🐟 Built and run at home
Aquaponics on the cheap
This section is about putting together a working backyard aquaponics system without the commercial kit price tag: free and salvaged parts, secondhand finds, and the few things genuinely worth buying new. My own system on the Gold Coast is the proof; the sourcing advice is the reason to come back.
Where to start
- Read first Use at your own risk. Read this before you scavenge or build.
- Do the course Forums are no substitute. Get the fundamentals before you spend.
- Sourcing Free Marketplace finds, IBC totes, gravel, and rainwater.
- Gear Pumps, aeration, backup failsafe, and outdoor electronics.
- Running it Cycling, pH, mineralisation, feeding, maintenance, and the open source tracker.
- My system Toteponics, solar power, jade perch, and what I would do differently.
- Around the garden Propagation, native bees, and raised soil beds alongside aquaponics.