 48 hours before adding fish to the tank to give the water time to de-chlorinate. Because of this, you’ll need to adjust the pH using a recommended pH adjuster. For an aquaponics system, you should maintain a pH of 6.8, which is lower than most pH readings direct from the faucet. Note, however, that for an aquaponics system it will need to be different from the pH needed for an aquarium.

Fill the tank and use the pH test kit to test the pH of the water. Now, you’ll need to connect the air stones to the tubing that runs from the air pump before you put them into the riser tubes from the filter. Start by putting the under-gravel filter in the tank, making sure you’ve installed the riser tubes, before adding gravel and water to the tank. You can set up the tank for an aquaponics system in the same way you’d set up any aquarium.

How to install psiphon on aquaponics