Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Couldn't get in touch with Bruce today but I did leave a message with my number so I will hopefully here back soon.

In the mean time I've had another death today and one that looks like it has a fungus growth on it.

So I've taken them all out of the system and put them in the house. The water they are in has had 3ppt of salt added and an airstone. I won't be able to put any filtration on the water they are in at least until tomorrow so I'm hopeing all goes well until then.

H.

possibly might be easier to email Bruce, I've always had replies that way

Good point, I'll try tomorrow as I tend to do all my emailing from work.

H.

On the eve of my first year as a member (inmate) of this forum (asylum), I thought it might be time for an update.

My system has been somewhat dormant over the winter months, very little growth on the plant side of things and the silvers not feeding. The little golden perch (callop) that I had didn't make it through the cold august weather, I did get them late, and I still think given a bit of a start they would be suitable for an aquaponics setup. Possibly paying a bit extra and getting some larger fish would increase their chances of making it through the winter.

The fish I have inside the house (silvers) have faired a bit better, very few losses, and then only the very small ones. These have continued to feed through the winter and will go out to the main system when the weather becomes consistently warmer. these now range from 40mm to 100mm.

I can only attribute the losses to the cold conditions as the water tests showed everything was fine.

Of the catfish I had, only three have survived. If you remember I had some issues when the weather started to get cold earlier in the year. Once these were placed inside they picked up and were fine. Again these will go outside as they make great bottom cleaners. I will see if I can get some more.

OK, what have I learnt?

Pay a little extra and get larger fish or let the smaller fish grow out a bit in a warmer environment. I think 70mm min for all at the start of the season (now).. I know there will be plenty that disagree, but I think for my environment, this is a must.
I need to introduce trout through the winter months to maintain veg growth.
I need to increase the number of vegetable verieties I grow to minimise pests.
One other possibility is to workout some way of getting the Fish tanks under cover and add heating. (will be working on this)

I am still in a position where my system has to be fairly mobile as we still intend to rebuild our house and the whole vegetable garden etc.. will need to be reworked for sun, shadows etc.

Plans for the future:

More grow beds to come on line in the next week, as well as setting up a better sump system, i.e. use one of the B buckets for a sump instead of the kidney pond. plant out as many early season veggies. monitor water and fish feeding habits (outdoor silver still a bit reluctant to feed)

thats it for now.

H.

I totally agree with your diagnosis of your fish deaths - I have lost most of my (1800km round trip) silver perch due to the cold. They were simply too small and not enough fat

+1 for me too Himzo......Even though I am down on the Adelaide plain and you are in the hills, my silvers were lost in the first of the cold weather, so it seems that they do need to be well established before the temperature drops.
I intend to try a few barra as soon as the tank temp increases, then do trout over the 2009 winter.
Another alternative is that Monya may have some bigger SP's come autumn next year.

Do the trout

Keep sp all year round once they are bigger.

Do the trout. They are great fish, fun to feed, fun to catch and fun to eat.
Should go well over an Adelaide hills winter.
My little SP's have hung in there over winter. I lost a couple just before the weather warmed up.
I don't think the rest of them had much in reserve.
However I reckon they have put on some weight in the last couple of weeks. They eat every day now!

Yep, I reckon a bigger sump is a good move.
Big Sump = Big fish

trout FTW!

Ok folks time for another update,

last weekend I did a Dale Kerrigan, "I dug a hole" .. Into this went one of the green 500Litre buckets from "B" to be used as a sump.

this weekend the stand for the new grow beds was positioned above the sump. the FT (another green bin) was placed in it's spot and leveled. Plumbing was sorted yesterday (sort of)

and ... the gravel will go in today..

I will be posting pics later. Still suffering the after effects of a migrane and am a little fuzzy this morning.

One question I have, I may need to use some silicone on a threaded section of plumbing ( if the thread tape don't work), If I need to use it how long should I leave it before adding fish. It will only be a small amount used as a thread seal if used at all. I was thinking at least 24 hours, but am not sure.. I would like to get it circulating as soon as possible to clear the water after adding the gravel, then cycling.

H.

Himzol,
Makes my sore back feel better, reading that someone else has also been digging holes.

Not sure about the silicon, never use the stuff ! (in AP)
I reckon there is always a better way.
i.e thread tape, top hat grommets, bulkhead fittings, 'O' Rings etc

Good luck with the new setup!

The tread tape is generally effective enough. I've sometimes used the thread seal that comes in a little jar instead. I don't like to use the silicone since one should let it cure for a certain amount of time before adding water and I'm never wanting to wait that long.

Depends on the product the stuff i use [sellys roof and gutter ] when i did the flanges on my latest extenson 30 min after putting it on water was running and still no leaks

Thanks folks,

didn't need to use the silicone, thread tape worked fine.

Still some cleaning up to do and some fine tuning of the syphons but it's circulating the water. Fish will probably go in next weekend.

The last photo is of my existing system and the celery still going from last year. I've cleared and replanted the other three grow beds in this system. put goldies in the pond and the silvers were moved into the green bucket/FT.

H.

Nice and neat I see another chift pist convert [ see steve everybody is doing it]