Filtration
How the grow bed, its bacteria, and the plants keep the water clean, and which media to use.
Guides for small and desktop aquaponics systems
Aquaponics Filter explains how fish, bacteria, and plants keep a few gallons of water clean, and how to build and run a small system that stays stable past its first month.
Guides by topic
Where to start with a new system
A new aquaponics system usually gets into trouble in its first month, when fish go into a tank that hasn't yet grown the bacteria to process their waste, and ammonia builds up within days in a few gallons of water. Cycling the system before stocking prevents that, and our guide to the nitrogen cycle explains why the wait can't be skipped.
After that, stability comes down to balance. The fish you choose and how much you feed them set how much waste the plants have to absorb, and the plants you grow set how much they can take. A weekly round of water tests shows whether the two sides match, well before leaves yellow or fish start gasping.
Aquaponics Filter covers that loop for systems of roughly 3 to 20 gallons, the size that fits on a desk or a kitchen counter. If you're still planning a build, starting a desktop aquaponics system walks through it in order, and if something already looks wrong, start with the troubleshooting guide.