Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

trout season - fish grow quick, veges grow quick.
Summer season for me has been tricky to get enough nitrates for huge tomato plants and small fry silver perch.

Well, I am almost sure that I will not attempt to buy trouts again any time in 2014 and my plants are .....growing, look

Yeah............yes finally I see bush beans with outrageously sized leaves and the tomatoes going wild...............

We now have:
fought the white moth,
collected green and some darkish caterpillars,
flooded the GB to get rid of the ants farming,
trying to feed a one eyed goldfish just the right amount of food not to contaminate the water
and speak to the one SP who swims around very lonely at the bottom of the new 1000ltr IBC.

Things we do................

Would somebody be able to tell me if it is a wise idea to put new very small Sps into the big FT to the one and only left SP which in the meantime grew to about 16cm 'head to toe'
This is the one who chased the goldfish.

I am afraid there isn't enough waste produced by the 2 fish to keep the growbeds going.

Hiya Gran, I'd imagine it would be a good idea provided you kept the food up, it's my understanding, which may be totally and utterly incorrect, that your un named sp would much prefer pellets than eyeballs...

I presume you are right regarding pellets versus eyeball but does this mean fish know?
Chasie I should name him.
If I get new Sp (where from that is the current question) they most likely will be much smaller than Chasie and if it's necessary to seperate them it should be easy to catch Chasie................allthough he is really fast

Gran?

Here I'm here, still alive and kicking.
Should have updated my story. It is a not a bad one anymore.
Bought 30 Sps last April in Gidgegannup, they are alive and have grown well. No deaths, no constantly testing water either.
Going by feel and guts, leaving them alone more or less.
The one surviving SP is still alive but sitting all alone in the replacement sump IBC system in the greenhouse and doesn't like me much.

The 30 'new' Sps are outside in the second replacement IBC and some are almost plate size.
Question now would be, how to get the ones I want out of there

The original IBC has been converted to wicking beds outside and the yield from those is just enormous, compared to the growing beds in the greenhouse. The growbeds in the greenhouse hold a huge tomato plant, some sparse chives and lots of parsley. Bush beans aren't growing, kale doesn't die and doesn't grow, strange................30 Sps that size should be enough to have more plants growing. Adding worm tea and worms to the beds, rarely any ather fertilizer, occasionally some iron.
Since I emphasize more on vegies than fish, I wouldn't have tried my hands on Aquaponics if I had known about the wicking beds first.
I am so happy with them, I converted almost every bigger pot to that system. What a great help in watering. Now we have to wait for hot weather, I hope they will do well.

I know, no pictures and it didn't happen

In time I will upload current ones, still working on the bathroom reno.............long, long reno this is!

Hiya Gran, thanks for the update and glad to see the ap still up n running.
I now use a net to catch the fish. Originally I tried a net but was to brash and spent more time chasing and scaring than catching, damn they were fast! Then I went the hook n pellet method and seemed to work and was a bit of fun however it always seemed to be the smaller ones that ended up on the hook... So net it is now for me and as advised by several members on this forum slow and steady wins the race. I slowly lower the net into the water and slowly creep up behind the selected fish and scoop it up, last couple of times the fish has swam into the net!
We too, went into ap for the veggies and although have eaten a fair bit am a bit disappointed in the growth rate and can't really justify more gb's being plumbed in atm even though there are beds waiting in the wings...
I am currently planning for wicking beds as I'm reading a lot of good reports about them and being a water wise tree hugger want to give them a whirl. I'm looking at Foodnfish's design as a build model but am gleaning as much info as I can from everyone. So, how have you done yours, any build photos?

Well, I was disappointed too since the vegies only seem to 'really' grow when they get additional help in form of Seasol and lots more. I thought, in my childish mind, some fish in some water would do wonders to some vegies.
I am over that now and if I don't like the taste of the SP, once I get to that stage, the grow beds will probably end up as wicking beds too. The AP is my personal money pit and I am sure I could have gotten a lot more organic vegies in a different way since fish are not my main concern.
Harsh words, I know, but I have other hobbies more important to me than the utterly demanding AP.

Regarding the wicking beds, I will put up some pics as soon as I have grouted my tiles.
In the meantime pick a pic from the self explanatory pics here or send a private message since wicking beds may not belong to this forum.

44.4 Degrees last Monday and now there are just 3 Silvers left. Half the size of the biggest ones. None of them made it to plate size, 27 dead on Tusday.
I just had the water tested couple of days before and bought quite a lot of fish food since they were really doing and eating well for the last 9 months.
Despite perfect water quality and sufficient oxygen, three big airstones,two smaller ones plus two venturis and lots of shade cloth the area we are in most likely has been the culprit.
That's the end of this costly, frustrating and time wasting adventure.
The wicking beds I made out of my first IBC are going very well and the grow beds will end up the same.
No more fish for me.

Wholly crap!! thats a bummer

Hi Gran

That is a pity. I also lost 30 SP on monday due to the heat. Most of them where 30cm+.

They are now very expensive chicken feed. I have also decided not to restock with SP. My Koi (and a few remaining SP) seems to be able to handle the heat better and i will only continue with the KOI in my system during summer.

Glad to hear that I am not alone with that problem and all the others before, but that doesn't really help any of usor better the fish.
I have learnt my lessons though and won't push Aquaponics anymore since I can't provide the perfect conditions it obviously needs. The interesting part is that everything went well for about 9 months with me just going with common sense and not necessarily with expert opinions anymore.
I have learned that it is a long learning curve and I am sure that,with a lot more effort that I am willing to give, one could achieve great things.
I have done so on different topics, that has to do for me

And I still have to provide some interesting pics............patience

30 Silverperch swam happily for 9 month in perfect conditions in 1500 liters than came the Monday with 44.4 Degrees and the result was this: