Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Question for all you WA people.

How easy is it to grow trout all year round in WA?

I imagine that its not in a single IBC system but what about bigger systems with a higher thermal mass?

Assuming that you could grow trout all year round in WA in a "big" system how big is big and how far north could you go before it just wouldn't work without active cooling?

That's a question for Troutman but I would guess you wouldn't go to far north without cooling.

mostly you want to be down south - where summers are a bit milder (but still get hot).
Traditionally Manjimup-Pemberton-Albany-Mt Barker etc
but you could come up as high as Bunbury-Collie.

(original Govt. hatchery was/is at Pemberton)

Not sure whether PLJ keeps them all year round but he's N of perth. Curiously (or perhaps not) some of the inland areas may have really hot days but the nights are f'inng freezing.

Any reason on wanting to keep them going over the full year or more? They should really grow to plate size or larger within the Autumn to Summer period.I actually thought WA ppl might be able to run trout between say April to November/Dec and then do Barra during the warmer months?

I thought someone mentioned to me that's what some of the WA ppl are doing at least....

Doing aquaponics or re-circ aquaculture you would have to chill the water if you want to run moderate to high stocking levels, even the govt hatchery in Pemberton which takes its water from Lefroy Brook runs the water thru coolers before going into the tanks. At my place I have two systems, one is re-circ systems in a shed where I have chillers to keep the temp down the other is by taking water from the bottom of a deep dam and running it thru the tanks.

Hi Troutman,

when taking water from the bottom of the dam do you run it through a heat exchanger in the FT or do you use the water directly? Do you use a thermostat or operate it manually?

Pete.

Direct from the dam. Dam is 6m deep and I can adjust intake depending on where the thermocline is. Its a flow thru system in that tanks are below the dam and water flows through the tanks by gravity then thru a swampland and then into another dam from where a solar pump pumps it back up to the top dam.

Do you take water from that source to provide nutes for your AP or only breed fish with it.

Pete.

Only raise fish in that system