Media bed aquaponics starter list
The pump, air, siphon, media and test kits for a first flood-and-drain aquaponics system, sized to the fish tank.
A media bed system pumps water from the fish tank up into a bed of clay pebbles, which floods and drains through a bell siphon. The bed is the biofilter and the garden at once. Pick the fish tank size and the pump, air pump and media change to match; the grow bed is assumed to be about the same volume as the tank and 25 to 30 cm deep, as in building a media bed. The pump is sized the way the system sizing calculator does it, at twice the hourly turnover to cover lift.
Water and air
Grow bed
Testing and supplements
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Not on the list
The fish tank and the grow bed themselves aren't here: stock tanks, IBC totes and sturdy storage bins all work, and all are cheaper locally. Neither are plumbing fittings, fish or fish food. Expanded clay is the expensive part; river gravel that passes the vinegar test costs a fraction as much and works, it's just heavy. Cycle the system before adding fish: fishless cycling for aquaponics.