Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

All seems to be going well in my system at the moment - The barra are growing nicely and feeding twice a day... they come right to the surface every time I come to the tank, realy hungry buggers

Plants are growing nicely too
My strawbs are still producing and we harvest a handfull every second day (pictured below)
My 'mirical tree' has sprouted numerious leaves and new branches - seems VERY happy...
As you can see in the images below everything is growing well, the marigolds are actually taking over and are going to have to be thinned out (note to self, get the small veriety next time )

Looking good AM
What's the plant in the pic, 2nd from bottom? aret they the marigolds?

Sorry, forgot to annotate each photo...
Will go do that now -and yes, they are marigolds, with swis chard in there 'somewhere'

some more images...
The pawpaw seems to be picking up the pace and growing stronger and bigger
The watercress (the one which tasts like pepper and mustard) is doing better than expected - no way I can use it all - so I am now seeing if the jade perch will eat it.

have to use my mobile to take photos until christmas ... I dropped my normal digital camera and it, well, is beyond repair

\time to start that santa letter

MAN THOSE JADES ARE FAT ARSED FISH! NICE WORK AS ALWAYS AM!

thanks mate
shhh, they dont know it yet, but when my brother comes over in December they are going onto the BBQ

Beautiful work on the IBCs. How did you attach the wood lips around the top? Drilled into the plastic, or attached to the metal cage somehow?

mostly drilled 2 holes, side by side, then used cable ties / zip ties... did this about 12 times per tank...
One tank has a frame welded onto the tank frame, but it was/is the exception...

I am one tired AP'er... been out on the outer Great Barrier Reef for the past 2 days with my Marien students - them getting their open water scuba tickets, me supervising their behaviour and snorkeling on average the visibility was 30m! it was GREAT! But seeing all those HUGE fish on the reef made me wish my fish would hurry up and get to plate size
Thankfully nothing went wrong over the past 2 days and the plant have continued to do well... The green beans are pumping out produce as are the strawbs!
I set the automatic filling system to a lower level just before going and it worked as predicted, with the average level in the sump tank being at least 5cm lower than it was before (which is how much lower it was set to add water at). now I know that its the float valve which is filling the tank, and not some leaky plumping

how does your auto filling work for the sump - i have to top up 2x a week but my sump is 500l in full sun.

Remind me how the water flows in your system - do you pump from the sump into your FT and over-flow to the GB, or do you pump to the GB and then refill the FT from the sump? Which ever one drops in volume is the one you should fit the float valve into.

System still going well - barra growing well and plants seem to be doing well...
Yesterday I managed to harvest a nice quantity of green beans which are growing almost wild in the system... made a stew and used them in it - they were lovely and almost sweet

A few weeks ago I approached my neighbour (who owns Northern Hydroponics - In Mulgrave road, Cairns) to see if they had iron chelate in stock... they did not and agreed to get a 1L bottle in for me (as this is what I asked for)... Well, 3 or 4 days later in walks my neighbour with 4 x 250ml bottles - and instead of asking for me to pay, donated them for the school system They are really good neighbours and good, hard working people - I am most appreciative for the donation and want to say a BIG thank you to them for the donation

Kudos to Northern Hydroponics for their kind donation...

great news - it appears that a small hive of "indigenous" bees have moved into my system - under the one GB... thought they were just coming for water for a while, but now it looks like they have moved in as they are constantly crawling in and out under the one GB
So pollination should be good now - woo hoo