Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What do people thing about putting say 10 250g fish in a blue barrel? (upright with the lid cut off)

water quality (ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,O2) is not an issue as it will be a flow through system from and back to an established AP system.

10 X 1/2kg fish per 100 litres seems to be the go, steve.

I would do it

cool, will be an easy way for the old man to get reddies in his system i'll post some updated pics soon.

forum doesnt like ascii pictures and spaces

Hi steve
Sounds like the perfect way to expand an existing system and ideal for seperating different sizes/species of fish. A line of linked barrels would also work quite well for a modular fishtank in long narrow spaces, ie; down the side of a house, where ibc`s wont fit.
Quite cheap too, one fishtank barrel and two half barrel growbeds for each expansion..about £12 plus the plumbing

was worried about the physical lack of space in a vertical barrel, but that probably just a human view point

What just because the fish will have a curve kinda like a banana from swimming in tight circles?

i guess its all relative to the length of the fish, if they are under 12" long they`ll have plenty of room to turn in a 2ft diameter barrel.
The good thing about a barrel is they can`t run into the corners, bump,swim,bump,swim

I use a small wheelie bin and the goldfish love it. I've got 6 olive drums and was thinking of linking them with no hole siphons. Then have a pump in the end barrel. PVC down to the bottom to keep any solids moving.

I dunno.... I have reservations about putting a fish into a container where it doesn't have space to swim more than 1 body length.

5kg of fish in 100L is pushing it... I've not seen any systems with those levels in it..

The olive drums I've got are 200L and was thinking more for smaller fish . The blue drums could be laid down with a small hatch in the top. Give them 180L and more side to side length.

I always find it is really difficult to see the fish in a blue drum on it's side with the hatch.

yeh, not keen on the "one the side" drum, and you cant fill it as much due to the hatch.

Litres is not an issue for water quality because it is flow through, but i definatly am thinking about the quality of life thing.

muzza is a big cod in the 4 foot tank, but he has 4x tank to body length. am happy with that.

might only be a short term storage anyway.

go buy another of ebs fish tanks

LOL, dont you want me to lead a happily married life?

its for dad anyway, i probably WILL

With a lot of problems with keeping smaller fish over winter. Has anyone tried to keep a fingerling tank inside. A barrel in the corner. Drip water feed with the run off going outside to the FT. Or to the GB's as a drip system. Running the water through the GB's must cool down the water but just to keep the fish going over the colder months. Even in the shed with a small aquarium heater.