Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

Been watching forum for a while and gained many great insights into the addictive world of Aquaponics. Finally got my act together and got a small system going. Funnily enough it happened to coincide with my kids holiday project of raising some tadpoles, so why not put the two together?

I Built this thing over 12 months ago but never got it going till now. Wasn't happy with where I had it, and I knew that it wasn't going to move for a while. Found a spot over the holiday's part shade, part sun and easy to watch on the verandah!

I know some people have a crazy time trying to get their systems cycled, but within three weeks I had the first positive tests for nitrites and nitrates. The system is now fully cycled five weeks later and I need to add more fish cause the plants have sucked up all the nutrients. All in all, it has been a very rewarding experience seeing the explosive amount of growth in the plants.

I know how much you guys love PHOTOS, so here goes!

Great thread starter And a great first post Welcome to the forum.

I won't bore you with photos of test results unless you're really desperate. Had huge nitrite and nitrate spikes, salted the water to protect the one lonely goldfish, and then over the last weekend the whole system just took off.

These are my current test results using API freshwater test kit :

PH - 7.4

Ammonia - 0

Nitrites - 0

Nitrates - 0

Diagnosis : I'm guessing I need some more fish! What do ya think?

Thanks for the share. You anywhere near Goundrey

Goundrey Wines is now West Cape Howe Wines I think!
Parents inlaw live near there. Nice spot!

I used to spend my holidays there years before it was Goundreys. It was the Mitchells farm and they were my grans best friends and my mums godparents. It was the best place to visit

I've been a lot of places around Australia, and I have to say that not much compares with where I live. Beautiful country, great climate & nice people!! Happy to raise my kids here!

Perfect!!

Everything is growing like crazy! The tomatoes have doubled in height in the last week.

The tadpoles are growing legs at the moment, so we should see some disappear over the next week!

Looks fantastic and when the frogs all hop away you have a perfectly cycled system to add some fish too

Cool system, you live in a nice area.

An excellent first system. I love it when the kids are just as excited.

If you really wanted you could add a very small amount of charlie carp to help bump your nutrients, but if you are getting good growth then i wouldnt worry about it myself. Especially with the tadpoles getting to be very frog like

Thanks for the positive comments everyone! The system has become a great talking piece when friends come around. I'm just enjoying how amazing the whole aquaponics cycle is. Things like maintaining water quality, fish and plant health make the process fun yet challenging at the same time.

My first attempt with aquaponics was a fish tank setup.
Simple parts, a clear coke bottle for the siphon cover, a tub from bunnings, half a bag of expanded clay and some goldfish from my dads pond. When the system cycled, I have to say that I have never seen a fish tank go so sparkling clean overnight like this one did. I had to call my wife in to the office to have a look. She couldn't believe her eyes! You could actually see the fish!

The only thing that survived in the long term was the tomato plant. It grew for ten months up all over the walls and out the window, giving little cherry tomatoes the whole way through.

Even my aquarium has fairly clear water. I am a bit naughty with my aquarium because i would be stretching it to move the water once an hour and it is still clearer than a lot of aquariums i have seen.