Adventures in Aquaponics Construction

Okay, just a few pics right now to (hopefully) get the basic idea across. Most importantly, here are our big helpers.

This is a foam "raft" which floats on the water that is in the troughs. Holes are drilled for the net pots which will have our plants in them. We did a little map ahead of time so we made sure to give more space for larger plants like tomato and less space for things like leek. The roots will hang down below the raft, into the water. The drilling process was really icky sounding, like nails on a chalkboard.

Here we have the fish tank in the back, a little pump house (for both air and water pumps), the 2 troughs which are 4'x8' each and some partial plumbing.
Putting in the food grade liner on a rainy day.
So the water goes from the fish tank into trough #1 and travels into trough #2 where it is pulled out by the pump and then back up into the fish tank. All the stuff the fish make feeds the plants and the plants keep the water "clean" for the fish.
We're also working on making a little solar heater since our water gets down to 50 degrees and our fish will prefer warmer water. We'll be putting an insulated cover on the fish tank and insulation around the fish tank as well.

More pics to come!