Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looking good!

Roots decided this morning was a good time block one of the ST inlets to the pump which caused the tank nearest the end to over flow which intern softened the clay beneath the footings and let the GB above fill more than usual and push the footing down.
I used a porta power 10 Ton jack to lift, readjust and temporarily support one end of 2 frames while the dirt drys out.
Ironically it happened a few hours after I installed the green house roof. I'll install an over flow drain and gauze filters on the inlets.

I collected 40 RB trout 3-5" fingerlings this arvo for this system however they are in the sy3 conversion tank at a Ph of less than 6.0.
I dosed sy2 with 180 grams of Seasol.

I transferred 20 trout from sy3 by the 18th without a hitch. They seem happy with no fatalities so far. I feed them two heaped teaspoons of sinking 2.3 mm fish feed twice a day which is gobbled up in a few minutes.
The GB's are trying to spit out the last zucchinis and beans. The cooler weather plants like the broccoli are starting to take off as the extended summer gives way to much cooler nights.

When I saw that same piece of wood under the roots I thought it was a door. I thought, "wow that's a big root."

System 2 has been ticking along well.

As the weather turned colder the flying pests gave way to the mice and rats which found my seedlings tasty. I set up baits and traps and found the water trap with Peanut Butter worked the best. I also cover the bed with netting.
Over the last week I populated GB's 1 & 2 with the 80 Broccoli seedlings I grew from seed. I sprinkled B&B then lightly watered them in. The wicking beds are producing Beetroots that taste great the size of tennis balls and the onions and celery are coming along. Some of the iceberg lettuce suffered from rot so I pulled them out.

I transferred the fish this morning.

Eight of the largest into FT1 from FT2, I caught them by lowering the water level to about 5"/127 mm and using the aquarium net. I used a spare 2500 L/H to pump into the third IBC then when done pumped it back, the aerator was on the whole time.
I then caught 5 of the six trout in Sy3 using a broom and the net and moved them into FT2. I gave the tank a scrub while the pump was going and plan on going to Buxton Trout Farm on the weekend to get another 30 6"fingerlings.

My theory is that by the time the largest ones in FT1 have been harvested these 30 or so will be ready to be moved to FT1.

Wow! its nearly a year since my last post.

I didn't put as many plants in last spring as I had previously done perhaps because I was managing a diminishing fish supply and that I'd planned to purchase older fingerling in 2018.
As it turned out the heat waves culled most of the nearly dinner plate sized ones so I moved the remaining fish into Sy1.
More recently Sy2 received some Winter seedlings of broccoletti, bokchoy, cabbage and broccoli seeded directly a few weeks ago. I weened Sy2 off PF and purchased 60 3-4” trout a couple of weeks ago.

I think I’ve nailed it this time, I put all of them in the Sy2 IBC that I fitted with 4 towels hanging in the water to prevent the fingerlings from knocking themselves silly. No fatalities so far 100% success rate.
I left it like that for a couple of weeks so they got used to the size. I weened them off sinking 1.8 mm feed and onto floating 3 mm feed.

The bathtub WB produced a great crop of potato's as did the Sy2 WBs as well as butternut pumpkins, mixed salad and Kiwano Fruit. Still need to make a roof over those beds.

Very cool and I love the kids in their seats belted in too. Fine tuning our systems is very rewarding isn't it? I actually built a custom fish transport system for our second batch of trout. That was just about as much fun as a hobbyist can have as far as I'm concerned.
Your system looks like it is holding up well too. Any changes over the season?

Thanks Boss, yeah that's the most amount of passengers I've had in my new ute.

The only addition was the fabrication and installation of a stainless steel float box to control the water to the wicking beds. That addition saved lots of time and worrying if it had run out of water or not. I kept the level just below the top of the cross pipe and never had any issue with smell or lack of water wicking height.

On the maintenance side I check and clean the water inlet caps, stand pipes, dual pump inlet pipes in the ST's. every 3 months. I monitor the height of the IBC level when flowing to get an idea of any underground restriction that may occur. Other than that it's pretty easy.

Improvements to do include siding around the two systems GB's, roof over the wicking beds, tapered bottom IBC and some flooring between the beds.

looking great Pete, may I ask if the airlift on the SLO in your fishtanks creates enough vacuum to suck all the fish waste from the trout? Im wondering do I extend my SLO pipe to along the bottom over to the dirtiest corner or add another airstone- but I noticed too many air stones in the IBC distorts the water and they don't "pickup" the food till its on the bottom.

If I see food on the bottom I feed them a teaspoon less (3 instead of 4) because its inevitable to have poop there but the feed is not only costly waste but are rich nutrients breaking down to go and do the work that the poop is supposed to be doing.
Fish feeding at the surface is great to watch but you can also see their enthusiasm wane as they fill their tummies which shows you how much to feed them.
I'm not so fussed about the small amount waste in the corners on a daily basis but if I see what looks like a handful after a week or so I'll vacuum it out.
I don't have an air lift pump but an electric immersible/external inline pump that pumps the water from the ST's into the FT, which raises the level about 45 mm while pushing the lowest water to the SLO.

When thinking about fitting stuff down low at the floor be careful not to create places for the waste to hide out of current or disturbance because it can cause diseases for the fish. That's why I prefer a wide open base.

I have some issues with the waste the SLO is sending to the GBs.
The 60 trout are hungry little suckers and produce a lot of waste. I raised the slo to 1/2" off the floor which allowed more muck to get sucked up the slo but it clogs up under ground pipes and the outlets into the GBs quicker. I back flush the pipe work and catch the waste in a cloth bag in the tank but its much harder to clean the overloaded scoria in the GBs.
So I'm thinking its time to install some sort of filter after the slo - any recommendations?

Radial flow filter? Easy to build, doesn't use media, easy to clean, doesn't back up the water if cleaning is delayed, does an excellent job. It won't take out the finest floating stuff but it's good for your situation, where you just want to get the bulk of the crud out of the water.

Thanks Mel.

I've been looking online at various types of filters and their manufacture and then again at the space I have to fit such a device or two.
As I now have the feed, fish and veggy growing requirements sorted I reckon I can start pushing the system a bit harder. That will mean more waste to dispose of, recycle or reprocess for further use in the same system.