Introduction to Shelfponics
The original Garden Pool bookshelf aquaponics system. Shelfponics turns an ordinary shelving unit into a compact vertical growing system combining plants, water and fish in approximately two square feet of floor space.
Garden Pool Classic • 2011
Originally published February 14, 2011 by Dennis McClung — Garden Pool
- Original design
- Garden Pool
- Author / instructor
- Dennis McClung
- Original publication
- February 14, 2011
- Original class
- February 12, 2011
- Location
- The Garden Pool, Mesa, Arizona
The system
What is Shelfponics?
Shelfponics is Garden Pool's compact bookshelf-based aquaponic vertical-growing system.
The original design used an inexpensive four-tier plastic bookshelf. The shelves could be installed upside down, which turned them into shallow growing trays.
Water is pumped from a 10-gallon aquarium at the bottom of the unit up to the top growing shelf. It then travels through the growing trays and drains from one shelf to the next before returning to the aquarium. The trays hold expanded clay growing media. The fish live in the aquarium below.
The result is a compact vertical aquaponic growing system.
The story
How Garden Pool invented Shelfponics
Dennis was looking at an unused corner of the original Garden Pool — a small area with about 78 inches of vertical height. The corner was generally used to store unused buckets, aquariums and small starter plants in soil.
A plastic bookshelf was already in use elsewhere in the Garden Pool, holding tools and miscellaneous equipment. Dennis took the bookshelf down and installed a simple plywood shelf in its place.
While examining the bookshelf, he noticed something important: the shelves could snap into the unit upside down.
Inverted, the shelves formed shallow trays — a perfect ebb-and-flow style vertical growing system. Over the next nine months, the Garden Pool team experimented with and refined the concept they named Shelfponics.
Original 2011 specifications
The original Shelfponics system
- Designed
- 2011
- Location
- The Garden Pool, Mesa, Arizona
- Shelf
- Plano 4-tier plastic bookshelf
- Dimensions
- 34-1/2" L x 14-3/8" W x 57" H
- Fish tank
- 10 gallons
- Vertical growing area
- Approximately 6 sq. ft.
- Floor footprint
- Approximately 2 sq. ft.
- Original pump
- 145 GPH fountain pump on low flow
- Original 2011 project cost
- Approximately $110 USD
- Development
- Approximately 9 months of experimentation
The approximately $110 figure is the original 2011 project cost, paying full retail for every component including about $14 for the bookshelf itself. It is a historical record, not a claim that the system can be reproduced for that amount today.
The design insight
Turning a bookshelf into a growing system
The plastic shelving unit was inexpensive, compact and vertical. More importantly, its shelves could be installed upside down, where their molded structure could hold growing media and direct water.
Each shelf has a molded cross dividing it into four quadrants. Garden Pool modified those quadrants to create a controlled water path: water enters one quadrant, channels cut into the shelf let it move sequentially through the rest, and a drain in the final quadrant sends it to the shelf below. The process repeats until the water returns to the fish tank.
The water path through one shelf
- 10-gallon fish tank
- Pump
- Top growing shelf
- Quadrant 1 → 2 → 3 → 4
- Second growing shelf
- Third growing shelf
- Return to fish tank
A modern diagram drawn to supplement — not replace — the original 2011 Garden Pool photographs on this page.
Materials
What was the original shelf made from?
The original article records that Garden Pool contacted Plano to check whether the shelving plastic was safe to use for aquaponics. Plano's corporate resin manager responded that the shelf was made from polypropylene, recycling resin code #5.
The 2011 article noted that this type of plastic is commonly used for food items such as yogurt containers and is recyclable.
Original 2011 materials list
Original materials
- Four-shelf Plano bookshelf
- 10 feet black flexible 5/8" tubing with 1/2" inner diameter
- (3) 1/2" barbed "T" fittings for tubing
- Approximately 20 liters Hydroton expanded clay media
- 145 GPH Harbor Freight fountain pump, set on low flow
- 30-minute electrical timer
- Drill with 5/8" drill bit
- Standard 10-gallon fish tank
- Aquarium air pump sized for a 10-gallon tank
- 3 feet of 1/4" black drip-irrigation tubing
- 12" aquarium bubble stone
- (2) packages stainless-steel netting
- (4) 6" zip ties to secure tubing to the shelf system
- 6" x 6" piece of 1/2" plywood
- Gravel for the bottom of the fish tank
This is the historical 2011 list, preserved as published. Some of these products are discontinued or may have changed specification; nothing has been silently swapped for a current equivalent.
