Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

nice structure..

Looking forward to the finished product.

How long have you had your SP for??

matt.

Hi Matt
We've had the SP in since early November. Have had a few feeds of them just to thin them out. They are growing well, although not so much through the winter. Should be a good size this summer. Looking forward to some BBQ's when the weather warms up.

Maybe i could go fishing from my front steps


or maybe the nature strip


or perhaps I'll go fishing from the bridge!

or maybe i will just turn the back lawn into a lake

We had nearly 50mm of rain yesterday in about 20 minutes; and Hubby thought i was exaggerating when i rang him at work and said 'the water is rising rapidly"

and it is still raining!

OMG!

Heard you guys got hit pretty hard - was supposed to go over there tomorrow for a farm walk with the poultry club. It was cancelled as they said you were up to 85mm by lunch time today - and the farms were washed out... now I see what they were talking about! How much did you end up getting?

We received just over 70mm but have heard some had more and others nearby had much less, so it was very patchy. The biggest problem for us was that we got nearly 50mm in only about 20 minutes! It's the heaviest rain I've ever seen! We also had strong wind and hail, which has left behind fallen trees, branches and mud everywhere.

Finally some progress!
this system consists of 1 small & 1 large fish tank & an IBC sump tank (the small tank was to be the sump but that got changed). So far we have 4 growbeds made from IBC's, but have left room for 2 BYAP growbeds to be added later. The system is flood & drain on a timer, pump 15 min on & 1 hour off, but still experimenting with the times.



more photos to come

We used 20mm scoria in the bottom of the growbeds (the only size we could get at the time) & 12mm river pebbles on top. No fish in system yet.
Hubby thinks there may be a leak in the pipe work under the large tank so we will have to drain it, so still a bit of work to do yet.

Its starting to take shape for you Tristen, good work all round

Kewl....

Hi Tristrin,
Just wondering how well you find you need to wash the IBCs out? We are still having major probs with the few we left till last just getting the gunk off - think 2 were molasses, and others were tuna in oil which probably arent too bad but there are a couple that are fertiliser i think. Not sure to be honest if any of these would really be that detrimental to the fish tho?

Would appreciate your thoughts as youve been working with them for a while now

BTW love your new shed set-up - how do you find the laserlite during summer compared to plastic? Is it hotter?

thanks and sorry for all the questions...hope you had a good Xmas Cheers.

Looking good.
Those two fish tanks are the same as the ones I have in my two systems. I love them

Only just read your post..... Hubby is fairly selective in the IBC's we use and most have been used for fertilizer. He pressure washes them first, then fills them and lets them soak a couple of times, then gives them a final rinse.
Well so far this Summer we have only had 1 day above 40C and the plants were fine. It's a dryer heat under the laserlight than in our plastic covered igloo and i think the plants will do better. We have had a few problems with some plants in the igloo due to very high humidity and the rate at which pests breed in these conditions. Our igloo can get to 50C even with shadecloth over it and openings both ends. As the igloo is also used for growing plants in pots, which are watered with overhead sprays, this adds to the high humidity levels. Plants that have done well are capsicums, chillies & surprisingly spring onions & chives. Tomatoes did ok in Winter but brown off in the warmer weather and strawberries started well, but also couldn't handle the heat & humidity. We will be growing these in our latest system. Yes we had a lovely Christmas with our family

The plants are growing very well in the latest system and we added 5 catfish to the main tank last night which we caught in our dam. We are fairly certain that the catfish have been breeding in the dam and hope to catch more.

Coming along very nicely Tristin