Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I wa sreading that NB dies at 0c and as we have winters that are often below -5c at night does that mean that a system up here would need to be a seasonal enterprise?
I have a greenhouse that I am going to use for the fish tanks but it is still 0c on a frosty night. I can't grow tomatoes in there for instance. I also have solar power and so can't use any heating device efficiently. I have some 15 yr old silvers in my dam that stand the cold ok but that is 4mt deep and a small 1.2 mt tank will be much colder I think. They will survive I believe but if I can't control the nitrites it will all fall down?
Does anyone else have experience in a cold climate? I am in New England NSW area.

Hi pisces and welcome..... I'll have to check about the bacteria, but I don't think they die off completely at those temperatures..... they might if constantly exposed to those sorts of temperatures for an extended period of time.

But remember in a recirculating system through growbeds, the temperature will be warmer and will warm significantly during the day due to ambient heat absorption, as will the temperature of the water as it's pumped through the system.

However they will appear to be less effective at those temperatures because they wont be being supplied with nutrients to process....

Most fish (especially silver perch) barely survive at those temperatures....obviously they do, as your experience in the dams shows, but effectively they're in a sort of suspended animation for the winter and don't eat.

Obviously, as the story goes..... If they don't eat, they do'nt poo..... hence no nutrient supply for the bacteria to process anyway.

So yes an AP system will be seasonal at those temperatures, as many have recently found.

Just means you will have to utilise a cold water species of fish like trout during the winter months and then maybe some silver perch over spring and summer.

you probably want to keep the gravel in your grow beds above zero anyway to prevent freezing!