Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hey all,

well even though i've no where near completed my 1st system, i'm well on my way on my second system. this system will comprise of 8 tanks on a parallel circuit draining to a sump tank. growbeds will be placed bellow the height of the below the height of the tank and 2 pumps used in the sump. 1 to pump up to the tanks and the other to pump to the growbeds. i'm not sure how this will work but i will make it happen.

here's a pic of early progress.

i have a lot of gravel washing ahead of me. that expanded clay looks ever so tempting. the wife would kill me.

You'll feed a few people with a system that size, do you plan to open a restaurant? Or having friends on a permanent basis? i suppose your wife would kill you too for that.
With all the APers in Perth can't you organise to buy a truck load of expanded clay?
Have fun!

Nice lookin buckets BF , where' you grab those from ?

picked them up over a year ago from a hobby goldfish breeder who was selling the land and had to get rid of them. over the passed year i have put more work into them then i care to imagine. these tanks are older then me and needed a lot of restoration. if i could go back i'm not sure i would have taken on the responsibility. i stretched my body and my marriage to the limit with them. thankfully my wife has stuck with me through the insanity. if she left me all i would have left is a shit load of buckets. they have become a part of me though and feel they will pay me back. anyhow enough ranting.

4 tanks will be dedication to feed production. i will breed goldfish and use them as feeder fish. the other 4 tanks will be dedication to trout in winter and barra in summer. in my main system i will growing silver perch and grading them into sizes.

tank 1: <100mm
tank 2: 100mm-200mm
tank 3: 200mm-300mm
ect...

as they hit 300mm they will be placed in a swimming pool that just became available. the swimming pool will be converted into a ap purging system.
no feed will be used but the pool will be fertilized will worm castings a couple month prior to stimulate natural feed production.

i have a suspicion fish fed on natural feed will have a superior taste at harvest. i feel there is quite possibly a link between zooplankton and essential fatty acid production. in a pond the muddy taste would spoil it. hopefully the bio-filters will take care of this in the pool. it is likely the anaerobic bacteria causes the muddy taste. hopefully the taste will be more like that deep sea fish taste rather then earthy. this is all speculation though.

eventually i will use stock the silvers in dams and hopefully pull of some natural breeds. i will also grow them out and supply restaurant's in the south west of australia. hopefully i can sell enough to pay the interest on the loan for the land.

i'm keen to get out of the city asap. this is all part of the process. i'm keen to take this beyond a hobby but only when i have enough fish to sell to make it worth while. i'm happy to be a hobby grower until that time comes. ap is a long term investment.

The fatty acid are produced by phytoplankton that are eaten by zooplankton and then by the fish. Spirulina is full of it per example.
They have found that worms give a better taste to fish, they are going to do a commercial "good taste" commercial fish food for feeding the fish prior to killing.
The bad taste comes from a "flavobacter" bacteria specie living in mud, it seems to get into the guts of the fish and give the bad taste from there. Not sure of that, been a while since my studies.

BF,
THat is an achievable goal, and if you can get the AP Organic certification you should be able to charge appropriate prices for the veges and fish products.

Keep up the good work and take the incremental steps tomake your dream a reality.

Best wishes
Tony
(see you Friday)

so could my suspicions be true? i have read a bit on it but not much.

i think the advantage that ap has of conventional aquaculture is that polycultures of algae species can be maintained. if i'm not mistaken enrichment of zooplankton in aquaculture is done with a single algae culture. this appears to be a somewhat limited approach to enrichment.

i would like a link if you have one to the worm based feed. sounds interesting. i imagine the worms themselves are purged prior to use?

i have made a few contacts to make this more then a dream. just a matter of time.

progress.

well i just finished plumbing up 4 of the 8 tanks.

made a big mistake and cut the hole in the tanks to small for a 50mm pipe and to big for a 40mm pipe. so i improvised as best i could and basically cut sections out of the pipe to make the 50mm more like 46mm.

i used a 53mm hole saw to cut the hole. i assumed the 50mm would fit in nicely. what i learned is that the hole saw size does not match the pipe size. looking back i should have tested after 1 hole. i is a silly bugger though.

things took a lot longer but the system should be ok.

thats what this is about though. learning. hopefully i prevent someone from making the same mistake i did.

anyhow here are some pics.

heres a pic of my improvisational skills.

there are holes cut at the bottom of the outer stand pipes for good water turnover in the tanks. ie water leaves the tank through the holes in the bottom of the outer stand pipe.

Good to see you using those tanks BF, I can remember a conversation we had about a year ago concerning those how many do you have left?

a year ago eh. what a long year it was to get to this point. still so much to do. an even longer year ahead. my aim is to get both of my systems up within 3 months before our baby is due. i'll be pushing it but its possible. so much gravel to wash. sigh.

you have a pm.