Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Update time.

Summer is upon us, the water temps are rising so the rt (protein) days are numbered. I've grown rather attached to the 5 larger trout and was debating on trying to carry them through the summer again but having had a couple of hot days and putting the cooling back on has encouraged me not to. Too much hassle.
Sp's are eating well and are knocking on the door of the big tank. Once the rt's are removed and the sp's relocated I'm planning on decommissioning the blue tank and use it as a top up tank through summer.

The water in the big system is nice n clear but the small system (pift) the water quality is atrocious although the fish don't seem to mind and are still eating when fed. I've had celery and spinach rotting in the bed and I suspect this has contributed to the poor water quality. There are plenty of worms in it and it doesn't seem to be clogging, there are maybe 10 rt's in it currently so over stocking shouldn't be the cause and there are 2 air stones running continuously, or should I say constantly, so oxygen shouldn't be the cause either. There has been a dog exploring on the bed at night and trashing the seedlings which hasn't helped growth wise but I can't see that causing issues either. Water parameters are fine albeit a low ph.

Plant wise, they are growing but not kicking butt as I had hoped, the black Tuscan kale seeded and has been removed, silver beet is bolting and the strawberries are disappearing but I suspect this is due to a little girl who has a passion for them, kids. Shallots are growing wild which is curious as not one garlic made it thru the season Still getting a few cabbages and the Brussel sprouts seem to be attracting blow flies by the hundreds for some reason. I've subdued them with a neem spray but they only clear up for a few days and then return. White flies are also camped on the leaves. There is a celery plant which has solid round stalks instead of the usual c section which I hope to get seeds off to grow in the future. I've planted corn, too late I fear, and beans in bed 3. Bed 2 is the most productive still. Tomato's are going wild n crazy in the ground around the beds and are showing up the ones in the ap. Seeing the plants growing in the ground is highlighting my unintentional water bleed system (read leaks)...
Still havnt finished the shed due to a severe case of procrastination so ap improvements are still on hold, hoping the plants get too burnt during the warmer days without a covering.


That's about it from The Skeg in the hills for this year and hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as I have had reporting it to you all.
All that is left are the pictures and to wish all of you, my AP friends, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, take care.


Keep your eye on the trout appreciation thread.

You might try some shade cloth in future with a water hose poly tunnel.

If the strawberries are not your daughter then try 'organza' bags from ebay - get the biggest ones.

Hiya all

Well today I did what I have been dreading for a little while now and it breaks my heart to say....
After 21 months, the little kids have left their home and moved into the freezer in the laundry. They have left me with an empty ft out back, a few fancy meals and a full tummy...

These are the last four of first fish we put in the ap which were carried through last summer. They were my pride and joy and it was extremely hard for me to cull them. I was not keen on carrying them through this summer as the silvers are getting bigger and having only 4 fish in 3kl was a waste. I will do it again after I forget how stressful it was, at work on a 40° day expecting to get home to a floater soup...
So I netted, donked and ikijime'd them, weighed, gutted, weighed and filleted the 3 larger ones and smoked the skungy little boy. It had a funny looking and unusual tasting flesh, it was really skinny and just swam laps of the ft. One fillet marinating the rest in the cooler.
Having larger fish was good, the bones were all easy to locate and they have provided a few nice sized fillets. The boys had thinner bodies and the girls had the girth or height. and the largest gal had bags full of good sized eggs and a healthy store of fat. I assuming they had a pecking order with the lap swimming male at the bottom of the order.

Plant wise nothing special, no cover on the gb's yet and they are baking in the full sun. Fortunately I don't have to water them, aahhh AP. Plenty of tomato's , kale and a few strawberries are the only productive plants but now I can let the heat rise in the water I'm interested to see what happens.
I still have some of this, or rather, last years trout in the small system so I'll get some more fillet practice in the near future.

Well that's enough jibber jabber time for proof.

More.

Beautiful story sad indeed on the culling. I've been wondering how we'll deal with that as well

Hiya peeps.
Time for a small update.
Small because not much is going on... The systems are ticking along, nothing special just ticking.
I've had some deficiencies which were sorted out by posing questions on this forum, thanks for the help, iron and potassium mainly, a couple of initial foliar sprays and a water dosing appears to have sorted the problem... I've never needed to add specific minerals to the (defunct) dirt patch before so it is all quite new and to be frank a bit disappointing. It was my original understanding that the fish would cater for all the plants needs, I was of course mistaken.... Again... I am thinking about going down the blood n bone route even though I've read numerous times about warm blooded manures and the like, perhaps I'll try it in a couple of the beds I use for above ground crops?
It is nice not to have to water every day and we have been getting heaps of tomato's but not much else, plants are growing but after consistent scorchers of over 37°c and the beds on 15/45 cycle with no shade the plants are suffering. The Stoopid dog deciding the beds are a cool place to lay isn't helping either.



