Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Aint that the truth
food crisis... nah no food crisis just everything comes from asia
Old timers stuff eh I bet they will live longer than the short sighted ppl
happy with buying their stuff from who knows where

Ppl not ready, yep your right, they will never be ready
So don't worry about them, just create a nice BYAP system
When they do visit and your garden is flushed with stuff,
you can say, 'well I told you so'

Goodness knows how many ppl have been here and said wow things are really looking great how do I do it?
I give them a card (BYAP shop) but do they do anything noooo.

Next time they are over I don't even invite them for a look see...

But when they ask, I say well if I must and say well that system looks after itself
all I do is harvest and plant.

Hi Jen.and all
Re: too weird, out of fashion or that you're an oldtimer for wanting to grow your own veggies and fruit (no offense meant to anyone here).
Thanks for that comment. I am 'old' (50's) and most will reach that age but this is not about age and in Melbourne its not about wanting to grow stuff.
In a city that extends 150k in all directions with severe water restriction (now in 11th year of drought) and me thinking about retirement in 10 years (not long) its about connection with greenery, climate change (ask a trout farmer about this if you dont believe it), and PLAIN SURVIVAL in retirement. I dont have (along with most people my age) enough super to do anything but rely on pension once I retire (if it still exists). Growing your own food is about future survival for me and probably many people about to retire including those in industrialised countries like Oz. There is a huge number of people like me out there and if they can learn to grow vegies and fish (protein) for little cost then there is a benefit to be had by many especially those on a pension. The knowledge in forums like this is immense and I for one am greatfull and thank all participants and particularly BYA for providing the forum. However I have spent 20 years as a paid predicter of the future and those things that make common sense become the future. I predict that for commonsense reasons, aquaponics will grow rapidly over the next 30 years because of all the down to earth reasons people are doing it now and mainly because they will not be able to afford not to do it in their backyards once retired. Wouldn't it be great if we could demonstrate the current interest in some way (by graph or whatever) to say to those my age (in particular), Wake up! build your sytem now and learn while your still capable, start small and maybe you dont have to rely totally on the Government pension once you retire. Sorry I ramble.
Re my own system: I have none but I have used this forum to learn. I will build a 2.4 m^3 tank made out of pallets 3-ply and pond liner for murray cod, a yabby tank and for straters a 5 * 1 * .3 m grow bed. I will post pistures as I proceed to keep everyone informed (including costs and a how I will e able to supply two people with three meals of fish per week and make money on the side.
Sorry to ramble AQUAM

Hey Aquam

ramble or not this makes more sesne to me from a nutrition point of view ... how many chemicals and spray do they use on our food that we dont even know about to make them grow faster and look better and to control god knows what pests that are caused by the use of the sprays in the first place ( removal of natural preditors sp?? )

and what does all this do for our bodies ?? i would say not to much in the way of goodness as most of the minerals are depleted from our cropping farms from over use of the above chemicals ( ahh rambling too )

i am of the opinion that the food i grow in my backyard is better for me as i dont use harmful chemicals or sprays and even the organic sprays i use sparingly and the worst spray i use is white oil on my lemon trees to stop scale and leaf curl

i also see that aquaponics is the way of the future because it is easy to do and anyone can do it and in any space

and here in this forum are all the like minded people

Most people are reluctant to new ideas and many are just now understanding how hydroponics works. Don't try to convince or teach anybody until they show interest. 'Course you can help interest them when you hand them nice big veggies grown from an ap system and they ask how you did it. Just tell them: "Well, I don't have a green thumb so I had some fish help me."

Reminds me of the first time the woman of the house had some AP basil. She asked, "Shouldn't I wash it?"

I, of course, replied, "Wash what? Did you see me put any pesticides in there?"

Had that discussion before... answer was get the possum shit off it!
I always give my veggies a quick rinse in AP water, removes any grit and stuff, plus the float chamber of one of my gbs is always full, with no gravel so it's convenient.

i lost that arguement wht a snail ( like tiny tiny ) turned up in her salad at work

and i trying to teach people is simple if they are interested aske them around for a cuppa and a look at the system

and then point them here jobs done ( until you have to make their system work for them

Ah, my system is indoors so I don't have those snails or possom shit . The price I pay is no fruiting veggies

Tamo it sounds like it is time for an idibidi artist paint brush, so you can make like a bee

I would if I could. It's more that I'm running fluorescent lights, and only have about 18" / 0.5m of vertical growing space.

Who will be the lucky member number 3000.
Just looked, and it stands at 2999 members woohoo

I've generated a lot of interest in my system- there are a lot of people who are waiting to see it in action. But as far as knowing what AP is, I always get blank or confused looks and I have to explain it- living in the heart of agricultural nirvana, you would think that someone would have heard of it!!!!

By the way, congrats- I saw a huge upswell of new members but I had no idea that it was that many.

LOL
At least most of the people I talk to have an excuse - but I too have the same problem - have to tell them what AP is from the bottom up... and what is funniest is that they are amazed that earthworms can live, submerged, in scorria - and that little 'fact' seems to pull them in even more....

LOL, yes I've seen that question many times on here. "What you mean the worms can live in the gravel that floods and drains?"

I've been spreading the word where I can. I've actually had lots of people contact me though my web site asking questions about AP. I usually try to direct them here since they will be able to get a more diverse amount of help from different people but most of them seem resistant to posting on the forum and a few keep e-mailing me for answers.