One of the biggest challenges faced when I starting my first aquaponics garden was finding a solid and aesthetically pleasing platform to support my gravel grow beds.

Whether you are buying pre-made or building your own, what works best for your situation will be dependent on several factors. Before you decide to settle on an option you need to think about the following questions…

How much weight will need to be supported?

What conditions will the material be subjected to? Will their be constant moisture, heat, freezing, UV rays etc.?

What tools and materials will I need access to? 

How aesthetically pleasing will the finished product be?

After building out of 2×4’s and trying a few different options I now prefer treated 4×4’s (note these are actually 3.5 x 3.5 inches) .  You may want to consider building your grow bed platforms out of them for the following reasons…

-they are strong and can hold a lot of weight when used correctly

-they are fairly inexpensive compared to other options

-they are somewhat aesthetically pleasing and do not require painting

-they hold up well in a variety of climates and changing conditions

I have a set of platforms in my aquaponics garden that are 3 years old and still going strong.  During those 3 years in Boise, Idaho they endured summer temperatures above 100 degrees fahrenheit and winter temps near zero degrees  with several feet of snow fall.

So what exactly do you need to build these type of benches?

At a minimum you will need a hand saw to cut the boards, a drill for pilot holes, and a wrench to screw in your lag bolts.

But using only those items is going to be a hell of a lot of physical labor. So I’m going to tell you the way I did mine using power tools.

You will need…

A drill with a ⅝ inch drill bit

An impact gun

A chop saw, table saw or skil saw (I prefer using a miter saw aka chop saw)

⅝ inch lag bolts with ⅝ inch washers

A spade drill bit to sink the bolt heads on the tops and bottom of the benches (the images will make it make sense.

Clamps help with screwing things together but are not necessary, I didn’t use them on several projects

Step one….

Plan out your design dimensions

Cut out the necessary pieces from the boards

Line them up and drill pilot holes

Use your impact gun to drive in the lag bolts (On the top and bottom areas where bolts will be drilled use the spade bit to create a space below the surface of the boards to let the bolt heads sink into—otherwise you will not have a completely flat surface for your grow beds to rest on)

Tips….

Use the scrap lumbar over 8 inches to brace your legs

Do not span your boards over 4 feet