Soooo I've come back to edit my update and make some changes.. Mainly to the fish side. In fact all the fish side of the update. So the fish part of the above update bragging about how good all the fish are has been removed...

Yep the day after I typed the above I had a trout being lethargic and swimming viewing the bottom of the tank so I decided to despatch after work. As I prepared with the net and despatch gear the pump and sprinkler came on so in my infinite wisdom I turned the pump off.... See where this is going?
So the next day the despatched trout marinaded in garlic, salt and brown sugar didn't taste so good with the death of all my silvers on my conscience, and the day before I was going to split them up into the other tanks too...
Damn Damn Damn stoopid rookie error. Guess I'm still a newbie...
So all that remained were the 2 stoopid trout.
So no more turning the pump off, in future I will dial the timer clock around instead. And no more over stocking the tanks.
Troutman has since delivered another batch of tiddlers so we are off again, just means we have to wait for our first taste of silver perch. It's only 1 month before trout time too so it could have been worse I s'pose.
I'll try to get some pics up of the patch soon.
Catch ya.

I so feel with you.
I would have never thought that multiple, early and unwanted death in fish could influence my life that much.
Since you have new silvers how about taking some pellets off me ??? Got plenty

Rob bob too had deaths from man-made turning off pump error.
I think there should be a sticky somewhere to encourage us to put mechanical timers that come back on if we turn pumps off.

Time to start winter crops.
And yes it is still a mess.
Sp's settled in and have doubled in size, now they're bigger tiddlers...
Down to 1 trout, more in May I believe.
3rd gen okra and tomatillos going well and time for the shallots to be thinned before they take over the rest of the gb!
And white fly.....

Looking Good skeggley wow nice size fish mate

Hiya all, I've just re read my whole thread, funny.
We have some more trout for winter and they have settled in well, dirty hungry creatures they are. They are in the small system and have turned the crystal clear stable water into a cloudy acidic mess. Constantly adding lime and potassium to raise the ph but I seem to be fighting a losing battle. I'm thinking of moving a few in with the remaining trout from last year but wonder if they won't get eaten or worse bullied...
Onion aphids have taken over as the pest of the month, the white fly has been neemed to oblivion.
The large system is stable and with a supplement of blood and bone is keeping the plants happy.
The sps are growing well and are starting to stop eating so will put them in the small system if all goes well with the rt's.


So the above was written two weeks ago and we have moved some rt's into the big tank with fatso.
Fatso had been feeling down and was not showing much interest in swimming around much mainly just sitting in the current below the tank inlet. 5 mins after I put the new rt's in the action began. At first inquisitiveness then bang, fish jumping everywhere, fatso was chasing the smaller ones everywhere and the were trying to escape. At first I thought it wasn't good and began wondering how to get the small ones out again then upon closer inspection I saw that fatso wasn't chasing with its mouth open and may have been excited to have some company, perhaps overexcited!
So to cut a long story short now all is well and fatso has found a new energy and plays chasey with the smaller ones. I've done a fish count and come up short... Hmmm.
Looking at the size difference between the small tank and larger tank fish size the two weeks in the large tank has increased their growth by a half compared to the small tank.

Anyway the plants are all growing well and I think that the maturity of the system is playing a part in their performance. Still no nitrates though.
Till next time.

Hey, all looks good as usual !



Just thought this was interesting, are you saying that the trout grew faster in the large tank as compared to the smaller tank ?

I found often when reducing fish numbers, they grew quicker. Whenever I harvested larger fish, the smaller ones picked up. Probably because the larger ones are hogging the food. Not sure if this is the same situation. But larger tanks are always better for numerous reasons.

Hiya rendang thanks for the compliment.

Keeping in mind that I am grossly under stocked, fighting for food isn't really an issue, I don't feed a specific weight and feed until they begin to slow their frenzy twice a day if I am able. There are 5 rt's in the 1kl tank and 9+1 in the 3kl tank. Yes they are definitely larger (and rounder...) in the big tank perhaps because of the competition from fatty
The small tank (pift) has a lower pH 6.5 and is salted to 2ppm. Large tank (pist chift) 7.2pH no salt.

When I get the chance I'll get the gopro out and get a better comparison.

Thanks, just thought your observation was interesting as I had 130 silver perch in a round 2500L tank last summer and they grew really well the biggest were almost plate size. But I saw a couple of systems with ibc tanks and 30 or 40 silver perch ( so similar stocking density) whithout nearly as much growth. Of course there are all sorts of variables, etc etc, but just reinforces my preference for big round tanks. Nice if you got the room !