Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I know clarity of water is not a big issue for aquaponic food growers. Growing fish is more important than seeing them.

But as a hobbyist I would like to see the fishys too!.



I have been messing with wheelie bins ... as fish tanks .. for a while now.. , partly cos they are free to our school if I can plastci weld any splits etc. etc. if they are not too drastic!

I have three big bins at home and also two fry grow up tanks (Small wheelies).

(I have not really seriously started the aquaponics side of things in any wheelie bins yet!) ... just growing and keeping fish! .. with water changes ...

I guess I would like to post some of my findings so far!

* I have two large barra in one BIG bin, several tilapia in another BIG bin, goldies and koi in another Big one (this one has bucket airlift undergravel filtration).

I have two small size wheelie bins ... airlift gravel filters in both ... fry in both .

* all bins have an air pump delivering air via an air stone.

* all BIG bins also have a pond pump lifting into a bucket which has gravel and fibre filters, draining into a tray, which drains water onto the surface water of the bin and aerates the water.

* The goldies and koi (Big buggers - densley stocked) have a bucket filter .. filled with gravel .. using an airlift system, which seems to grab a lot of the bottom debris ... the bucket has a handle and I can hook it out using a pergola plant hanger .. a quick rinse ... no problem. I may do this once per month.

All tanks get a 50 % water change once a fortnight!

* The bin with the airlift gravel filter ( koi and goldies) is so very much clearer than the other bins.

The two small wheelie bins ( fry tanks ) .. which have bucket airlift gravel filters are also crystal clear.

The tanks without airlift bucket filters are very murky in comparison.

So .. tomorrow I am going to set up some more airlift bucket filters in the murky bins , cover the tops of each bucket with shadecloth (cos cichlids .. they just love messing with pebbles and sand ... they empties one of the gravel bucket airlift filter systems .. totally in two weeks) and see if I can get the water really polished!

Good experiment maybe!


(Anyone have a spare compressor for my school in their shed?)

Best to you all..

johnnie

Once I get this fixed .. I think it would be easy to divert water for growbeds etc. etc. Which will take care of nitrates etc. etc.... and polish the water at the same time.

(I want to see the fish too!)

pics pleasse J7

OK .Monya ...

My daughter has taken some pics and some short vids recently ...

Will try and post tomorrow!

BTW .. we have the name "moyna" in our family!

looking forward to those pics J7

Oh .. while I am still coherent ..

I visited K-mart and WA salvage this week..


They are both selling a "trolley" gardening bin ... looks like a very round wheelie bin .. with half of the front face cut off... at a fairly high price.

2 years ago I cut the front top half of a wheelie bin off with a jigsaw... the kids at school use them as ..

* wheelbarrows

* worm farms (Amazing!)

* mobile toolboxes for the farm fencing teams

* doggie beds

* to move bags of animal feed and hay bakes from paddock to paddock.

Cut down more .. we have used them as:-

Trays to collect sump oil from cars and tractors.

Trays to clean things in!

As wheelie bins .. we have used them as ..A place where kids at school can get their ART out of the art room and into the playground! (What a great way to practice airbrush technique ... art needs to be seen! .. put it on a wheelie bin, get them to sign it!)

To the teachers here .. ask you council if you can lessen the load a little on the council tip by picking the best wheelies as a resource for school!

I am hoping to use them soon as aquarium sumps.

We have twenty or so recycling bins out the back of work that never get used... sad though... I'll see what they want for em...

I get them from the local council. Free to schools and very cheap to members of the public.

Are they food grade?

I'd be more inclined to steam them then BBQ j/k

Hmmm....



I don't think so ...

But .. big picture ...


weedkillers... fly spray ... natural toxins in soil ... we live them them and must minimise our exposure ...

but .. every time I go near the highway I am breathing in amazing toxins fron vehicle exhaust.

I probably won't eat the fish I grow ... cos they are like pets .. but I feel I could .. no prob!



but were I in somalia or ethiopia and my life depended on eating fish grown from the confines of a wheelie bin ... no proba at all! ... easy !

I think I would be at more risk of death from .. breathing pollued air in a city like Sydney, London, or New York tha leachate from growing fish in a wheelie.

I would also be more at risk of dying from a car accident irrespective of what city I live in.

My granny used to spray fly spray around to kill the odd blowie that invades the home. Like a demented woman! I bet I have loads of accumulated toxins in me!

Our farmers spray fungicides, insecticides, herbiceds and inudstrial waste products as ferilizer. (I eat all that crap!)

Worry about leachate from a wheelie bin ... I don't think so.

I am worried about any leachate from any plastics or other materials .. however .. if my llife depended on growing fish in wheelie bins, galvanized metal ponds , or natural ponds ... there are loads of toxins in the most natural environments... and most man made environments, many that we call "organic!"

Food grade .. wheelies are not food grade! But they are better than many ponds, liners etc. etc. that I have eaten produce from.

I am growing fish for eductaional purposes ..

would I eat fish... from a wheeleie ... U bet!

(I bet the crap fish food I feed them has more toxins in it than the leachate from the wheelie bin!)

I think it is about control ... understanding ...

If you decide to feed your fish maggots ... and flys from a fly trap suspended over your pond .. Where have the flies been? What have they been eating? Toxins?

Worms form your worm farm? do you stuff newspaper in your worm farm?

Perspective is imporant maybe?

Looking forward to some lively discussion on this one!


Take care folks!

Have fun!

BTW .. one of my tilapia "George" is nearly pan size ...

I can't eat him! Won't eat him!

(I had a turkey called "crannberry" a few years back .. I was going to grow him up for Christmas .... at Christmas .. I couldn't bring myself to do the deed ... little bugger used to sit on my lap and feed out of my hand ... make weird purring noises!)

I am a softie!

J - my concern with leaching is based on the fact that AP is a closed system. I would normally not worry about the amount of leachate, but for the fact that it is going to stay in the system or end up in plants/fish. I have always been pretty full on regarding this - yet I have no scientific or other basis to my fears. I must say I have relaxed my standards a bit since starting this stuff, but will definitelly not be using - for instance - plastic storage boxes purchased from B or Kmart for my grow beds or tanks, particularly where they are exposed to UV. Correct that there is probably all sort of other shit I ingest on a daily basis, but why add to it. One of the reasons I grow my own stuff is to avoid it. When I grow in the garden I use no pesticides or chemical fertilisers. It's just the way I do it. You will not get a heated arguement from me on this. I often ask the question ' is it food grade' or the like, because I am hoping that one day somebody will provide me with some information which satifies me this stuff is safe to use and then I can do so myslef (making the sourcing of beds etc much easier).

Mate .. I agree with your worry ..

no water changes and "concentrating chemicals!"

Good point!

I bet that fish kept and reared in poor quality plastic tanks, fully recirulated aquaponic system, ....

Given same food, have in many cases less noxious elements and compounds in their bodies than same species kept in several freshwater lakes in free swimming "so called WILD" environments..

However ,, regards food ..

We have to weigh up what is the point of feeding fish something that is "synthetic" (pellets etc. etc) against such things as trapping maggots, .. where has the fly been, what has it been eating?

worms from a worm farm .. will you feed them newspapers, egg cartons,

How do we really get away from Toxins?