Step 2 - End product

This is what your tank should look like once you have made all the cuts in the right places and reassembled the pieces. Note that this tank still needs to be washed out and I forgot to replace the black corner supports before I replaced the tank(I did it later after washing out the tank.

This gives me around 700 liters of possible fish pond and a 200 liter growbed. You are supposed to match tank water to growbed size by no less than 1 to 1, this setup is just over 3 to 1. Later I would find out why you need to size these correctly.

Anyway, on with the build.... Notice the white PVC pipe around the top edge of the fish pond, that is 50mm PVC which provides support for the growbed since I cut the steel frame in such a way that I was left with 4 steel pipes sticking up on each side. It also looks better and the angle grinder leaves a bit of a sharp edge on the steel which I wanted to protect myself and my kids from.

More and more I am learning that farming is not a quick Saturday afternoon job. With aquaponics you need patients because things just take time. Plants grow slowly and so do the bacteria you will need(which by the way you can buy commercially but there is a lot of evidence that it does not help at all).

- Grant