Backyard Aquaponics Background

I first came across the concept of aquaponics while surfing the web looking for information on organic growing back in early 2000. The idea of being able to grow fish in my backyard captivated me. I already had chooks and veggie gardens as well as numerous fruit and nut trees, but I could see that aquaponics would help close the circle and provide a wider variety of food. My passionate love of permaculture, and trade certificate in horticulture were a stable launching pad to understand that aquaponics was an invaluable growing method.

That started me on a quest for information about aquaponics, but back in those days there wasn’t a great deal around.

I bought the Speraneos manual and joined their forum, then scoured the internet for anything I could find. Most information was relative to the US, there was nothing much about Australia or other countries available. So I decided it was time to start experimenting myself.

I began with a very humble system but it was a start, and little did I realize at the time that it would be the start of an obsession. Fairly early on I realized that I wanted to try and help others with information about aquaponics, I spent about 5 years playing around with systems and ideas, and yet no one to really discuss it with, and with no real solid information to read. I figured the best way to get others interested and involved in aquaponics was to try and make information more accessible, so very early on I began writing about what I was doing, taking lots of pictures, and taking film.

As my systems advanced and I began working with larger systems, the information I had been writing down was growing as well. But still aquaponics was a real fringe hobby, there were very few people involved in building systems around the world, and few people to discuss it with. I think I first started this website in about 2003, then in 2005 I joined an online permaculture discussion group, and posted some links on there to pictures of my systems. People on the permaculture group were extremely interested in aquaponics and some very lengthy online discussion were had. It was about this time that I decided to wrap up my writings and form them into a book, the contract work I had been doing came to an end, so I decided it was time to try and sell the information packages I had been putting together.

In early 2006 I thought it was time to start my own online discussion forum for aquaponics, and members started joining in droves. One friend from the permaculture group wrote to me one day saying that she was determined to get me onto Gardening Australia (tv show), because she thought everyone should hear about aquaponics. Well, she wrote to them a number of times, and eventually they took notice and contacted me. At about this time I wrote some articles for magazines and other websites and they were greeted with great interest.

Interest at this stage was growing at a fairly steady rate, until August 2006 when a segment filmed in my backyard about my systems went to air on national television around Australia. Well it all just went a little crazy after that. A string of articles for magazines and papers as well as a repeat of the Gardening Australia segment going to air in February 2007, continued the growing interest.

The next logical step was to start producing systems, people wanted to have their own aquaponic systems but materials were sometimes difficult to get hold of, especially growbeds, there was nothing really suitable for aquaponics available off the shelf. I began working with a plastics molder to design my perfect growbed, and these went into production. So I began installing system for people in May 2007 and the interest is continuing to grow. The first system that I installed for Faye Arcaro has received a great deal of interest, she had the Garden Gurus (tv show) come and film her system, and this went to air on the first of September 2007.