Aquapouss'Mini aquaponic aquarium

Guppies are tropical fish, which live between 18 and 28 °C. In a room heated all year round, the aquarium water follows the room temperature and generally stays within this range; in a classroom closed during the holidays or a cool room in winter, it can fall below 18 °C. A submersible aquarium heater then keeps the water at the set value, and a suction-cup thermometer stuck on the glass lets you read it at a glance. Also avoid direct sunlight through a window, which quickly warms a volume of 43 litres.

The grow bed holds herbs, cuttings, seedlings or indoor foliage plants. Their roots reach down into the clay pebbles, where water circulates constantly, and there they find the nitrates produced by the fish waste. Place the unit near a bright window, with no direct sun on the aquarium, because herbs need light to keep a compact habit.

The NJ600 submersible pump, made in Italy, uses 7 W and its flow rate is adjustable from about 200 to 600 litres per hour. At maximum flow, the volume of the aquarium therefore passes through the grow bed about 14 times an hour, and about 5 times at the minimum setting. The minimum suits the start-up, while the bacterial colony is establishing itself; you then increase the flow if the water in the bed stagnates. Running continuously, the pump uses about 61 kWh per year.

The structure is made of 15 mm FSC poplar plywood, laser-cut, and is assembled with 28 dowels and 16 screws, with no glue or varnish. The kit comes with its pipework, its filtration grid and illustrated instructions, and assembly requires a screwdriver and a hammer. The wooden parts are cut in Dijon and the whole is assembled in Marseille. The demountable structure makes maintenance and replacing a part easier, and the whole is guaranteed for 2 years.

The box contains the 43-litre aquarium, the 15-litre grow bed, the FSC-certified wooden frame, the pump, the pipework system and the filter grid, the 28 dowels and 16 screws, the four castors, the two side hooks, the two plant stakes, the feeding shelf and the illustrated instructions. Assemble the whole unit in the room where it will stay, since the filled aquarium alone holds 43 kg of water and can no longer be carried.

The rest is chosen according to what you want to keep in it: the ornamental fish, the plants, the bottom decoration, the clay pebbles, the food, the fish net, a thermometer and test strips to monitor the water during the first weeks. You then replace about a third of the volume every 3 months, by bucket, which means carrying around fifteen litres each time. Between two water changes, your only daily task is feeding, and it is measured: give what is eaten in one minute, no more, since whatever falls to the bottom ends up as ammonia that the tank will have to process.