Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My autosiphon test system - http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470 - has been up and running for a few weeks now but I needed to do something about the cramped living space for the yabbies and goldies that were growing my bacteria.

I found a huge second-hand tank, with 10mm thick glass, for a steal. Over 475 litres for $150. It was a bugger to relocate but my brother and I finally managed to get it into place at the side of my house, it was time to fill it up with water and cross my fingers.

While the tank filled, I set about the task of moving the growbeds off of the old bbq (which was straining under all their weight) and onto the new stand I made up with spare timber and limestone blocks. They weren't much fun to move either, let me tell you, but I finally had all the heavy work done and it was time to get the plumbing sorted. A quick glance at the tank showed no signs of leakage, good...

I decided to add a 140L tub for growing aquarium plants. I find that the yabbies tend to get stuck into them just as much as the goldies did, if they grow well in the tub I will move more of the pots in there.

Plumbing finished, and siphons hooked up and it was time to test, I ended up spending another hour getting the siphons kicking in at the right level, but all in all, the system came together pretty easily. Some pics are below, looks much better now and much less obtrusive.





I set up their home with lots of hidey holes and stuff, and a large structure that they love playing "King of the Hill" on. In case you're wondering, the goldies also have new digs in a standard 4' tank that I have inside ( I just have to figure out how to set it up as aqua now )

Sensational tank simmo. Best thing I can see about it for this application is plenty of surface area, it's not tall and narrowlike most larger tanks. Nice pickup.

wow, and you can watch them from inside the house too!

Perfect home by the looks of it, is the new tank glass with a plastic rim on top?

wow, great find!! (great price too)

Effin' A! Awesome tank! You should hook up a web cam so we can all watch them scurry about and do their things.

Nope it's all glass, there is just a fair amount of old silicone stuck to the top of it which makes it look like it could be plastic.

The dog has just noticed that there are things moving around in the tank, he sat himself down in front of the window last night fascinated by the yabbies moving around... I might get a blue light to put on top of the tank so we can see them better at night.

What a great find that tank was. Your system looks sweet too all those siphons etc tucked out of the way.

go simmo

Cheers, yes it's much better having it out of the way against the wall, the plastic tubs look a bit naff but I'm going to take a leaf out of your book AM and plant tomatoes around the front edge and just let them hang over the edge, and plant climbers at the back.

System is ready for plants now, checked levels today:

pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - almost 15

With the onset of the warmer weather there have been quite a few mosquito larvae in the tank, I've fished them all out and fed them to the goldies, but I'd like to have something do the work for me.

Can anyone suggest a suitable fish to live in the tank with the yabbies? Is there such a thing?

Goldies are out, unless you are willing to keep restocking them, and I'm not. It would only be a matter of time until the yabbies got to them in their sleep - I don't think that being eaten alive would be a great way to go. Anything larger than goldies would probably eat the yabbies as I remember reading in EB's book.

Thoughts...?

OK, long time between updates on my system threads, so here goes...

I have 15 pygmy perch in the tank now with the yabbies; which are small, fast moving native fish that I introduced for mosquito control. They have been in there for a couple of weeks and have been doing their job well, no mozzie larvae to be seen and they have managed to keep out of the way of the yabbies, all 15 remain alive and intact to this date. I'm sure that Minnows (western, white cloud etc) would also be well suited for this task, as would any other small, fast moving and predominantly surface dwelling fish.

I also made a cool discovery yesterday, I have berried females!!! Yay!
I expect to see a lot of baby Yabbies (much like the pics EB posted) in the coming weeks.

I cleaned the glass on the weekend, just the side adjacent to the family room window, and yesterday while I was showing my friend's son the yabbies I noticed that a couple of them were walking around with their tails curled up. Apon closer inspection I managed to find 3 of them that were definitely berried, and there could well be more as I have a lot of hides that are impossible to see into. I'm going to try to get a pic of them for you but it might be difficult, I don't want to disturb them too much or stress them out, as it can cause them to drop their eggs.

I want yabbies!!! Our crayfish only get to be about 150mm, although we do eat them.

dont you call them crawfish or something like that?

that is joy s77