Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi folks,
I've changed things around a bit since the last time we spoke.

I now have a barra system and a trout system

Barra system

Now down to 1 500 litre tank(not 2) with 20 barra in it,off line connected by an overflow arragement is a 200 litre tank which will act as a fingerling tank come September/October,and can also be used as a hospital tank.Attached to a 1000 litre grow bed.I have 2 X 300 watt heaters in the tank,doing well but it is a bit expensive and 2 150mm air discs running 24/7.Cant take pictures ATM Storm brewing and washing in the way,will post later.

On the other side of my property I have built a 500 litre trout system,With my other 500 litre drum and another 200litre fingerling tank attached connected to about 700 litres of new grow bed.

I've just put 20 trout in with two 150mm air discs,bit of an effort to cycle at the moment see pictures of system.

Cheers.

Here are some more photos,

Cheers.

Hi everyone

Just at the moment, I'm still running ther barra over this winter,plus cycling a seperate system with 20 rainbows.I'll get another 20 100mm barra fingerlings come September/October,process my trout,rejoin the two systems to the original setup and figure out a way to connect both the grow beds to the system.
Then hopefully I'll have my timing right to run 40 barra next summer and by the time April rolls around next year I'll be able to run 40 trout in the winter and 40 barra in the following summer and so on.And rotate the fish that way.Well, thats the theory anyhow.

Cheers.

sounds great BD.

Hi Folks,

It's Freezing here now,
I managed to take some photos of the barra system I tried to pan the backyard to give some relativity,hope this is OK

One more photo,

Have moved 2x300 watt heaters from 1000 litres to 500 litresmoved to 2 air discs and added 10 more barra to a total of 20 in a 500 litre tank with 1000 litre grow bed.
Heaters working a treat About 4 or 5 C and maintaining tanks about 21-22 C not bad for cold nights.It is a bit expensive on the electricity but as a once off it's OK,
I have temporarily permanantly put the foam boxes on top to keep heat in adds 1 or 2 C.

Cheers

Nice BD, it should be freezing there now, we got iced 4 times last week nice to see the fish are close to the BBQ

Hi Nocky

Thats the trout,They are mad as meat axes,seem happy enough but not real keen on hitting their food just yet,I'm having a few issues trying to cycle at 9-10,11 and 12 tank temp but will hang in there Had the trout over 2 weeks now.I guess I have about 8 to go to get the system ramped up cycled and getting good water quality consistently.I'm learning and not doing a good job at it to be patient.

The barra are a different story,they are just a very cool fish,mine have slowed to about 280-300 mm,but it's winter and the water is a bit cold 20-22 C for them,It's going to have to be that way I'm afraid at least until we are getting warmer weather.They feed twice a day and when I put food in the water bam!snap crackle pop its hit and hit hard.They drench me if I stand to close to the tank.They are good.So for these guys a short walk across the pergola to the barbie will do just nicely at Christmas,all going well.

Cheers.

BD funny trout aren't hitting the food as they love the cold weather, mine feeding 3 times a day at the moment, I found in the beginning they wouldn't eat if I was standing near the tank so stood back and threw in food, they now they don't give a shit as long as they get food

Cheers for that Nocky,I'll try that next time.

Got an ammonia and high nitrites issue Ammonia over 1 nitrites well over1 Fish tank temp 9.3 and Ambient about 11
So not to unhappy they aren't feeding,just a bit odd I thought.

On the occasions I did feed them I put on the lid overnight left the pellets in and in the morning it was gone.
How old and roughly how long are yours? also how many do you have,sorry,thats three in a row.

Cheers.

Ammonia and Nitrite shouldn't be a huge problem with temps so low, my nitrite went to 5 last year when the water was at about 6c, I stressed for a few days and almost changed water but fish were fine so didn't even salt and all came good after about 4-5 days, if fish are flashing or looking lethargic then maybe consider some action, I have had mine for about a month but are around 125mm to 150mm, I only have 30 as I lost my April lot due to a dead yabbie or 2 tainting the water, I am going to put some Silver Perch in tank in about 2 months so kept the trout numbers down, last year I ran 50 trout and all was fine, I only had 2 500lt Grow Beds last year but now have 3 so will add around 50 Silver Perch when the time comes, I also have around 30 Marron and some large western minnows in my other tank
What size pellets are you using, if 5mm then they may be to big for the fish, I am using 3mm at the moment but about to run out and think they are at a size for 5mm ones

Cheers for that Nocky,

That's all I needed,about my nitrites,So my trout are about the same size as yours then?BTW I flicked through your system posts a while back and again just the other day,I noticed the special twin EMU standpies you were installing.Now there's an interesting thought.You have a 6000 litre fish tank,don't you?

Cheers.

Sorry,forgot to answer a question.

I am using 3mm Growbest barra pellets Nocky,I am still using them for my barra as well,intend to keep using them.The guys at the trout farm were using barra pellets as well they said they couldn't get trout feed for a few months now.How high did your ammonia go last year?You are definitely a lot colder than us over there.

Cheers.

BD I have 2 x 3000lts tanks connected by an 75mm flexi hose as I couldn't dig a sump in and I wanted one tank for edible fish and a tank for Marron and other native fish, the start of my spikes were on page 9 here viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4904&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=120 and went through to page 12 or 13, water was about 14 and went as low as 9c which is where you are, my water went down to 6c a few more pages along and had another small spike of about 3 with amm but pH was below 7 so still not a problem at low temps, you will notice if you read 9-13 it was recommended to salt and change water, I almost did the water change but salt not readily available down here so hang off whilst fish seemed ok, one dead fish that was sick after 100km transport was all I had.
The EB standpipes..............yes a few of those are emptied more than occasionally
To add to the above I think some people over react when test go up a bit and in my opinion changing things quickly does more harm than letting it happen naturally, Ammonia is more toxic in warmer water and higher pH, again in my opinion if fish and plants are happy adjust things by not feeding and let the bacteria catch up, only salt and water change if the fish are acting abnormal more deaths have been caused by try to change things quickly, again a last resort

Nocky,

A few days ago I was stressing because I had a combination of high ammonia and Nitrites were to high for to long along with the pH being 7.8-8.I'm OK now.

Your information has helped answer a couple of questions I had,so basically the ammonia doesn't affect the fish as much if the temp is low,not only that,with the temp low nitrites can be higher,which answers one other question I had.

So I am going to test daily with the ammonia results telling me if I feed or how much to feed or not.Not worry a great deal about the nitrites,but keep an eye on the fish and if they start to look crook then as you say take action.Is that what you would do?

Cheers.