Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone

Firstly I'd like to say thankyou to everyone who contributes to this great forum. I have been enjoying reading it for the past 7 months and thought it was time to become a member.
My husband and I purchased our first kit in October (one of Murray's, through a local agent). Hubby has since built 2 systems of his own using ibc's. All 3 systems are in our igloo/hothouse. All was going well until my dearest decided to kill some ants using an insecticide called Lebaycid, (active ingredient fenthion). He thought he had been very careful diluting it and pouring a small amount around the post the ants were nesting on. However the chemical vaporised and got into one of the systems, killing our cod in the fishtank and some catfish that were in the sump. We believe that the water falling into the sump tank sucked in the vapour just like a waterfall sucks in air from around it. Luckily it didn't affect the silver perch in our kit, which is a bit further away from the post. And we were very lucky that our 3rd system was not operating at the time as we were waiting for a pump to arrive. At the time it had goldfish in the sump tanks and 1 catfish in the FT, which are all still going strong!
Hubby was feeling very sad & sorry after this and has learn't a big lesson: you have to be very careful what you use in AP. No harmful chemicals!
We are now making plans to build some systems in an outdoor area under a covered roof. This area will also include a BYAP kit we intend to purchase once the area is ready. This could take a while though as we have to make some changes to the existing roof & clear the site which is currently used for other purposes. I will keep you all informed of our progress and will post some photos if I can ever find out how to!

Cheers
T
Happy New Year To All

WOW you guys are into this with all 4 feet huh???? 2 kits and several home made systems.

Welcome!!!!!!

thanks TCLynx
we have been selling ornamental fish for many many years and hubby has just survived a battle with cancer (still has to have regular tests for at least 4 years); so we are now doing the things we have dreamed about, rather than putting them off till later.
cheers
T

welcome tristrin...

see you have the bug big time!!

congrats to your hubby.. good news!! hope all continues well for you both..

ps..... we LOVE photos.....

Hi Tristrin.. Keep in mind that it could have been a number of reasons why the fish died, it may not have been the poison.. Though better to do a complete water change anyway just in case.

Good to see you here....

Hi Tristrin
You guys aren't far from us, just over the border. Hopefully our kit should be here in a couple of weeks. Would love to see your systems going. Jeepers it's hot today 45 in the shade.

Ok, i am trying to add some pics, so hope this works.
We did do a complete water change and i'm positive it was the poison, they were gasping at the top the following day. Have a relative who is a Pest Controller, he said the poison used is extremely toxic to fish.

Welcome Tristrin... you certainly have things going... be nice to see a BYAP kit in there... just to see how things perform comparitively...

Although I'm sure most reputable kit manufacturers have based their products on sound aquaponic principles... it will be interesting to see how a Chift Pist (CHOP) system goes alongside a more traditional timer/standpipe system...

Thankyou for the welcome and positive comments

My daughter showed me how to add the photos, but then immediatly pestured me to use the computer, so i didnt check what i had written before submitting it. "Hubbies" should be "Hubby's".... I definitly only have one of them!!!

I can't wait to get a BYAP kit, Rupert; have been checking them out on websites, YouTube and the BYAP magazines. We have quite a bit of work to do first though. We want to set it up outdoors under a covered roof so that we have a wider choice of plants to grow all year round. The igloo gets very hot in summer. Our strawberries suffered during 2 weeks of temps around 40, but are looking OK now. Tomatoes & capsicum are growing extremely well.

Hi Tristan and welcome, how have the people in your area been effected by the almond growing and collapse of Great Southern? I have heard it has caused some problems up your way.

Looking very good Tristrin
keep the photos coming.

Regards
matt

Timbercorp was the main concern up our way; initially caused some worry, but it has all settled down due to the sale of assets to other parties.

That's good to hear and sorry I got your name wrong, Tristrin

Well today we enjoyed a BBQ lunch of silver perch & salad from our AP system, although the fish were only 'entree' size!

After reading many posts on this forum I decided to harvest 10 perch as I felt our stocking density was a bit high; 100 in a 1000Lt tank, but its not a constant height system so most of the time the fish are in much less than that. The fish were looking a bit legarthic a few days ago and pH was down to 6, (could have been lower as test kit only goes to 6), also they were flashing a lot. so i added some salt, but didnt want to over do it as i have also read that salt can affect strawberries and they are finally doing well. Also managed to get the pH back to about 6.5 using Bicarb soda, but have also read that calcium carbonate is better, so will have to get some. Have added some shell grit to the GBs so that should help eventually. pH hasnt been a problem in our other 2 systems (7 to 7.3), but they also have a lot less fish.

Any recomendations on the amount of fish we should stock would be appreciated, keeping in mind we have only had the system going for just over 2 months.

Depends entirely on how much filtration capacity you have... how many growbeds do you have... and what size...