Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Nocky,

I put the mussels in the FT and the water cleared in a couple of days. Going to expand in coming months and include Yabbies or Maron (if I can get them in Victoria). Will keep them seperate and in swallow tanks to allow me to keep an eye on them.

well I have well documented my thoughts on yabbies, marron are not in Vic to my knowledge, I think Rupert was getting some sent from the Pemberton Hatchery in WA to NSW, not sure how it went, Marron would be a better choice but much slower growing, but at least you will get to eat them, unlike yabbies, they eat themselves, out of 200 I ate 6, lost 40 trout because of them and 50+ mussels and had poisoned water for over a month because of them dieing in hides

It's been a while so I thought that it was time for a few progress pictures of my system. Work has been pretty busy so I have not had time to water test but will do all that over the next few days.

A few more, hopefully over the next few weeks I will get some time to extend the system.

Water Testing over the last few days is looking good.
Yesterday
Temperature Air 14.1 Water 9.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrite less .3
Nitrate 10
PH 6

Today
Temperature Air 14.3 Water 11.2
All others same as yesterday

Fish feeding well, water clear

Hope tp add some shell grit to increase PH in next few days. Measured a couple of fish today, looking healthy. Three average size in net

You only need a couple of Yabbies, any more and expect trouble, these guys fight quite a bit over space. The river has plenty and so too will local dams, just use meat on string and reel them in with it, put a net behind to catch and grow them up to a few kilos.

A couple of the projects that I have completed over the last few months. Solar Power and Hot Water. Now I can focus on expanding the AP system and building a chook/duck pen.

Just when you think everything is going well, today I had my first fatality . Found this little guy just floating around. Not sure of cause, all others seem Ok. Appears to be of about average size to those remaining (couple of bigger ones). I also replaced my air manifold today with a new version 20mm PVC with 7 airstones connected to a 60LPM air pump. seems to be going OK. Last version air stones were only pushed in and rgey would come out every few weeks so this time I have used aquarium silicone to hold in place. Also cleaned bottom of FT as when removing old manifold found a bit of solid build up in a couple of places.
Tests today:
Temp - Air 13.2, Water 8.8
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0.3
Ph 5.0
Thinking the PH could be an issue so have added about 1kg of shell grit to sump tank. Will add more in another few days.

It has been of 3 weeks since my last update and I have made a few changes to the system. I am also now looking at ways to expand to enhance growing area when the weather warms up. From previous post PH was getting a little low & continueing to drop so I have added 15kg of medium Shell Grit to the system (sump, GB's & Fishtanks) and this seams to have ajusted the PH up to a better level. Test results for today
Temp:9.8
Nitrate: 5
Nitrite: <.3
Amonia: 0
PH: 7
I have not had anymore fish deaths (touch wood) and all are feeding well. Reluctant to catch just to measure in cse of causing undue stress.
Growth is continueing well and I have harvested some brocolli, Kale, Lettuce and snow pea's. The taste is amazing with many visitors sampling as we tour the garden all commenting on the growth, taste and overall healthy look of the plants.

The place needs a bit of a tidy and some possum protection is the next thing on the list. It would be a shame to lose the lot to a bunch of hungry little creatures one night. We have Brushy & ring tails a plenty. I have had some small loses in bed 4 (tops of the beetroot) but other than that I have been lucky

I have 8 baby blue yabbies in the tanks. Wondering weather I get some more trout fingerlings and start a second lot or try another species over summer possibly Barra, Silver Perch or even Murry Cod but need something quick growing to do over the warmer months.

Does not seem to be many stones for a 60L pump. You bleeding some air off?

Nice one... I do love your bathtubs...

Hi Privatteer,
I am currently bleeding off some air at the pump as I need to extrend the airline to the Yabbie/fingerling tanks and I am also looking at putting air stones in the ST as well. Just need the time to wire the air pump in position and run the hose.

A bit of progress over the last few days. The Trout are fun to feed with them jumping right out of the water when the feed hits the surface (they really like the new stuff, thanks Dean). I have removed my old air system (20mm pipe with air stones) and replaced it with 5 meteres of air curtain and all is well for a few days now. I also extended the airline down to the Yabby/Fingerling tanks and added some new airstones. Got some Blue Yabbies and some Tandanius to replace the ones lost a few months ago (keeping these away from the trout for a while). Now working on additional FT and GB's as well as bigger sump if I can get it all to fit.