thanks for your note, Gus. I'm glad you are enjoying the site. It's a great bunch of people who are really open to sharing ideas and experiences. I'll look forward to hearing more about how you decide to build your system soon.

'Lo Gus, Actually I'm living in Canada, and bought a small piece near Rivas, Buenos Aires, a short time ago, where we have gotten involved in gardening, fruit trees, bananas, papaya, yucca, etc. etc, and the hole for the fish kind of developed when two of the fellows had some spare time - now there is a need to do something with it, and aquaponics seems a good way to go (the only way?) - as much for the plants as for the fish. One obvious problem will be (covering) during the rainy season to avoid flooding and damage to the plants (tomatoes etc.). The question of viability is a good one, particularly as there is a monger going past the property on his bicycle every morning, and vegetables can usually be bought fairly readily - guess I like the idea of organics more than anything, and growing my own!

What is your opinion as to being able to buy supplies in Nica ie. pumps, tarps, inverters etc., as I've been debating bringing most of it in from Canada, meaning of course importing some of it from the USA. With your connections to Rivas, does the family of ----- Guadelupe Caldera Pineda mean anything to you, or the Cabreras on Ometepe? My email ericjf7@gmail.com

Just get a party of people together for the gravel washing to make quick easy work out of that and the rest is all reasonable. (tip for gravel or any other media washing, set up the work area so you don't have to bend as you wash the gravel. Bins of water up on boards across saw horses worked well for me.)

Lo Gus, We're in this together, both starting out!

Well once an Aquaponic system is set up, it is definitely easier than a "Garden" where you have to dig and weed and water and weed and get muddy shoes etc.

I actually rather like gardening but the aquaponics keeps me happy too though once things are running well there is little to do so I still have the garden to keep me busy so I don't mess around too much changing the aquaponic systems.