Location - We're just outside Colorado Springs, CO. Our elevation is about 7000 feet above sea level, and temperatures can be bitter cold during the winter months, so this will be an indoor project. I've set it up in the dog room downstairs in our basement. Our house is an older split level, so this room sits at ground level. I've set it up next to a window in order to get as much sunlight as possible.
Grow beds - The grow beds consist of two 60-gallon ponds that I got at Home Depot. I think I paid about $30-40 for each pond.
Media - I'm using pea gravel as media. We had a big pile of gravel out back, so I sifted (to get the smaller gravel) and rinsed it and carried it in one bucket at a time. Took a while, but that was pretty much free.
Fish tank - The fish tank is a 150-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank that we found on Craigslist for $60. The guy I bought it from had used it as a pond, so search for "pond" if you can't find anything under "stock tank." If you can't find one on Craigslist and you have to buy one new, check out Ace hardware's website. They have reasonable prices - I think about $120-160 for 150 gallons. Note that you'll want to use a rubber/plastic container for your fish, not metal. You don't want the metal rusting or leaching into the water.
Fish - I will be raising rainbow trout in the tank once the water is ready and I get a chance to drive up to Fort Collins to buy them. Liley Fisheries in Fort Collins, CO will sell small quantities of fish to individuals. So far, I've only communicated with them via e-mail, but they are very helpful and respond quickly to e-mail. I think they said the fingerlings are about 50 cents each. Tilapia are recommended for beginners, but I've chosen trout because it gets pretty cold in the dog room in the winter, and I don't want to heat 150 gallons of water.
I will post details on the setup and configuration in future blogs. Here's a picture of the system the first day I started pumping water (20 August 2011)
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