Building a Family DIY Aquaponics System is easy AND economical with our Do-It-Yourself packages!
This is why it’s called “DIY Aquaponics”; because even if you buy a “kit” from someone, you STILL have to build the system. You have to install fish tanks, trench for plumbing, install pumps, blowers, airstones, and assemble troughs. Our 256 square foot family system costs $2,700 to build, or $9.00 per square foot of growbed area, INCLUDING the cost for our Family plans; you source most items locally.
(Below) A nice Family DIY Aquaponics system outdoors, in a backyard.
When you order, you immediately receive a downloaded copy of our Micro System manual so you can get up to speed on aquaponics technology right away. In addition, we supply unlimited free lifetime technical support for all of our products! Details on our “Support” page.
Click Here to Purchase The Family DIY Aquaponics System Plans
Compare the cost of our systems to this well-advertised kit system: the 240 square foot “Family” system from a well-known aquaponics consultant costs $12,995, or $54.14 per square foot of grow bed area. Their cost does NOT include crating or shipping. We should also mention that their system only holds 495 plants, while our system that is 16 square feet larger holds 1,650 plants, or 3.3 times as many. If you do the math, you’ll notice that their system costs $26.25 per plant space, while our system costs $2.48 per plant space.
This seems kind of expensive, for their system costs over ten times as much per plant space to purchase. We can guarantee they’re not getting ten times as many plants out of each space in the same time. We can further guarantee that their systems are not USDA Organically Certifiable and ours are. Produce from our systems is organic, period, under the Federal definition and laws concerning organics (to legally claim your produce is organic, you need to get your operation organically certified; this is not necessary unless you sell more than $5,000 of produce a year). Our aquaponics system designs are the most cost-effective on the planet!
Click Here to Purchase The Family DIY Aquaponics System Plans
We are now including a free downloaded Micro System manual with each Family System purchase so you can build productive aquaponics systems of 64 and 128 square feet in size in addition to the 256 and 512 square foot Family Systems. These smaller systems are great for teaching, for student science projects, or to get started with aquaponics if you don’t have enough space or funds yet for the 256 and 512. They are also great systems for growing vegetables indoors in the wintertime under artificial lighting in an unused garage or outbuilding if you only plan to run your outdoors Family System during the warmer months. This is $394.95 worth of manuals for $295.00.
With basic construction and basic plumbing skills, building an aquaponics system easy with our detailed Do-It-Myself Packages!
Our Family Systems are the ideal size for either a LARGE family (our Farmily consists of twelve people at the moment), a small community or a church group. We’ve recently expanded our Family Do-It-Myself aquaponics manual and plans from the original 256 square feet of grow bed area to include construction plans, operating instructions, and materials list for a 512 square foot Aquaponics system as well. Build the 512 square foot system, or build the 256-square-foot system first then expand it to 512 square feet! These systems are designed to use as little energy as necessary while still maintaining the highest possible vegetable and fish production. This saves money for those on the grid and makes these systems feasible for off-grid use when powered with alternate energy systems such as wind, hydroelectric, or solar. Because this package ALSO includes the Micro System 64 & 128 plans, you are equipped to build and operate any aquaponics system from 64 square feet of grow bed area up to 512. This is useful if you wish to start with a small, affordable system such as the Micro System 64, then build a bigger system later when you feel more comfortable and confident.
(Below) A large (512 square feet) Family DIY Aquaponics system in a greenhouse.
Click Here to Purchase The Family DIY Aquaponics System Plans
Click Here to view the Table Of Contents of this plans package
Click Here to view the Materials List for this plans package
Do-It-Myself Aquaponics Training and Construction Package for FAMILY Systems
Specifics covered are: site selection, system construction and operation, water quality testing and sources for system water, vegetable and aquatic species qualities and selection, seed sources, pest control, vegetable sprouting and planting-out, vegetable and fish harvesting, fish hatching and breeding, and troubleshooting and problem solving of common system problems.
Package includes: Includes a course manual, computer-drawn construction plans, a construction manual, and a day-to-day operations manual. Included in this package is all the information on aquaponics the Commercial package has, PLUS the Micro System 64 & 128 plans. You may ask “Why should I purchase the Commercial package: can’t I just scale this system up and do a commercial operation?” Well, that’s true, if you’re not interested in the information the Commercial package contains on business startup, marketing, permits and regulations, value-added processing, USDA Organic Certification, Food Safety Certification, operating a commercial-scale fish hatchery, and much more. The Family package is appropriate for a large family, a small community or church group, or someone who wants to take some produce to the farmers market once or twice a month for a little additional income.
With your basic construction and plumbing skills and this plans package, you will build a stable, easy-to-operate Aquaponics system. Materials for the Family System 256 cost about $2,700, and about $4,100 for the 512. The 512 only costs $1,400 more than the 256, and only uses 15 watts more per month, so it costs less per square foot. The Family System 256 uses 70 watts, and the 512 uses 85 watts, which is from $5-7 of electricity per month ($19-22 in Hawaii); $4-8 of fish food per month ($8-16 in Hawaii); and $6-8 of seeds and potting media per month ($12-20 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $15 for the 256, and $23 for the 512 ($39 for the 256, and $58 for the 512 in Hawaii). The 256 will produce 110-220 pounds of vegetables and 15-20 pounds of fish per month, depending on what varieties of vegetables you grow, how much attention you pay to them, and how much sunlight you get in your location; the production of the 512 is double this, or 220-440 pounds of vegetables and 30-40 pounds of fish.
Assuming you would have to pay at least $4.00 per pound – remember, when you eat food you raised yourself, you are paying yourself what the retail cost of that food would be, and this is a conservative estimate – for organic produce and naturally-raised fish, that means you will be producing between $300 – $500 of high-quality food per month with the Family System 256. Even at the low end of these numbers, your system pays for itself within the first eight months of operation, not counting any value from the fish. The Family System 512 costs about $1,400 more than the 256 but produces twice the vegetables; it pays for itself in a shorter time.
Lifetime Guarantee: We guarantee a full refund of the purchase price of your Family System plans IF you have actually used them. If you have built and operated a system and are still not satisfied, we will refund your money in full.