Original 2011 tool list
Tools used
- Rubber mallet
- Cordless drill with 5/8" drill bit
- Tin snips
- Utility scissors
A Garden Pool note from 2011, kept for character: "Remember to lightly tap with the mallet and don't run with scissors."
Before you build
Safety first
This safety section is a modern addition to the restored page. It was not part of the original 2011 text.
- Wear eye protection when drilling or cutting.
- Secure materials before drilling.
- Use caution with tin snips and sharp plastic edges.
- Keep electrical connections protected from water.
- Use GFCI-protected outlets where appropriate.
- Create drip loops on electrical cords.
- Use pumps, timers and electrical equipment suitable for their intended environment.
- Disconnect electrical equipment before servicing the aquarium or water system.
- Verify that modern shelving can safely support the expected weight.
- Remember that water is heavy — a filled system weighs far more than an empty shelf.
- Do not assume a modern shelving unit has the same load capacity or construction as the original 2011 Plano unit.
- Use materials appropriate for food-growing applications when growing edible plants.
Step by step
How the original Shelfponics system was built
The original 2011 construction sequence, laid out as numbered steps. Every photograph here is an original Garden Pool image recovered from the archive.
01
Build the lower shelf
Begin assembling the bookshelf with the bottom shelf. Garden Pool placed a 6" x 6" x 1/2" plywood support beneath the first shelf to give extra support for the weight of the fish tank.
Install the bottom shelf flat side up, because the aquarium will sit on it.
The original 2011 caption: "Here is a screenshot of our first YouTube video. You can see the bookshelf we used for this project." 02
Install the growing shelves upside down
Snugly place the four vertical poles and add the next shelf. The remaining three shelves are installed upside down, flat side facing downward — this is what creates the tray-like growing surfaces that make Shelfponics possible.
Make sure the poles are fully seated; the original article notes you will feel them snap into position. A rubber mallet can be used, but tap carefully — excessive force will break the shelf.
03
Install the aquarium and pump
Position the 10-gallon aquarium on the bottom shelf. Place the fountain pump in the bottom of the tank and run the black 1/2" flexible tubing up to the top growing shelf, leaving enough slack for the tubing to rest easily on the shelf.
Attach the tubing to the vertical poles to support its weight once it fills with water, and avoid kinking it so flow stays good.
04
Create the water path
On the upside-down shelves you will notice a large cross molded into the middle of the shelf, dividing the surface into four quadrants.
Water enters one quadrant. Cut a channel so the water can flow into the next quadrant, and continue cutting a path until water will fill all four sections. In the last quadrant to receive flow, drill a 5/8" hole so water can fall to the shelf below.
The original 2011 caption: "Here is a detail of the top shelf. You can see where the water enters the shelf from the tubing and where the channels are marked to be cut with tin snips. Notice how the 5/8" hole is in the middle of the last quadrant to receive water flow." 05
Prepare the barbed T drains
Cover the upper openings of a 1/2" barbed "T" with stainless-steel mesh. The mesh keeps expanded clay media out of the lines.
Place the covered "T" into the drain hole and connect the 1/2" black flexible tubing through the bottom, cut to easily reach the shelf below — about 15 inches. Water falls through this tubing to the next level.
The original 2011 caption: "Here is a “T” with the stainless steel mesh covering the top two openings to prevent hydroton from clogging the lines." 06
Repeat for the next shelf
With tin snips, cut the quadrant channels out of the next inverted shelf exactly as you did on the previous one, then insert another covered "T" and drain tube.
07
Install the final drain
On the last upside-down growing shelf, use a covered "T" but no drain tube — in the original system the water simply fell directly back into the aquarium.
The original 2011 caption: "Here is a view with the “T”s installed and the channels cut in the quadrants. The water will flow from the aquarium, filling each quadrant until draining to the shelf below." 08
Test the water flow
Run the fountain pump from the aquarium up to the top shelf and let the system run to expose any weaknesses. Watch the water travel from the tank to the top shelf, through all four quadrants, down to the next shelf, down again, and back to the tank.
Check for leaks, overflow, poor drainage, kinked tubing and uneven flow.
Garden Pool tested several pumps on this build: a 190 GPH pump was far too powerful for the project, a 66 GPH pump did not have the lift required, and the 145 GPH pump on low flow was perfect. Those are results from the original Garden Pool configuration, not a universal specification.
