Do you have any experience/suggestions for home-scale aquaculture?

I have not done it, but there are systems designed for aquaculture available on the internet.

Not personally, but I know other people that do, although I haven’t learned as much as I’d like to about it.

For the tank, the easiest thing to do is probably to buy something that you can just set up at grade. Depending on the size of it, you may want to do some prep work to establish a solid foundation. Then you will want to take measure to level it. I’ve always thought a giant old redwood water tank would be really cool as a swimming pool / fish tank.

You will probably want to start with a pretty tough fish, like tilapia, which is a really popular choice for aquaculture. There are a few different species I think. Based on the species, you’ll want to figure out an optimal population density per the water volume you have. I imagine you’d need the regular equipment that goes with fish raising like water filter, pump, etc. And you’ll have to figure out what to feed them.

You can rig it so that you have fish below and grow something above, like lettuce.

Oh yeah, I also meant to mention that we’re not totally rich (especially after buying a house), so hints about how to do this with a low budget would be especially helpful. I suspect I could buy a ready-to-go system for thousands… but, not so much. Thanks!

I have zero experience with this @laureth. However, gardening is a massive interest of mine. A local organic water farm called Sweet Water Organics basically uses large fish tanks.

I don’t see why you couldn’t attempt this by listing want ads on Craigslist & Freecycle for large aquariums. (due to the economy, I see a lot of people getting rid of tanks these days)

Then you could go from their to acquiring Tilapia and perch.

You can watch some videos of how the Sweet Water Organics system works.

I have no suggestions personally, but wanted to congratulate you on your purchase (and your perseverance). Keep us posted.

However, out of curiosity, I just poked around Google.

Here is some user-friendly resources that requires that you neither register for a course or buy the book; and it has good links.

http://www.food-from-the-garden.com/aquaponics.html

Backyard aquaponics

Thebackyard aquaponics magazine

Thanks folks! I’ll be clicking links now…

I mean, ideally, I’d be able to do something like this, but there’s no pool there.

Here’s a story about a NYC professor who breeds fish in jacuzzi-style tanks, plus he grows hydroponic lettuce and herbs on the fish water.

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/03/137588931/urban-fish-farming-wave-of-the-future