Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice Rope....now where are the fish

A week away in Grafton at the beginning of September Les.... wouldn't want to leave any new babies alone at home....

But it getting warmer down here (well except for the other night )....

So it's possible that a southerly fish migration could be about to happen very shortly I reckon...

All but finished the redesign of the small AP system...isolation/fingerling tank diverter valves in place....just the yabbie tanks to inter-connect...


I like this direct sow into AP growbeds.... lettuce seedlings appearing after 5 days... in both the vermiculite and hydroton beds... not in the gravel bed as yet???..

lil' babies
Now just grow up big and strong and then eat them

Just getting going at the right time of the year too Rope - tossed in some more bean seeds last week and there little heads are poking up just like that too

Nice going Rupe. You have been busy since I have been gone.

Turned out to be a HSM moment while I was away.... one of the loop siphon hoses had come loose/been knocked loose ....

Result.... about 150mm of water left in the tank..... pump not working.... bummer....

Pacific Blueeyes looked happy enough.... started refilling the tank...

Cleaned the pump and plugged it back in.... seemed to start OK... but certainly doesn't seem to pump quite the volume it did previously.....

Intended to upsize when I connected the rest of the system in anyway... so all's good....

Connected up the yabbie tank(s) this morning... another will be plumbed to join to the first... as a duckweed tank... and yabbie nursery...


... in prepartion for moving the yabbies out of the 1500ltr tank... so I can stick the Silver Perch fingerlings in there....

Chinese Cabbage and the lettuce seedlings survived the HSM... although they were looking a bit pathetic when I arrived home... mind you it was 28 degrees....

Bit of water over the weekend and they're fine....




Makes me think that the siphon hose must have come loose during the night before I got home

Rupe, if you plant different varieties scattered across multiple beds, instead of mostly the same one all close together, you will get a lot less insect attack, if insects are a problem in your area.

Will do OBO... just using the growbeds as seedling trays at the moment...

Just been cycling things with a bit of urea, seasol and about 50 Pacific Blue-eyes...

Yabbies will be transferred tomorrow... and the 300ltr fingerling/isolation tank will hopefully be stocked this weekend....

Fingerlings will go into the 1500ltr tank... once I've got the solar array modified....

And the bio-filtration setup .....

By the way.... there's actually 4 different varieties of lettuce in the hydroton bed...

Black Simpson, Buttercrunch, Iceberg and Red Cos.... the other bed has some Red sail lettuce seedlings....

The coco-coir bed (unflooded) is germinating corn... they like to be moist, but not wetted during germination...

Then there's 5 trays of 5 different tomato varieties for the soil garden.....

Hrmm, loop syphon from the bottom of the barrel, rather than the side - I might have to give that a try and see if my syphons break better.

If they are not breaking, your flow is too high. Either reduce the water in, or increase the siphon tubing size.

Thanks outback, I will try that. They break... Eventually, just wish it was a bit more consistent.

adding a breather tube from the top of the loop can help as well.

Added in the second yabbie/duckweed bin... joined the two, so that the second one is tidal... duckweed prefers low flow....

And it'll double as a nursery for lady and baby yabbies... tested for leaks..


I picked up some tophat grommets today, so I'll actually redo the join between the tubs... they flex a little when they fill... no real leaks as such, but I just want to make sure.

Filled the isolation tank to check the level of the standpipe....



Will drop the level slightly..