The original 2011 caption: "Turn on the water flow once the unit is assembled to check for leaks. Notice how the water flows from one quadrant to the next until it finally drains." 09
Set the timer
The original Garden Pool configuration ran the fountain pump on a 30-minutes-on, 30-minutes-off cycle — the original 2011 Garden Pool timer setting.
10
Add the growing media
Fill the trays with well-rinsed Hydroton or another appropriate expanded clay medium, until it is fairly level with the tray.
Rinsing matters: unwashed clay media carries fine dust that clouds the water, settles in the tank, and can work its way into pumps, tubing and drain fittings in a small system like this one.
11
Check the water level
Turn on the system to make sure it flows properly and there are no leaks. The original article keeps the aquarium waterline about 3" from the top.
That was a feature of the original physical configuration: to care for the fish the aquarium slides out a few inches, so it was deliberately not filled to the brim.
12
Complete the aquarium
The original system finished the tank with a bubble stone, gravel and an aquarium air pump. The 2011 article also mentions an optional 50W aquarium heater and a preferred brand of submersible thermometer.
Those historical product mentions are preserved as part of the record of the original build, not as current purchasing advice — availability and specifications have changed since 2011.
13
Leak test
Run the system for several hours and check carefully for leaks and drainage problems. Verify that water reaches every quadrant of every growing shelf.
14
Add fish and plants
The original article ends here: "Stock with your fish and plants. Enjoy!"
Water movement
How water moves through Shelfponics
Only the upward journey requires pumping. Once water reaches the top tray, gravity does the rest of the work, carrying it down through every growing level and back into the fish tank.
That is the heart of the Shelfponics design: one small pump, one tank, and three growing levels stacked in the space a single bucket would occupy.
- Grow shelf 1 (top)
- Grow shelf 2
- Grow shelf 3
- 10-gallon fish tank (bottom)
↑ Pump returns water to the top shelf
From the archives
Watch the original Introduction to Shelfponics class
Introduction to Shelfponics was recorded live in a classroom setting at the Garden Pool. The original page streamed the recording through Ustream, a service that has since shut down.
Original 2011 Shelfponics class
Dennis and Danielle McClung — The Garden Pool, Mesa, Arizona — February 12, 2011 — 42 minutes.
Original video restoration in progress. The recording has not been located in Garden Pool's current media, the YouTube archive or the web archive, and no substitute video has been put in its place.
- When
- February 12, 2011
- Where
- The Garden Pool, Mesa, Arizona
- Who
- Dennis and Danielle, GardenPool.org
- Length
- 42 minutes
- Format
- Recorded live in a classroom setting
Results
Shelfponics at the Garden Pool
Variations and results documented on the original 2011 page.
Variations
Expanding Shelfponics
The original page documents a variation built from two bookshelves. As recorded in 2011, it offered approximately 12 square feet of vertical grow area plus a storage shelf, ran on one 10-gallon fish tank, occupied approximately 4 square feet of floor space, and used the same 145 GPH pump as the original configuration.
These are documented results from Garden Pool's own builds. No yield or production figures were published with them, and none have been added here.
Why it mattered
A lot of growing space in a small footprint
Shelfponics explored how an inexpensive consumer shelving product could be repurposed into a compact vertical aquaponic growing system. Instead of expanding outward, it used vertical space — which makes it interesting wherever floor area is limited: homes, classrooms, urban environments, libraries, community spaces and indoor growing experiments.
Any of those settings still needs its own thinking about lighting, humidity, structural loading and water management. Small does not mean trivial.
Classroom use
Shelfponics as a learning system
Because the system is small, self-contained and entirely visible, the relationships between its components are unusually easy to observe: you can watch the water leave the tank, cross each tray and come back.
- Aquaponics
- Hydroponics
- Vertical growing
- Gravity
- Water circulation
- Pumps
- Plant biology
- Fish biology
- Nutrient cycling
- Engineering
- Product reuse
- System design
- Space efficiency
- STEM
Garden Pool Classic • 2011
From the Garden Pool archives
Garden Pool originally published Shelfponics in 2011 as part of our effort to develop practical, accessible ways to grow food.
The idea began with an unused corner, an inexpensive bookshelf, and a simple question: could we grow upward instead of outward? After approximately nine months of experimentation, Shelfponics became one of Garden Pool's original compact aquaponic designs.
Today we're restoring the original plans, photographs and classes so a new generation of growers, students, educators and makers can learn from them.
Questions
Shelfponics FAQ
- What is Shelfponics?
