Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, just a few shots to show my setup. Feel free to point out any obvious mistakes, apart from the roof, have some polycarb coming on the weekend Couldn't wait for test kit which i am now told is at the post office, so popped in some Snow Pea seedlings, Butter Bean seeds (already sprouting - 3 days) 10 goldfish (now nine after reading about mesh over pumps checked plumbing to find half a goldie inside) and 5 Yabbies. Water is still very dirty but i have read that this is not unusual, will run a second pump with filter wool to try and clear it up a bit quicker. In the words of the recently passed Big Kev "I'm Excited !". Dataloggers are tracking ambient and water temps,seem to range between 15 - 20 oC but this will change when the weather warms, at what temp do Barra get seriously effected ? Thanks to all that comment.

Best temp for Barra is about 28c, Mine don't really hit the feed much below 24c but I don't let my tanks get any lower than 22c
some people have had Barra much lower than that. Good luck they are a fun fast growing fish

I'm thinking with some insulation i can keep the tank above 18c, at least for the next 5 months. If i buy them at 90mm ($1.50 a piece) will they be near plate size if i don't overstock ? I know there are a lot of variables but do i stand a chance ?

Could be a push but you would need temps much higher than 18c closer to 30c so you could keep the feed rates up but at that temp you need lots of air and heaps of filtration but then it all depends on what you call plate size ?

Does that mean the grow beds are not enough, need additional air and filtration. I could imagine keeping the temps closer to 30, Dec - Feb but a struggle after that. For the cost of $30 or so i am thinking it's worth a crack.

Barra need a serious amount of heat to flourish. You really are going to struggle to get them to a decent size.

Kinda like Tilapia, they might survive below 20C but they do nothing really at that temp.
If you want to get a fast growing warm water fish to actually grow fast, you need the 30 C water with enough aeration and filtration to support the fast metabolism that the fish have at those temps. Are Barra as poopy as tilapia? Tilapia can make a real mess.

Might have to be Redfin from the local dam, or perservere with Goldfish until the water cools enough for trout. Seems Silver Perch aren't available till mid Jan then $1.50 @ 40mm. Hmmm....I'm thinking trout. Water starting to clear since i put a second pump in to stir things up, can see that my fish are still alive

First test results

PH - 7.8-8.0
Ammonia - 0.5-1.0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0

From what i have read this is okay for the moment ? Only run the system for about 4 days.

Hi there,
Just a query, does your water pump actually pump the water up the PVC pipe up to the roof and then get reticulated down to the growbeds?? If so, how many meters would it be from the water surface in the fish tank to the reticulation matrix at the roof...

The reason for asking is that most water pumps loses flowrate the higher the head (height that it needs to pump to)... so you might want to check that you still have sufficient flow through the system to at least turnover the entire fish tank volume at least once every hour...

Ivansng the pump does exactly that but the flow rate is plenty high enough. The head is around two metres, i have it cycling 15mins on and 45 off at the moment and it empties just over half the volume of the fish tank.The pump is probably only on for 7 or 8 minutes and then the float turns it off. Any reason why i need to turnover the entire volume, can be done easily enough by adjusting timer.

"General consensus" is entire tank volume should be pumped through beds hourly.

Each situation varies , but that is the general rule of thumb

If highly stocked, then the water needs to be turned over once per hour, however few of us push systems to that limit. I pump water overnight only at the moment, and there is no water pumping for 12 hours during the day.

When cycling up a new system, it is best to turn over the entire tank volume each hour, this can assist in getting the system cycled quicker. (if the beds drain quick enough you could run the pump twice an hour instead of simply running the pump twice as long.) Once the system is fully cycled then you can tinker with your turn over to see what is appropriate for you system at the time but then it will probably be best to up the pumping to the turn over each hour whenever you add a big load of new fish or whenever there is a sign of trouble. Then once all is well again, you can adjust while keeping an eye on water quality and fish behavior.

Here's an update on my system. Kicked along when i upped the feeding of fish and yabbies and starting seeing some nitrate readings, ammonia has been stable at 0.25 and Nitrates currently 20. Yes i know better to see no ammonia reading.

Goldfish are growing at a solid rate and i can't wait to swap them for trout probably around April. Yabbies have thrived and i have at a guess 40 young in some isolated barrels.

The beds contains Butter Beans, Pad Choy, Egg Plant, Tomato Plant, Silverbeet, beetroot, Pickle Cucumbers, Basil, Carrots, Spring Onion, Chillies, Lettuce, Strawberry and Capsicum. Strawberry seems to struggle, most other plants are thriving particularly the Tomato, Beans, Basil, Beets and Cucumber.

I have some red spider mites though that i think came in with an eggplant seedling, anyone know how to get rid of them safely ? I am wrapped with the whole process and will plan a complete 9m x 6m (my shed) system in the next year or so.