Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

100 trout will travel no problem in an IBC for 5 hours with air pumping.. Troutman does that once a week when he delivers to Perth during trout season. I did it with over 100 x 300+gram trout, but only for 2-3 hours. You only need 200-300L of water in the bottom of the IBC too...

Thanks EB, that's reassuring. I spoke on the phone to an aquaponics business at Two Wells yesterday and was advised against trout. There isn't enough cool weather to grow them out and I guess he is right. My tank was 32 yesterday (39 air temp) and it's not at all insulated. I guess Silvers are the safe option and I can use my partition feature (as yet untried) to try some different fish once I've got some experience.

What are the sort of numbers I can expect whilst cycling my system? It's been 10 days and my NH3 has been zero for the last 4, even though I added a few teaspoons of Ammonium Sulphate back then. The NO2 and NO3 has gone 2/20 to 5/80 and my dodgy eyes thought it was closer to 5/160. So rites of the scale and rates getting there. I planted a bed of seeds but maybe some seedlings are needed. And some shadecloth. A few shoots were seen but look to have been lost to the heat. Perhaps 15 on/15 off and a faster drain rate to keep them in the water more often, though after the very top layer of gravel, the lower stones are moist.

You are probably right about the trout. My water temp (in Hallett Cove) is down to 20C and I can have about 10 months easy without worrying about the trout getting too warm. Did this other bloke try to sell you anything else? (and what price?)

Silvers. Still waiting on an e-mail with the prices, but it was Friday arvo when I rang. I'm a bit disappointed with the Trout assessment (I was looking forward to having grown fish twice a year), but it does leave me with only one direction to push my water temp, and I have a plan !

How cold can Silvers cope with and for how long? If the winter time max temp is 15-20 deg C, but we have an overnight frost, the water temp shouldn't move that fast. More of a problem with a week of low teens and no frost.

Can ya rig up a little shade for the seedlings till they get big enough to cope with the heat?

And ya just need to be patient while waiting for the Nitrite spike to pass.

What is your pH?

In a few days it will be prime planting time for root crops. On the 3rd start chucking in carrot seeds. I'm not sure what other root crops would be good for you this time of year, it's early spring here but I usually plant carrots year round whenever the moon is right.

Some more established plants might help take up some nitrates quicker. Tomatoes are greedy. I've used bananas, papayas, and bamboo for the purpose of using up excess nitrates.

what a load of bullshit about the trout. If you get them now ($60 per hundred) and feed them up well they will be plate size in time to harvest before summer. Then use goldies to keep the nutes going for the 3 months over summer, and add more trout again. No way to do 2 batches of fish in our temperate climate each year without doing barra/trout with shit loads of heating for the barra and eating them small. I sell only silvers. Silvers don't grow at all over winter... you will be looking at a 2 summer MINIMUM growout. If anyone tells you a silver perch will grow out to plate size from fingerling in 1 year tell them they are either dreaming or heating the water to 27 degrees with MUCHO filtration and possibly even oxygen.

If his water temp is still >30 dont you think its a bit warm for throwing trout fingerlings into?

My water temp is down to 21C today. It is a cooler day but most likely the extra 1500L I put in yesterday can take the credit for the drop. I'll have to monitor it over the next month to see if I can rely on it staying down. I was just thinking of mixing two breeds, Silvers and Trout, just to see, but I'd want to push the water temp in opposite directions so that wont work. I just talked to a lady from Tooperang Trout Farm and she assured me of the success others were having with trout in their systems, but again, all stories from the southland. I've never lived in Victor, but I'm sure we get hotter earlier and for longer here. I think Kalgoolie might be similar or Dubbo perhaps. It was suggested that silvers will be hardy enough to survive the temperature differences and my lack of experience, but take at least 2 summers to grow. Not a big drama, just not as much of a carrot for a beginner.

1600hrs and my water temp is 25C again. 28C ambient. I Wish I had a thermometer with a logger.

pH is 7.8

Trout it is. I'll need some shade and maybe insulate the tank as best I can. Air!!!! I'll start local, but will probably end up in town. Is there good advice and prices somewhere in the northern suburbs?
"Approx 18 liters per minute at 13 kPa for 1000 liters of fish tank" so I've read.

KE, I missed that bit

but if it stays under mid 20's it's worth a crack at getting them early IMHO. Esp ith how cold it gets in the riverland overnight during winter

I'm dreaming up a water cooler at the moment. My ideas so far might require a bigger pump, which I should have anyway, and the air pump research continues. Now that I'm in a hurry, I might just have to fork out some cash for some things instead of scrounging. Buy more wine people!! I need the coin.