Make your own DIY home aquaponics kit for less than $100!

Consuming locally grown food continues to soar in popularity, and the use of aquaponics to do so has also become popular. Benefits include using less land by growing food vertically, water conservation, the ability to grow food organically, fewer pests, and the potential of scalability. Aquaponics is a more economically and environmentally sustainable method of food production.

We’re pretty jazzed about aquaponics here at the Science Mill! So much so that we’ve recently opened a 1000-square-foot working aquaponics greenhouse exhibit where visitors can see how fish, plants and microbes work together to create healthy food.

What is aquaponics?

Most simply, aquaponics is the intersection of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in water without soil). Fish eat fish food, their waste provides an organic food source for the plants, and plants filter the water.

The invisible component of this ecosystem are microbes or nitrifying bacteria. These bacteria convert ammonia from the fish waste first into nitrites, and then into nitrates. Nitrates are the form of nitrogen that plants can uptake and use to grow. By combining aquaculture and hydroponics, aquaponics eliminates the drawbacks and takes advantage of the benefits of each system. 

You can do this at home!

Making your own home aquaponics kit is surprisingly simple. You just need the right components, most of which can easily be purchased at local hardware and pet stores. You can pull all of this together in just a few hours, and for under $100!

Check out the video below for easy to follow instructions. What will you grow? Be sure to share your progress with the Science Mill using #sciencemilldiyaquaponics and feel free to contact us at info@sciencemill.org with any questions. Good luck and happy growing!

Supplies

10 gallon aquarium $22.30
PVC Pipe (1-1/4” x 2’) $3.24
Clear Vinyl Tubing (5/16” inner diameter x 7/16” outer diameter x 10’) $8.29
Submersible water pump $8.99
Net Pots $12.99
Peat Pods $10.74
Grow Light $23.99
Fluval Foam Filter Block $6.65

Tools Needed

Drill
Chop saw or PVC cutter
Table or hand saw
Small drill bit
Step down bit or Forstner bit
Tape measure
Orbital sander or sand paper