Column tank aquaponics
A small acrylic column tank turned into a standalone mini aquaponics loop: tiny pump, clay-pebble basket on top, a pepper plant above, small fish and shrimp below.
Sketch of the plan, not a photo. Not built yet.
What it is
One clear column of water with a whole loop inside it. A tiny pump lifts water to a basket of clay pebbles at the top. A pepper plant sits in the basket. The water trickles back down to the fish and shrimp.
It is small on purpose. Small enough for a desk. Small enough that every part is visible. Small enough for giant hands to drop only a few things in it.
Why build it
It is the simplest honest version of aquaponics: fish feed the plant, the plant cleans the water. If the loop is wrong, a small tank shows it fast.
It is also the first build because it teaches the basics every later water build needs: pump sizing, flow, light, and keeping animals alive before adding electronics.
The plan, step by step
This is the plan as it stands. Steps get rewritten as the build teaches us things.
- 01
Pick the tank and the top basket
Choose a column tank and a basket that sits in its opening without blocking access for feeding and cleaning.
- 02
Size the pump and the return
Choose a pump that can lift water to the basket and no more. Plan how water returns without splashing or stranding the pump.
- 03
Run it wet with no animals
Fill it, run the loop and let the tank settle. Fix leaks, noise and flow before anything living goes in.
- 04
Add the plant, then the animals
Pepper first, in clay pebbles. Shrimp and small fish only once the water is ready for them. Stocking stays light.
- 05
Add a simple log
Start with a paper log: feeding, top-ups, what the plant is doing. Sensors come later and only if they earn their place.
- 06
Publish the parts list
The exact parts go up with the build, including the ones that got swapped out.
Water-station safety controller
Leak detection and automatic shutoff for the lab plumbing, with tests that prove the shutoff works before anything is trusted to it.
The big tank window
A large aquarium set into the lab wall, with a flood-and-drain grow bed above it. The column tank, grown up.