Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi I am soo hooked on this stuff I have volunteered to install a system in my kids primary school. I will need to do a plan, provide costings etc by this wed. I could really do with some help with the following:

1) what breed of fish would be best for kids of this age. I was thinking of silver perch and was hoping if all goes well to fillet, breadcrumb and cook them for the kids when they're big enough. Its a small school so not too big an effort. School is in Kurrajong, at the foothills of the blue mountains, west of Sydney.

2) are there any potential problems that anyone else has discovered with kids of this age? I keep thinking of worst case scenario like drowned kids etc but maybe there are things I haven't considered yet.

I will be posting more before Wednesday as I do my plan but all feedback is very much appreciated.


Thanks heaps in advance!

Your biggest problems will be... over the school holiday periods...

Getting someone to take ownership of the system... feed the fish... test the water if necessary... respond to power outages... etc...

Vandalism...

I'm sure Nat's 4 barrel system would be perfect for primary school. Small and uses recycled cheap materials (barrels).

Barrels are lots of fun! but you will need a bigger tank if you want to do silver perch.

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Make sure that the kids can't get near the electrical circuits to wreak havoc or pull out air tubes. Like Rupe said, vandalism might be a problem - but I think it's more the innocent curiosity

I guess if you're up to it then some kind of window on the FT will be great for the kids to sit and watch the fish. It'll stop them from trying to look from the top down (potential of falling in, drowning, etc). I know it's a lot more effort, but it might be worth it.

If its a high school I would be worried about student tipping softdrink in the tank and pulling plants out.

Why don't you put a wire lid over the top reinforced with wooden edges and a padlock, the holes in the wire will allow you to throw feed in still.

Vandalism was a concern. Its a semi rural area so not too much riff raff but we did have some bored kids once pull out a heap of letter boxes etc. but I thought we can't stop trying in case it might happen.

Good point about the electrics, esp near water.

School hols not much of a problem as I live in the next street do can check up on it.

Stopping innocent fingers from pulling plants out could definitely be a problem.

Raise it up or put a fence around it? Schools these days seem to think more fencing is better!