Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

yep, had them lying around so thought I would add em in.

Gu Stu....

If I was to shut the tap between the 2 tanks and stock say the vat, turn on the heat in the vat, run a small cont flow system for biofilter and treat with salt as a preventative medicine, what amount of salt should I put in 1350 litres of water with say 100 small fish (back to thinking barra again- cheaper than goldies and local) and how long should I wait for the tap between the 2 tanks to be opened and the whole system kicked in? Does salt evaporate out of the water? I won't bother with plants as there won't be much nitrates for a start, and too dark in the shed. Thanks

salt will stay in the system, the only way to rid yourself of it is to do a water change. It will stay in the system despite evaporation.

right, thanks nick, so once i have dosed them up, do a water change, get rid of the temp bed and open the tap. Any ideas how much salt?

I think 100 gms per 100 litres = 1 part per thousand. I have had my pond guys up to 5 parts per thousand with no hastles (they are silver perch and jade perch). Re: the salt staying in the system, you will not have nay problems here because you will be doing some water changes early on anyway and there is no problem with leaving some salt in the system permanently anyway - say 1 part per thousand. Strangely my plants were not adversely affected by the high concentration of salt in the pond system. The kale even tasted a bit salty - must have been taking up some salt.

Go VB, the salt convert and new expert I have taught you all i can LOL

Ahhh grasshopper

Make sure to save a bit of salt for when you cook them

having salt in your water may make the fish taste better, people say barra from salt water are better than barra from freshwater (but then it could be a male/female thing as i think all barra fingerlings are male for three years and live in fresh water...)

Might be onto something there... you are right about spending their earlier years in fresh(ish) water as they only become females after a few years and would 'normally' head out to sea by that age

thanks all

Monya, where ya been mate?

Went out for dinner with a couple of mates. One an engineer into sustainable living, another working on saving the murray darling. Made for an interesting night and these boys are into aquaponics in a big way, on a community feeding basis. My mate johnny wants toi build villages of 4 - 6 houses using all recycled and sustainable methods and use aquaponics on a village/communal level, and have the tanks inside the houses for thermal mass etc. Anyway, I'm back LOL

Are into it as in already, or after you have converted them ?

I'm in the process of converting them. I showed the engineer (actually they're both engineers) the photos of Minnamurra and he goes "damn thats an awful setup, give me an hour and I'll design a node that really works", and off he went LOL