- Shelfponics is Garden Pool's compact bookshelf-based aquaponic vertical-growing system. An inexpensive four-tier plastic bookshelf has its shelves installed upside down to form shallow growing trays; water is pumped from a fish tank at the bottom to the top tray and then flows by gravity down through each tray before returning to the tank.
- Who invented Shelfponics?
- The original Garden Pool article states: "Shelfponics, a term first coined here, is the Garden Pool team’s original invention." It was developed by Dennis McClung and the Garden Pool team in Mesa, Arizona.
- When was Shelfponics developed?
- The idea began at the Garden Pool and was refined over approximately nine months of experimentation. Introduction to Shelfponics was published on February 14, 2011, two days after the original live class on February 12, 2011.
- How does Shelfponics work?
- A fountain pump lifts water from a 10-gallon aquarium at the base of the shelf to the top growing tray. Channels cut into the tray route the water through all four quadrants, then a drain sends it to the tray below. That repeats down the unit until the water falls back into the aquarium. Fish waste feeds the plants; the media beds and their bacteria filter the water.
- Is Shelfponics aquaponics or hydroponics?
- As Garden Pool built it, Shelfponics is aquaponics — the nutrients come from fish living in the tank at the bottom of the unit. The same shelf plumbing could be run hydroponically, but the original 2011 system was an aquaponic one.
- How much space did the original Shelfponics system use?
- The original system provided approximately 6 square feet of vertical plant-growing space in a footprint of about 2 square feet. The assembled bookshelf measured 34-1/2" L x 14-3/8" W x 57" H.
- How much did the original system cost?
- Garden Pool spent about $110 USD in 2011, paying full retail for every item, including about $14 for the bookshelf itself. That is the original 2011 project cost and should not be read as a current build cost.
- What size aquarium did the original Shelfponics use?
- A standard 10-gallon fish tank, sitting on the bottom shelf over a 6" x 6" x 1/2" plywood support.
- What pump did the original Garden Pool system use?
- A 145 GPH fountain pump run on low flow. Garden Pool also tested a 190 GPH pump, which was too powerful for this build, and a 66 GPH pump, which lacked the lift required. Those results describe the original configuration only.
- Why are the shelves installed upside down?
- Inverted, the molded shelves form shallow trays that can hold growing media and direct water. That observation — that the shelves could snap in upside down — is what started the whole Shelfponics project.
- How does water move between shelves?
- Channels cut between the four quadrants of each inverted shelf carry water across the tray. In the last quadrant, a 5/8" drain hole holds a mesh-covered barbed "T" with about 15" of tubing that delivers the water to the tray below. Only the trip back up to the top shelf requires the pump; everything else is gravity.
- Can Shelfponics be used indoors?
- The compact footprint makes indoor use an obvious idea, and Garden Pool built the original in a small corner of the Garden Pool itself. Indoor use raises real practical questions — lighting, humidity, floor loading, spills and water management — that should be worked through for the specific room rather than assumed.
- Can Shelfponics be used in a classroom?
- The system is small, visible and self-contained, which makes the relationships between fish, water, bacteria and plants easy to observe. The same practical questions apply as for any indoor installation: lighting, humidity, weight, water management and supervision.
- Do I need the exact original Plano shelf?
- The original build used a Plano four-tier plastic bookshelf, and Plano's corporate resin manager told Garden Pool in 2011 that the shelving was polypropylene, recycling resin code #5. Products and specifications change; if you build with a current shelving product, verify its material, construction and load capacity yourself.
- Is the original Shelfponics design still useful today?
- Yes — as a design lesson as much as a build. It shows how an ordinary consumer product can be repurposed into a working aquaponic system, and how much growing area you can gain by going upward instead of outward.
Garden Pool Classic
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Historical notice
Original conditions of use
Reproduced below as published with the original 2011 resource. It is preserved as a historical record and has not been rewritten.
This document, in part or in its entirety, may be copied, reproduced or adapted to meet local needs without permission from the author or publishers, provided credit is given to Dennis McClung of GardenPool.org. These provisions apply only provided the parts reproduced are distributed free or at cost – not for profit. If you are using these materials, the Garden Pool team would appreciate being sent a copy of any materials in which text or illustrations have been adapted. For reproduction on commercial basis, permission must be first obtained from Dennis McClung of GardenPool.org. Any commercial or for sale application of this design is strictly forbidden without prior approval in writing from Dennis McClung of GardenPool.org.
Keep exploring
Shelfponics started with an unused corner
An ordinary bookshelf became an experiment in vertical growing, aquaponics and making more productive use of limited space.