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Aquaponics: 4 Easy and Affordable Ways to Build Your Own Aquaponic System

Build Your Own Aquaponic System and Raise Fish and Plants Together

By Richard Bray

Product rating: 4.0 Our review
Pages183
LanguageEnglish
FormatKindle edition

A DIY manual that comes at the problem from the far end: four complete systems, described step by step and costed, from a two-hundred-litre tank to a deep water culture built on IBC totes. Richard Bray writes for people who want to start building now, with cheap materials.

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Overview

Richard Bray starts from a simple observation: most people give up because they do not know what to build. His answer is four complete systems, described step by step, from the simplest to the most ambitious: a barrel build with a forty-litre tank for small plants, right up to a deep water culture built on IBC totes.

Before the plans, the book lays the necessary groundwork: what aquaponics is, the different types of system, the plants that suit each one, the choice of fish and their cycling, then nitrification, mineralisation and oxygenation. Each build then comes with its supply list, its functions and its design choices, with the author insisting on cheap construction methods.

Key takeaways

  • Four builds cover almost every domestic need, from a small side tank to an installation on IBC totes.
  • Nitrification, mineralisation and oxygenation are three distinct mechanisms, and confusing the first two explains a lot of failures.
  • Each type of system has its own plants: what grows in a raft bed will not necessarily grow in a media bed.
  • Cycling comes before the fish go in, and that step cannot be shortened.
  • An aquaponic system can be built from salvaged materials without sacrificing how it works.

The editorial verdict

Product rating: 4.0 4.0/5

The most hands-on of our English-language titles, and the only one organised around plans rather than theory. If you already understand the principle and are looking for something to build this weekend without spending an unreasonable amount, this is the one. It is thinner, though, on long-term running, on diseases and on fine-tuning the water: plan on a second book for what comes next.

The Univers-Aquaponie team

Independent editorial review. This page contains an affiliate link: if you buy through our link, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Pros

  • +Four complete builds described step by step, supply lists included
  • +Geared to cheap and salvaged materials
  • +Covers the four main families of home systems
  • +The theory is laid out before the plans, without dragging

Cons

  • −Available in English only
  • −Little on long-term running and on diseases
  • −Self-published: plain illustrations and layout
  • −Dimensions and supplies in US units, to be converted

About the author

Richard Bray writes a series of books on self-sufficiency and home food production, of which this title is one. He publishes no detailed biography, and we would rather say so than invent a career for him.

Did you know?

The IBC totes used in the book's most ambitious build are thousand-litre industrial containers, which can be picked up second-hand for a few tens of euros. They are the most common base for amateur aquaponic systems worldwide.

Specifications

AuthorRichard Bray
Publication dateDecember 2019
Pages183
Reading time≈ 3 h
FormatKindle edition
LanguageEnglish

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