Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone

Decided to join this site after I met member Emir last week. He metioned aquapoincs (which I had never heard of) but once I got the general idea, I was hooked.

I have been jumping on here as much as I can in an efoort to try and learn what I need to set up my first system. There seems to be a huge amount of info to go through, so if anyone out there has some basics and or pointer they can provide that would be much appreciated.

After looking at some of the pics here and the great results peope are having I only wish I new about the concept sooner !

Anyway, hope to learn a bit as I shae my efforts with you all.

Cheers
Username: (yep it was really late when I registered and couldnt think of a name to use )

You're lucky... because "username_taken" ... is taken....

Whereabouts in NSW are you??

Hi and Welcome!!!!!!!! Sounds like you are probably already quite prepared to catch this particular addiction. You are in the right place for it

I will suggest you read the top sections with the Basic Info, FAQ, and Useful Info most thoroughly as they can help answer some of the most common questions and hopefully get you started in the right direction. The rest of the forum would be a little too overwhelming to really read everything. Then you might pick a couple of the big long system threads from Member systems and read though them from start to finish (will take several sittings I'm sure for the long ones) so you can catch on to time frames (learn patients) perhaps learn from their mistakes or what they wish they did different. Experience some of their panic moments, everyone gets a HSM at some point in time. If you can find a member system in a similar climate to you or of a similar design to what you think you want, it can help you even more. And of course, if you happen to live close to other members, you could maybe even get a look at real systems in operation for more ideas (better yet, perhaps you can get some seasoned water/gravel or gunk to start your system when you are ready for that.)

And go ahead and start your own system thread over in Member Systems even if you don't know what you want to do yet. We love pictures. Go ahead and tell us what space you have to work with and perhaps what found materials you have. What size are you thinking? What kind of fish? Particular climate and taste in veggies? Often you can get useful input or ideas which could save you money or aggravation in the future.

And then you can do some searching to see if you can find the answers to your questions but if that fails you, just ask! This is a busy forum and questions rarely go long without some input. Especially if the question has to do with fish emergencies, people are quick to try and help. Just get a test kit and learn how to use it so you can answer the automatic questions about water quality.

Good Luck and welcome!!!!!!! It is soooooooo great to eat meals harvested completely from the yard!

welcome Username:

Thanks for the comments everyone.

To fill in some blanks I live in Murrumbateman NSW and have 2 or 3 acres to use if I want (we live on 4). Obviously I want to start with a setup to feed the family, but would love to be successful enough one day to manage a commercial setup to supply the local area.

Am open to idea on veggies and the usual salad ingredients would be a good start (lettuce tomato, cucumber, capsicum etc), fish wise Im not sure what is available here but could probably catch redfin to use, if I could find trout I would love that, or maybe yellowbelly or silver perch? Again really open to ideas and what might work best in this area.

Trout are a no brainer for your area... through winter....

How hot... and for how long... do you get spring=>autumn???

welcome username

if you have a avg, min and max tempreture for your area over a year then this will give you an idea as to which fish you can keep without doing something like heating your fish tank water insulating or burying the tank

so many choices and the more information you get the more ideas you come up with

good luck and welcome to the mad house

Looking at those figures... you'd go close to doing trout all year round I reckon...

I would love trout but I reckon it might be too hot in summer, yellowbelly, cod or silver perch might be more suitable ?!?

Golden perch and Cod like to eat live food or each other. Do take to pellets if they have no choice. So be prepared to lose a few. Silvers are the only ones I've grown and they do great. Catfish is another one that I wish I had started with as they are fun to keep and good eating aparently.

Yeah silver perch certainly seem a popular choice.

By the way thanks to RupertofOz for all that info on temps As trout are my favourite fish if I can get some I guess there is no harm in trying, if it doesnt work or I lose them, it will be a lesson learned and I can try something else. But like I said earlier, I guess it will mainly come down to what I can get my hands on.

Has anyone here used trout?

Is there anyone from the Canberra/Goulburn region a member? Love to see a set up in the flesh.

Thanks again for all the advice guys, Im itching to learn enough to get something up and running

all depends on water body(mass) the smaller the water body the more variation in temps
Larger are more stable so rapid increases are averted..
Your temps look great I have had trout go through the summer,
though with a bit of help for a few weeks.
More depth will help heaps

"Uncle Yarra" is out at Sutton, "Jim Atkinson" has a set-up at Burra and "Gemmel" is in Rivett....

Gemmel is getting some trout, either this weekend (if he got his new system together ) or next week...

PM Gemmel...

Thanks again Rupert