Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello Fellow AP addicts,

Here is my system. I caught the AP bug sometime the end of Sept.
2- 1000L FT
2- 500L ST
6- 300L GB
The system is inside my shop under lights with partial sunlight through overhead doors.
After numerous plumbing "mods"the system has been circulating since Oct. 29.
After a very short fishless cycling process. I've added 30 -6" Brook Trout to one tank and 30 10" Rainbows to the other . This was two weeks ago. Aside from the three suicides I had , to this day I don't know how they got under the net but they did, the rest are very healthy and feed very well .
System seems to handle them as well. Plants are struggling a little and I'm supplementing with Maxicrop plus.
I never thought feeding fish would be such a great meditation!
Anyways, here are a few pics .













Cheers
Sean

Great system. Very nice!

Great work stonefox

Cool!

Fish Pics....Who doesn't like Fish Pics ?
Not the easiest to photograph in their dark tanks.
The Rainbows are about 10 1/2 " and average 230-250 gr

That is about the size they absolutely take off and grow like crazy...at least mine did.

A little update:
I had a little out break of "Ich "about two weeks ago. I did a 3ppt salt and about a week ago kicked it to 7-8ppt. It doesn't seem to be spreading or getting worse on the ones that have it, but I'm not seeing an improvement either . They are eating fine. The plants are starting to show signs of stress from the salt .
How long should I keep it up ? Should I try and separate the infected ones and do yet an even higher salt bath in a separate tank ?
Also the larger rainbows were the ones showing the flashing that tipped me to the issue of "Ich" they seem fine now .The smaller Brook trout are the ones that really show the white specks. Most are okay as well ,but some are really covered
The water quality is very good since I installed my radial filter/settling tank.
The ph has been pretty constant at 6.8
Temps floating between 58-62 F
Another question for those raising trout. Do you find that the colder temps that they thrive in are too cold for optimum plant growth. I know my system is fairly new but they seem to be struggling .Is there a higher range in temp that I should be striving for yet still good for trout ?
Thanks Sean
Happy New Year to Y'all

Id keep the salt at that level for another week. If there is still no improvement you could try catching the badly effected ones and salt bathing them in about 12ppt for 2 hours. Keep in mind if you are going to do this the actual catching of the trout may stress them out and encourage the problem. Its a hard call. If its just a few of them and they show no improvement after a week Id probably get rid of them. The problem might be too far gone.

In relation to your plants, yep, too early for great plant growth. Be patient and keep in mind that the cold will also be holding everything back.

What are your water parameters? Amm, nitri, nitra, PH etc

Thanks for the input Charlie.

Water : Amm .25-.5 Rite .25-.50 Rate 10-20 ph 6.6-6.8

Patience... even at optimum temperatures... it takes 2-3 weeks to break the "Ich" cycle...

Patience has paid off !!

The "Ich" seems to be gone. Brookies are looking great . They are eating more than ever and very active.

Now to get the plants back on track.

Going to get another load of IBC's today. Found a bunch of clean food grade for short money.

Installed a radial filter to drop out some of the solids.
Boy the trout are messy ,are all fish so?



I mineralize the "goup" pour the gray water back into the media beds and the dried sluge goes to the worm farm.





I have about 1/3 of the trouts diet coming from the worms at this point.
I need to take a video of the "brookies" jumping 4 '' in the air to take worms from my hand. I'm not quick enough to catch it with the camera.


I'm thinking of take my show on the road
I have gotten the salt back down to 3-4ppt and hope the plants feel better about it.
Chard seemed to handle the high salt ("Ich eradication 10ppt for three and 1/2 weeks )

Basil didn't like the salt





And the Kale seedlings are coming along as well.



I also am building this propagation "thingakabob".
Need to wire and plumb it still.