Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks guys.

Gives me a few ideas to try.

I was wandering past my beds today and realized that I had not ordered the the last grow bed (The last of 6) Now was a great time as BYAP were having their once a year EOFYS sale. I had already got the Hydroton a couple of week ago and now just needed a growbed. so on the mobile to BYAP to order. Oops I had called after knock off . Thanks Sue I know it was Beer O'Clock when you took my call but I appreciated it . Great deal on the bed with EOFYS and with the coming price rise made for an even better deal

Tomorrow I'm off to pick up a 3000l tank from MDP who had a great looking system for sale a week ago . The tank is blue so will fit my system well . I will have to wait until January to plumb it in 'cos the trout are in the tank where the new one will go . With the new tank I will have 7000l of water and 4000l of growbed volume
Anyhow with the new tank and grow bed I think my expansion is complete, well I might add 4 more blue barrels but they don't count really.

oh and maybe some NFT channels if I can sneak them past the war office

Yeah right !!!

The expansion sounds great, but I doubt it will stop there.

I need to get started on mine also

Youve lost the plot Marc

I love it!

He sure has. Nice work, don't stop:grin:

Thanks Nat. What can I say I love my blue barrels.
I spent yesterday pulling the tommy out as it was too cold for the fruit to ripen. OMG the roots were everywhere especially under the distribution pipes. The toms will be in blue barrels next season to make it easier to clean out.
The tommy was still growing well, flowering and putting out new growth, it was just too cold to ripen the fruit before it rotted. The capsicums are still fruiting but they are a bit more protected in the greenhouse.
The tommy was full of whitefly so getting rid of it was good to reduce the numbers of this pest before summer.
The trout are not growing as well as last year as i cant get the feed into them. I leave for work in the dark (5:30) and get home when it is dark (7pm) most days. Trout dont like feeding when it is dark unless they are very hungry. So they would only be getting about 500 gms per week.

To get more eggs in the wintertime in my henhouse, the lights come on at dusk and go out at dawn. Would that be a possible solution for your trout? Even just a simple timer coming on before dark and going off around 9PM or so?

Thanks Mr Bill I will give that a go but only have the lights on during feeding.
Last year I had the lights on longer and they attracted every moth within cooee of my place. Then when it got light the moths went yippee at all the green material and I had a massive pest problem. After that I had not thought about it again until you suggested timers.
I might try one of those LED pond lights as the trout splash water like a bunch of kids in a paddling pool. Off to the big B and see if they have anything.

As I have to feed myself tonight I decided to have a dip in the trout tank and see what was in there. Came out with reasonable trout for July that is dinner for one tonight. Just shy of 300mm and 300gms.





It's about time I got the 7 mm pellets into them as the white flesh doesn't seem quite right for a trout.

I have to admit I looked at mine today and wondered if it was time to do the first scoop and fry.

Nice one Marc

Hey Marc, First fish for the season hey .........look out.

Can't say I've tried the Skrettings pellets yet, maybe its time I tried them. It would be nice to get the nice rich pink fillets.

Muzza

It was great, I smoked it and ate it, even I can cook that!

If you go with the Skretting use the 7mm as I understand they are the ones with the additive (Beta-carotene) that will give the pink flesh.

with the warm weather we have been having the water temps are up to 15 and the trout are smashing the food.

Hey Marcy marc!!!


Hows it all going old man? What you been up to?

Hey ya Charlie
Been working and working and...
Not much time for posting or aquaponics. Fish get fed once a day, so no 1.5kg trout for me this year. Vegies are booming and Marc is working.

what I love about aquaponics is you can neglect the vegies for a bit and they still grow and produce well and no weeds taking over.

I'll try and get some pictures of the vegies this weekend.

Just seen the Ginger posts and I'm now wanting to put some more barrels in for Ginger and tumeric. Barrels and growbeds are an awesome combination. I love my blue barrels.

Speaking of which, does anyone know what size drain hole to use in barrels? If the standard BYAP standpipe is used then the water is returned to the tank at the same rate as the grow bed yet a barrel is only one sixth the size. I have made the holes smaller and use only 1 but they still take a lot longer to fill than a growbed. If the hole is too small then the likelihood of it blocking is increased. Any thoughts on how to solve this?