Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Attached is my first foray into the business! It is an interim measure 'til I order some corrugated tanks.

The first image was taken at 80% completion. Yeah, the dust n clay residue was washed out before the FT was filled!



And planted -



Concept borrowed from another Perth APist, it would seem!

Specs:

1100L IBC - chopped and flipped to make a 750L FT and 350L GB.
System is running with @ 600L (550L in FT during flood)
250L Hydroton
3000LPH submersible pump - 15min flood / 45min drain
Water level is sitting nicely at 1.5" below media surface

Let the system run for a while then planted a bunch of seedlings - cos lettuce, spring onions, mini cauliflower, assorted basil, small fruiting chilli bush and some dwarf beans. They only went in today, so I will see how it progresses.

Current fish stock of 4 shubunkin - to be reassessed in the AM!

Took the liberty of adding a couple of caps of seasol for good measure.

I plan on adding some screening around the cage tomorrow to protect the plastic and minimise light in my FT.

Thoughts? Value adding??


-BlueThumb

Welcome to the forum, it will work Blue Thumb, though I'd be thinking of upgrading from shubunkins to trout myself!
Aaah value adding - would you like a worm farm with that?

You mention ordering corrugated tanks. Please make sure if you get galvanized tanks, that they are aqualined or something since the zinc in the galvanized coating on corrugated tanks can be quite toxic to fish.

Welcome.

Hi Blue thumb,
How have you got the grow bed supported?
I look forward to watching your system grow.

Dale

Yeah interesting... Are those two posts enough to hold the weight when it's full of water? Does it sag much Bluethumb?

The GB *WAS* held aloft by 2 x 120X35 beams of *treated pine*, as kindly noted by another member. They have since been replaced with 4 X 120X20 beams, secured against the cage making them rigid. There was a 'sag' in the GB previously, though 4 beams have now helped to flatten things out.

TCL - The tanks will be aquaplated, therefore safe for use in AP applications.

On the sound advice of Faye, the system now sports 5 lil trout.

Ammonia tests are low (@0.25), but Ph is closer to 8 ...

Protect the fish tanks from light. Shade them as much as possible or algae may start forming and cause the pH to do some interesting swings.

(watch for pH being low in the early morning and high in the late afternoon to know if it's algae causing the swings.)

As the system cycles up, the pH will normally naturally drop. Have some shell grit on hand to add if the pH gets down below 6.5 (I only choose that level because most of us use test kits that only measure down to 6 and if the pH gets below 6 there is no way of knowing it or how low it may actually be. So I suggest keeping the pH enough above 6 so that you are sure what the pH actually is.)

Looks good. As you cycle up the system, remember patience. It is a slow process that can't be rushed (yea there are things you can do to help jump start it but it still won't be rushed.) Expect it to take 6-8 weeks to really cycle up the system and then you still need to watch the water quality each time you increase the fish load.

Welcome good to hear you are planning on aquaplated tanks.