My Aquaponics Build here on an 8AC homestead (3rd system I have built)

My wife has been pestering me to build another system again so we can have one at the new place.

We bought an 8AC homestead in coastal Virginia about 2 years ago... and now I am getting caught up enough on things to begin to tackle my next project soon... a large aquaponics system. My old systems were much smaller than this one will be. They were only a 150gal fish/sump tank with two grow beds that had about 1 square meter of plants growing (requiring at least 13 grams of fish feed per day to grow that many plants).

Yes... I do indeed have my largest garden ever built. So why do aquaponics again???

1) Perpetual Lettuce (even during the dog days of Summer). Though I aim to shut it down during the winter and just let the fish go dormant.

2) An insanely easy way to propagate/clone my fruit trees/shrubs (looking to do a small nursery side hustle). EVERYTHING I have tried to propagate in there has had an almost 100% success rate. Except "Smith" fig cuttings. Things like Lemons, Oranges, Figs, Plums, Grapes, Elderberry, mulberry, and goumi berry bushes have cloned in there in an awesome way!

Especially late summer green-wood cuttings. Just pull them out and put into a pot for the Fall.. and they will take off like rockets the next Spring.

3) Fish - I plan to do pond type Goldfish (Shibunkins and Sarassa Comets since they are strong swimmers) and Koi.

All said fish are in the carp family and can live under ice. They are omnivorous and will turn the body of water into a mosquito trap... as they will eat anything that will fit into their mouths. Mosquitos may not be interested though as the water will be in constant motion because of the way I design my systems.

I will be growing out the fish for sale. They will more than pay for my aquaponics fish feed and electricity. If times get tough, I will be fishing/cast netting local waters for baby bluegills... or ordering bulk online to stock the tanks with. Even wild ones take easily to fish feed. They are omnivorous as well.

I may even just do only a few koi/goldfish and then make the rest Bluegill. I aim to do a 300 gallon fish/sump tank this time.


It is a MASSIVE tool to have in the toolbelt. When done incorrectly... it is in insane amount of work. When done correctly... it is almost zero work. Just add water once a month... a few Spoonfuls of crushed oyster shells every 3 months... and top off the fish feeders about once every two weeks.

My last system was a 150 gal system on wheels believe it or not. I was in the military and had to move every few years. I would just sell the fish, drain the tank, slide the gravel filled grow beds down into the big tank, then roll the system up into the moving truck. It used about $35 worth of Organic Certified Aquaponics oriented fish feed every year... and about $22 worth of electricity. At the last house I brought it inside and added grow lights... which increased power consumption by about $110 per year. I will be doing this system outside. Adding a pond heater for the coldest Winter nights only to keep it from freezing solid.

Here is a link to that old system...
https://permies.com/t/68438/MOBILE-Rubbermaid-stock-tank-system

Aquaponics is incredible. Great work with the fruit trees. There was a system in costa rica with koi. 2 dobermans would often climb in to cool down.

In oregon, i used shibunkin. I felt bad i let the tiny pond freeze solid. But, come spring, i was chipping ice and they flopped back to life from being motionless for many weeks.

I agree when you say its only little effort when set up well.

R Marr wrote:Aquaponics is incredible. Great work with the fruit trees. There was a system in costa rica with koi. 2 dobermans would often climb in to cool down.

In oregon, i used shibunkin. I felt bad i let the tiny pond freeze solid. But, come spring, i was chipping ice and they flopped back to life from being motionless for many weeks.

I agree when you say its only little effort when set up well.

Sounds like you have had success in many different climates!

Thank you for sharing.

The one in that link… started life in Mobile, AL… then went to Virginia Beach, VA then Elizabeth City, NC.

I have it down in the garage here at the new place (Chesapeake, VA). My wife banned it from being used inside the house this time since the new house has humidity issues in its garage.

I cannot bear to put it in a barn stall with lights since it won’t have the heated room benefits out there.

So I aim to scrap it for parts to put into the new system when I build.

This new system… will be my last.

I built my aquaponics system predominantly for propagation as well... however I haven't had the most luck so far, you menti9ned that you find the most success with late season greenwood, so are you taking greenwood cutting in the fall and sticking it straight into the ebb/flow over winter, letting it freeze and thaw over the winter?

Devon Olsen wrote:I built my aquaponics system predominantly for propagation as well... however I haven't had the most luck so far, you menti9ned that you find the most success with late season greenwood, so are you taking greenwood cutting in the fall and sticking it straight into the ebb/flow over winter, letting it freeze and thaw over the winter?

That is an excellent question.

After reading your question I went to that link I put at the end of the first post in this thread and scrolled through to page 5 in that thread.

Page 5 is where I began trying out greenwood cuttings of figs in that system.

Anyways, I was looking for dates for you. Could not find them.

Then I dug through my actual photos stored on my computer (it took a few mins)

The following picture is of a fig that was pulled from the Aquaponics system on 26th Sept 2020 and potted. I let it adapt to soil for a few weeks in the warm house under some grow lights... then put it (along with several others) in a protected spot up against the South side of the house... where they all took their sweet time going dormant a few weeks later and spent the Winter in pots in that protected spot... getting snowed on and everything.

So, I am pretty sure I took the cuttings around mid to late Summer so they would be a little woody. Rooted them out and waited until they put on some decent growth in the AP system. Then transplanted them into containers in Later Summer/Early Fall (late Sept or later)

First frost in that area was an average of around 15 Nov I believe.

You can actually see my baby Santa Rosa Plum cuttings in that pic too! They are 10' right now even after the heavy pruning. (in ground!)

Awesome! Thank you for putting the time into that reply!!
, my first attempt was using dormant cuttings in late winter, I had some leafing out but no rooting and it was indoor hydro, not aqua because I knew I'd be moving the system before too long and wasn't sure I could commit to fish at the time
This latest attempt is outdoors under the elm tree and has a few goldfish for nutrient supply, so far I've stuck some elm, currant, honey locust, some Vining purple flower and some mint in there, not all are dead yet but not roots (yet) the interwebs has fantastic claims of roots in just a few days, but ibsuspect it will be a week or two, that being said some of the garlic and onions have new roots already.
I also just stuck a bunch of black willow cuttings in last night, if that doesn't root I'm not sure there is hope for my propagation dreams lol

But I'll keep trying cus I'm stubborn like that

I bet you will learn and adapt until it does work. The important thing is observation, adapt, and try again.

If I were doing it outside (I will be this time) then I would be in full-sun but a dense shade cloth.

At the old house it was in a garage under gentle led lights.

I learned not to even bother checking for roots until the trees were physically growing for a least a few weeks. Broke off lots of roots checking. Lol

Good luck!