Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looking good Col

I haven't been on much the last couple of weeks and it looks like you've made some very impressive progress in that time.

I reckon Joel and Gavin are right with their numbers but having lived in a lot of mining towns, including Kal and Kambalda, I believe you can definitely add 10-20% to the prices they mention.

You're going to need a truckful of air to maintain that amount of fish...

What have you got planned for aeration OBO??

I'd go for a blower with that amount of fish.

Big air pumps

Either way prices, I need around $5 per Trout to break even with costs. In the last two years, I have managed to sell every Trout at $10. If I get $7.50 per fish from restaurants, I am still ahead. The last lot of fish went into $35 meals. Remember this is still a hobby on the side, I have the main business to keep the money coming in. I honestly dont think you could do this as a sole income, at this scale. Youd need to be 3 or 4 times bigger.

I have always pushed the envelope of stocking rates per litre of water, but with proper backups in place. I feel that I can continue to do this effectively. I grew 100 Trout per IBC last winter, and did not loose any to ill health. I struggled a bit with water clarity, but quality was still excellent.

Photo's from today to come

Plumbing is complete!!


















Look at that aeration

There are a couple of drips, but all in all for the scale and sheer amount of fittings, the install has gone well.
The 12,000 litre per hour pump that I have fitted is too small. I cant supply enough water to the fingerling tanks and the growbeds at the same time. It will make a good backup pump though.

I will fine tune the drain, and plant out the beds tomorrow.

Great work and fantastic that you dont have to worry about profit.Bonus though if you do profit!! Just think how many people in Kal you can keep happy with your hobby and you get to enjoy it also

You going to go with an "inline" pump OBO???

I'd prefer submersible Rupe, they just fit in with the design. Going external with a bruied tank and the limited room that I have is not really good. I was just out there watching a siphon kick in, and it drains an IBC from the 1000l mark down to 600litre in about 20 seconds Good fun to watch.

You've got the drains going away from the FT before the water head in the other direction. Is this to churn the water inside the pipe?

System is looking good. You'll be able to add seasol by the ltr now.

Holy crap, I didn't realise you had that many per IBC and that was without a spider valve! Nice!
Yeah I noticed that too. I would have thought it to be more efficitient with them directed the other way. But then I read this... 600 L/m (assuming 50% water/media ratio ) No wonder the return pipes are so big Those are cool all-in-one syphon stone guards you've used too, I like! Have you just drilled a hole part the way down the stand pipe to cut off the syphon after 200L has drained?

How have you got the pump plumbed up? Is the pipe coming out the side of the tank near the base?

How do you to plan on cycling this big baby? Sorry 'bout all the questions

Great work and neat as per usual OBO, keep at it mate

So you do not drain the IBC beds completly? Do you worry about roots getting into the undrained part and rotting? Got any pictures of the syphins?

Another appology for all the question...

Looks awsome!

Mark

Yes, the cuts in the outer siphon tube do not carry on any higher than about the 600 litre mark. I was not concerned if they siphoned or not...but they work really nice

Pump comes out the bottom of the tank on the side.

I will let the system stabilise until the weekend, then start to transfer fish from the home system to this one.

Hey Duff, very observant of you I actually did not plan it like that, but I did two beds then realised I had them facing backwards, so I did the rest the same. The water returns to the tank very frothy, especially once a siphon kicks in.




Root rot is only a problem with stagnant water, I have been running some IBC's over at the old system like this for over a year, and I am extremely happy with their performance. Syphon pictures are above, already been posted.




HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! LOL ROFL - I have never made aquaponics neat before, so it's definately not usual The old system is just a mismash of parts cobbled together with silicone. This one has to be foolproof, so it has been built properly.

OBO... looking more and more impressive... In terms of siphons, I was not aware that it is possible for the water to "climb" the small head from the ground and over into the fish tank... I always thought that the the tank must be lower than the drain point in the growbed... or did you have some gizmo that made that possible??

Looks like I need to read up a bit more about siphons...

Looking good. Excited to keep hearing about progress as you cycle up!!!!

It just works Ivan