Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They grow to about 3 cm long (a bit over an inch). The hardest part is keeping them cool. I had some in an esky covered and in the shade. It was really cold water, added ice every morning. They were OK until the 4 days of 40 + degree heat. They are now red and cooked.

hi all,

well i thought its about time i did an update.

iv'e been busy plumbing up my worm farms so they all drain into a central sump. i have to tell you this was some very hard work. alot harder then i was expecting.

as for the ap setup i have some tomatoes now flowering and should have some ripe in a couple months. my plants haven't really taken off due to my very low stocking density of marron and goldfish.

on sunday i am getting 150 hand sized silver perch which should really make things interesting. hopefully this wont be to many for my growbeds to handle. i don't think i will have any problem due to the fact that they are very well established with bacteria now.

i will post a pick of the silver perch when i get them for you all to see.

i sure hope i can pull this all together soon.

here is a pic of the plumbing.

Nice to hear from you BF. Just don't feed the silvers too much to start with as your bacteria will have some castching up to do. Good luck and yep pics would be great.

hi monya,

good to hear from you also. good advice there.

how often do you recommend i feed? will once a day suffice?

cheers

IMHO, yep once a day would be heaps esp if your water temps are low ie say down below 18. If you have a test kit, test for ammonia every coupla days , 150 hand sized fish is a big load increase on your bacteria. Better get some plants in they'll go thru the roof!

yeh, even once every two days u til the system catches up.

Thing we gotta remember is that when ever there is an increased ammonia load (new fish) there will be an ammonia spike until the bacteria population catches up.

Nice BF.....

thought i was due an update after an inspirational day in eb's backyard.

i never did get the silver perch i had been offered. the guy was dodgey and didn't have a license so i opted out. better safe then sorry.

any how my tomatoes are going well considering its the middle of winter here. it will be interesting to see if they ripen or not.

its incredible how much growth i am getting considering the time of year and how few fish i have. i have 10 goldies in each tank. i did have marron however i decided to eat them about a month ago. for the past month i have been feeding my goldies on a worm only diet. the plants seem to have responded well to this regime.

just a note. i put a 7 cm layer of pea gravel on the bottom of my tank. for about the first 2 months there was a bit of buildup of solids in the gravel. i decided to take the gravel out as i was concerned about the solid buildup. i turned off the pump and took out the fish then drained the tank. once the tank was drained i left it sitting for about 1/2 and hour. when i returned to the tank, to my surprise a heap of worms were on the surface of the gravel searching for air. it was apparent that the worms i had been throwing in for the fish, were burrowing into the gravel and happily living there. i decided to leave the gravel in there and threw a heap more worms from my worm farm into the tanks. in the past couple weeks my tank has cleaned up amazingly. i think it has a lot to do with the fact that the worm numbers have built up and i have ceased using pellets which take a while to break down if uneaten. if to many worms are fed they simply retreat into the gravel and break down waste as opposed to create waste. it will be interesting to see if the fish suffer on a worm only diet.

soon i will be putting the next 2 parts of the circuit into action.

more.

bf, I'd forgotten what your bathtub farm looked like.... sad to hear you didn't get your perch but glad to see you're getting some good growth from your goldies anyway

Good one BF - my toms are also doing unusually well given the time of year. I too hope they ripen. Took some pics also today and will put them up on my thread later.

Good work BF.... good plant growth you got there....

my second batch of golden sunrise (from original plants) are rtipening now, even though temps are getting down to 5 overnight and maximums in the mid teens. Also, cherry toms are fruiting and flowering and ripening, so it shows good promise for you guys and your fruit.

nice pics BF!

People still dont believe me when i tell them worms can survive in high DO water

Is fun when you chuck a few doz into an indoor aquarium. weeks later you might see some gravel move, and the fish are onto it pretty quick

Nice one BF, hope you got the IBC home safely..