Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Aquaponics can be very simple... We sold literally thousands of systems and I would estimate somewhere upwards of 90% of people ran those systems without any problems at all. No fish kills, no dramas with plants not growing, no solids build up problems. A large percentage of those peolpe never had experience in fish or aquaponics, most never tested their systems for the first year or two, yet they grew out crops of fish and lots of veggies...

If you take a simple well designed system and operate it correctly it's basically childs play, and the less you fiddle with it, the better it works.

DIYers listening to every bit of advice from all corners, building systems they aren't quite sure of, constantly trying to adjust parameters, adding supliments, cherry picking information from all sources, always fiddling. well yes, that's more fun, and that's mainly what this forum is about. But people need to keep in mind that the snapshot of those on here with DIY systems and the many and varied issues they have with their different systems isn't the full spectrum of people doing AP.

There are plenty out there just doing it, without problems...

I agree EB, but its just there is a lot of hype out there from certain people promoting it on the grounds you can overstock fish numbers and be almost self sufficient in the amount of food you can get.
And then they wonder why their fish are dying and their GB's smell bad.

I like DIYers (yes I am cheap and a self confessed fiddler) providing they don't kill fish.

It could be true but just not in all circumstances.

I'm not happy with my water quality but the problem is not my FnD gravel bed but rather the poor FT design.

I think I'm getting really close to shutting my old system down and really looking forward to the new one. That won't have all the problems the current one does.


I think it has a lot to do with GB size. My constant flood bed does really well for the first 2-3m but then growth is pathetic compared with the start of the bed and the adjacent FnD bed. Towards the end of the CFlood it picks up but is still not brilliant. This has nothing to do with nutrient removal because the water from my CFCF bed (constant flow, constant flood) goes in to my DWC tank and the growth there is just nuts.

Good points, Stu.

All my fish poo goes to my 9 * 500l GBs, and the water in the big FT is nice and clear (after 2 years of use with no cleaning), but there is some suspended stuff floating around in the 1000l FT with the 215 trout in it. It is perfectly clear once it returns from the GBs though, and I have been manually syphoning some of the solids not picked up by the SLO into the ST.

With less than 5L each, Guna, I'm guessing these fish are just small fingerlings?

Yes, now 10-20cm fingerlings, I took a pic a few weeks ago, posted on my new system thread, but they are growing fairly quickly! They still only take up about 1/4 of the volume, so must only be using a bit over 1/4 of their allocated 4.65l

I do hope to get them into the 9.5kl tank within a few days now my poly fittings have finally arrived, but no deaths so far, and Nitrates are creeping up to 40-80ppm now. NH3 has been around 0.25ppm, and NO2 zero.

Walking the line

20cm is kind of large for that sort of density in a backyard system.

I know! Only a few are that large, and it is only a temporary home- 5 weeks so far, was hoping it would only be 3, but an order of poly fittings was lost somewhere between Albury and here, and only just arrived.

I am using used nylon rope cut into lengths of 18" and unraveled. I just layed the rope on the filter platform and it seems to work quite well. I'll clean the swirl filter and the bio-filter weekly.

New question: I use Hydroton clay pellets for my grow beds. I would like to know how I can figure my biological service area. Can you provide me with this info or can you tell me where I might find it? Thanks for all your help, Gil