Hey @wisewoof. Do you power your system with solar energy? I also really like the concept behind aquaponics, yet I learned in my PDC last year, that they consume a lot of energy and hardware for the amount of food they produce. A well menaged no irrigation and no dig garden that has the right amount of sun/shade and a deep mulch bed is said to be way more energy efficient. I myself have no experiance with any of these, as I will be startting into veg-growing this spring.
When I had that system I did not. I now have solar power though and that would be the plan for the future system. It depends on how the hardware is sourced (in my case I obtain almost everything secondhand or free) and if you have the advantage of grade to move water. Doesn't cost anything if it's going downhill. I think aquaponics is most ideal for people who need to conserve water/or eat a lot of fish. (You need some way to filter the fish water!) Or even people who run expensive filter units for hobbiest aquariums.
Never thougth about that. Of course there are people who need to eat a lot of fish. And from my teenage aquarium time I remember the tons of muck that came out of the filter and went into the toilet... Growing vergies of that muck would have made a lot more sense.