Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Peterall,

Wow - your system is doing great!

A question about your stakes - is the green dye on the bamboo fish-safe?

Am thinking about using them myself, but would like to make sure the dye won't harm my fishies (or me).

Its actually a pet feeder which can be programmed to feed up to 4 times/day and dump preset amounts of pellets/feed for an indefinite period (or til the food runs out).

The black tray holds the food (normally for a god or cat), the tray has been modified (hole cut into it) to allow the pellets to go down and into the funnel, then into the fish tank

Here is a link to them DP:
http://www.soldsmart.com.au/l3.aspx?goods=PF0146

I looked at the link i see you can record a message like [here fishy fishy heres din din

Duckpond,
I started with this
http://www.soldsmart.com.au/l3.aspx?goo ... agodlxjXwg
thanks to a good suggestion from Monya,
and the only mod required was to cut slot in the feed tray (these are designed for dogs & cats) and silcone a funnel to the underside so the feed is directed to the tank. It is important that the feed mechanism is not too close to the water level as condensation and splashing may moisten the pellets and gum it all up.
One nice feature of this feeder is that the tray vibrates at each feed so all the pellets are dispensed easily.
If you want to be really crazy, you can also record a message which is played at feeding time...."Here fishy fishy...dinner time."

FF.....Snap

Hi Scottie,
Never thought about the green bamboo stakes at all.
My 25 goldies sure have not complained for the past 6 weeks.
IMHO you can go overboard with the 'food grade' stuff...
I have GB's painted with external acrylic paint, some standard silcone joints and green bamboo stakes but still everything keeps growing and the fish thrive.
Maybe it will be different in the long term and when I get 100 SP's in the tanks, but for now....no probs.

Thanks Peterall and LKB - after I wondered about the water spread I saw the fantastic growth you've achieved so the question was answered..
I have a garage with room for a fish tank which has fairly low levels of light unless the garage door is open. This would allow the GBs to be on the deck above the garage, a sump up there too, but keeping the main weight at ground level, with pipes through the deck slab for pumping up and passive flow down. It sounds possible, if the fish don't mind the low light level. Thanks for comments. Andrew [Highlander]

Peter your setup has got me thinking ....

is it feasible to get ponds, like your grow beds and make a cascade of them. One at the top with fish, two in the middle for grow beds and one at the bottom for a sump. All embedded in the ground as an attractive garden feature. We live on a steepish slope.

So apart from having to dig really big holes and that some of the plumbing would be underground ... what are the logistical problem with this idea?

Samantha

Samantha - I have a system like that - the fish tanks are above, grow beds inbetween - the cascade works wonderfully. Took a bit of fiddling but it really is working well.

Hi Peter

Your system looks great. Love the kidney shape beds..
When your SP's go in your growth will take off..
Plant seeds in the bare gravel areas and "Go for Green"

LB

[quote="CRTreeDude
Samantha - I have a system like that - the fish tanks are above, grow beds inbetween - the cascade works wonderfully. Took a bit of fiddling but it really is working well.[/quote]

TreeDude ... is your system set in the ground or on top of it?

I'm thinking now ... the fronts of the fish and gravel beds could be exposed so the water can come out and the sump sunk completely.

Well it will be a while before I get around to this so I have plenty of time to think about it.

CRTreeDude
I would love to see some pics of your cascade system.

CRTreeDude System

Here is the pages with the current pictures. I am not sure how well it shows the cascade - row 1 goes to row 3 - it works very well.

It is above ground - we have no need to be below ground on anything. We have the same temperature all year.

LOL! That's one gigantic system.
I was imaging something neat, asthetically pleasing for my system.
A practical garden ornament.

CRT (and others),
there is a small "paper" icon at the top of each post withthe word "Posted:" next to it.

If you click on that, then paste the address link, it will bring up the relevant post, instead of the whole page, like this:
CRT Spot-on cascading system