Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Actually I think the carp taste better and I can feed them on lettuce,lupins and duckweed.

Back again, it's only been 12 months.

I have decided on a revamp on the system. Toss out the blue drums, along with the pawpaws and banana, sink the main tank and not use the sump. Using the sump has to be a big power user as the sump pump switches on and off via the float switch many times, compared to the one on and off of the main fish tank pump.

Pawpaws will be planted in the soil (ground) inside the green house, and be watered manually using fish water. This may stop the stem rot that have been bowling them over?

Digging the hole for the tank hasn't been a problem, quite enjoyable actually, using my new toy. I also built a tipping trailer, that I could have done with 20 years ago, to complement the mini excavator. Next thing to make is a "grab" for the digger and then digging and picking up rocks, big firewood blocks etc will be easy as I gradually slip into an ever increasing age.

Slater's that have been a big problem in the past will get a taste of the iron chelate snail killer. I hope you are right with what you say about that Faye.

Silver perch have been relocated to the soak and are now worthwhile eating, in fact very nice. I walk down to the soak with a hole drilled through a trout pellet on my hook, and within a couple of minutes, I walk back with my tea.

I hope to have Barra in the tank during summer. Expensive I know, and other than that I don't know. Any advise would be good. Trout will still be the winter fish.

OMG nice to hear from you again Rick. Looks like a good project in time for trout season. Well aIl I can say about the Multiguard snail pellets is that I have used them with success against slaters, they can taint the water though.
Look forward to seeing the new setup.

Gday Rick. It's your nephew Ben here. Great to see your system evolving and glad to hear your enjoying the silver perch. I like the thinking behind getting rid of the sump tank & pump. Makes for a far simpler system, more efficient and less to go wrong.

Hoping to come accross and pay you a visit one of these days. Would love to see your setup. Just need to wait for the moon and stars to align Was good to catch up you and D at the wedding the other day.

Funny that just thinking the other day theres a few members we havent heard of for a while and rick was one of them

Was thinking the same thing.

After flooding all the grow beds, and seeing the number of slaters (the system has been off since Nov) I decided on employing the chooks as harvesters. Had to change them over as the first lot had a gut full and decided to fool around!!

Hi mate, I had also been MIA until a month back, it seems to be the cycle, our system at school and home is still ticking along doing it's thing. Working at Hillside Farm teaching Agrifoods program a day a week this year and pushing to get their two bed system running properly as well.

Nice toy, will keep you and your toy in mind as we just bought a place in Cuballing that the parents inlaw are renting from us. Only just arrived back from an extended weekends renovations today. Been meaning to look you up as I need some electrical work done, can you suggest a good electrician in the area?

Cheers,
Mike

Good to here from you again Burnsy. Where is the Hillside Farm you are teaching at?

Hillside is in the city of Gosnells at the base of the escarpment. It is managed by Kelmscott SHS Ag but I work for a separate program through Yule Brooke College. Nice property, 90 odd acres in the metro area 15 minutes from home. Thanks for the pm regarding a sparky.

https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=hills ... 6&t=h&z=16

Thats an awesome use of chooks.

I have just posted my system for sale in the relevant thread. I has been a very interesting project over the years, and I believe, if I lived in a town or suburbia, I probably would be continuing with it. I now keep silver perch in a farm dam, and that keeps me satisfied as far as fish go. Garden wise, using dam water is not a problem, however the AP was using my rainwater, as I'm not on scheme water.

My tunnel house is not for sale, as I will continue to grow pawpaws and other stuff in the dirt. My trout went into my dam and are great fun catching. Mind you I am not catching any more yabbies!! I had hoped the trout may have just eaten the smaller yabbies and left a few big ones for me. But not so. Once all the trout are caught, I will return the dam to yabbies or maybe marron. I will keep the silver perch in my soak, as they are now very tasty in that environment.

I will have to get my "best toy" out again and go and dig out the tank I not so long ago buried. Oh dash!

Did you enjoy your years using the AP system, Rick?

Nice one Rick, makes sense if you have the space. Get yourself over to Backyard Farming and post up a thread so we can follow your dirt garden and dam exploits.

Cheers,
Mike