Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm 60 kilometres south of Hobart in Australia's southernmost council (Huonvalley). We are setting up a Permaculture farm and aquaponics is in the planning stages. I'd love to hear from people in cold areas. My main concern are the winter temperatures. We hardly get frost or snow, but many days over long periods with minimum temps of 2-5 C and max of around 10 t. Which fish will do well in such temps, and what can be grown in the beds? I might have to consider a solar greenhouse, passive heatstorage with concrete block backwall, etc. Is anybody already operating in similiar conditions?

keep this up and you'll be a legend yesterday
its okay - just my warped sense of humour, welcome again

Welcome!

Id use goldfish to get your system up and running. after the first two or three months, (cycling can take MUCH longer in cold temps) you can move over to trout! I think they require <5C for them to breed, so it sounds like they're the go!

Wait till you're sure about your systems stability though, as i believe that they require very good water conditions.

What do others think?

Steve

Hi..
correct steve.
4 - 21 - And mine did survive a few peasoup'ers.
they were rainbows 40mm to plate in 6 months

What fish grow locally?

Tasmanian devil

Trout are definately the fish to grow in Tassie. You should be able to buy some Rainbow fingerlings (in the spring) or yealings (in the autumn) from the govt hatchery in Plenty. There are also a few private hatcheries that sell them out that way too. Rainbows are the go as they grow much faster than the Brown Trout and are also more readily available. They can handle water temps from frozen (on the surface) through to about 24 degrees so they should suit you perfectly. From my experience in farming Trout and Silver Perch in an aquaculture environment suprisingly its the trout that have proven to be the hardier ones. The main problem people in the mainland have with them is that they cant keep the water temps below 25 degrees in the summer. Silver Perch can handle temps up to 37 degrees so I guess thats why more people grow them. I doubt that you would be able to get any of the east coast natives in Tas anyway knowing how strict your fisheries dept is.

Thanks for the info trout man..................i didn't relise that rainbows could go to 24C

F&F, which sort of trout could you pic up from that hatchery?

Steve I was thinking that with depth, 1 temp reading, it is not always reflective of water temp...

..eg if the water temp av is 24 and the depth of water is 1200mm then the temp at the bottom could be 19 in places, assuming stratering...and remain aerated.
..as mentioned before about the ground soil temp, which is around 15c-- to achieve ground temp a depth of 1200mm into natural ground is required..

TM- I had floating fish at 22c without bubbler and happiest at 14-18c.
and best growth.
C1

Cool, will take both set of data.

O2 demad increses dramatically with higher temps................

Hi steve arranged to meet them there when we got there they had been and gone home so missed out so picked up 30 more silvers today how are yours going [called at a hydro shop in ringwood and got a recalibrated ph meter with no battery cover for $10.00 WILL PUT A PIECE OF CARDBOARD AND A RUBBER BAND wops hit wrong button]

Can't go wrong for $10!

About 3 of the large silvers died............strange.

Yours?

Yes i lost three to

C1 - If your trout were dying at 22c I would have thought it would most likely be an 02 problem. Especially as being from WA you would have sourced the local Rainbow strain which has supposedly adapted to the warmer water temps somewhat and is able to handle temps up to 26c before carking it.

Mmm... localish yes. Denmark.
Oxygen issues possibly yes.