Barrel Aquaponics Pictures

I cut out the shapes before I cut the top part of the barrel to maintain frigidity.  I decided not to cut out the X's because I was concerned about the weight of the grow medium, collapsing the barrel.

After setting the top upside down on the bottom, I cut holes in the flange of the top and the edge of the bottom and tied them together in about four spots.

Tieing them together with lawn trimmer string just wasn't going to work.

So I fastened them together with zip ties.  This worked great! But I think that the whole thing needs to match our other patio furnature, so green it is.

At least on the outside.  I thought that the zip ties would not hold up to the UV from the sun, and the paint should also protect them.  The white part is the bell syphen that drains the water back down, each time it gets full.  The water is pumped up to about a 1/2 inch from the top of the grow medium and then the syphen drains it drawing oxygen to the roots of the plants keeping them from rotting.

Then the cycle starts over and the water is pumped back up. The pump is a 20 watt aquarium pump.  This could be designed so that one pump could do several large tanks. and it could run on a solar panel.

I forgot to take pictures after I put my tomato plant and onions and garlic in.  I did that on Sunday, and they were just fine today.  No dead talopia either.