Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've just setup my first system WOO HOO !

It consists of 1 x 1000L tank and 1 x 500L growbed .. plus 8 goldies. Hopefully will be getting some trout from Troutman in a few weeks. I am hoping to expand the system later on .. once I can convince hubby let me take over the backyard with more tanks.



You'll recognise the tank & growbeds ..

It's a good start so far, Joel gave me a watercress cutting when I visited the shop the other day. I split the cutting with my Mum. Her's has died, and her first comment was "But YOU are the one who usually kills things". Just great. She thinks it is another one of my hairbrained ideas. My plant is still alive by the way.

Learnt a couple of good lessons the other day;
1) Don't leave bottles of Seasol next to your tank when you have small chillden
2) Goldies can tolerate an awful lot of seasol in their tank.

The system is now planted up and ready to roll.

I like the cage

welcome to the madness Whitedog

Hi WhiteDog welcome aboard ... tell you're mum she's the one barking up the wrong tree...

A hairbrained idea it might seem.... but it works.... you'll have her converted by Xmas, no worries

Christmas? Shame on you Rupert you bloody pessimist!

Whitedog, best of luck with it all, watercress is great on salads, sangas, in strfries and on pizzas and in pasta sauce, basically addiit to anything you cook lol, and high in vitamin C too

Glad you replaced the GB stand BTW

Welcome WhiteDog. Great looking system with plenty of potential. I'm sure your system will blend well with the rest of your garden and then you can SLOWLY introduce more tanks. I call it "Steulth AP" and it seems to work with my wife. Put your first system close to the house and then sneak in new components behind it in the dead of night.

are you a busso native white dog? brother and sister inlaws live there.........been trying to convince them to go the 'traditional' bed system........he's fixed on NTF...................u up for a visit once you're setup?

Another one Taking over the world, a town at a time How may trout? What size pump?

Looks like you have plenty of room for more mwuhahhaha

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Har har, Rupertof Oz ...woof !

Stealth AP .. I like it

I have two pumps, 1 x 1000L/hr pump. It takes between 15-30 mins to flood. The second 1000L/hr pump is setup to add some water flow for the trout.

Ahhh... how many trout. That's the big question. Probably 30-40 littlies. I'd rather not kill too many before the system settles. How many trout would a 1000L tank be able to support ? (assuming you ate them as they grow bigger)

I could get lots of fish and then say to hubby we really need another grow bed now to support all the fish heh heh

Steve, your brother & sister-in-law are welcome to come & visit. I can convert them to f&d Hubby is a Busselton native, I am imported (Perth). Been living here a while now, just love it.

30-40 fingerlings would be fine Whitedog... but remember, trout grow fast...

You'd need to bring another growbed online within a couple of months.... that would mean you'd then be running at 1:1 growbed capacity to fish tank capacity....

You'd need at least that level of filtration capacity as your trout approach edible size....

And the extra growbed will cater/balance load as you harvest and replant your crops ...

Another growbed sounds good to me

hardest thing is cycling the system in the colder weather...........dad had troubles when he started his system at the start of winter.............

get a test kit from the BYAP shop if you dont already have one................and be prepared to do water changes when you get the trout. also limit feed until you're sure that you're cycled.

Might be a good Idea to (match your waters PH to the fish source during the introduction process).
Welcome to the madddddnessss.

Well, I killed my first goldfish today, oh well, the ducks enjoyed eating it

PH matching, interesting idea.

Got my testing kit thanks, testing every few days at the mo.

Yeah I don't hold out much hope of cycling in the near future given it is almost winter. One can but try !!