Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeh I really wanted to get them through a summer. Pretty much so that I could say that I did.

I did have a question for the trout experts though- what is more important, saturation of O2 or getting water past their gills?

Because if I put the ebarra down horizontally it really gets the water swirling in the tank and the trout sit facing into the flow. So my question is a bit of fish anatomy - if there is less O2 in the water but more water going past the gills are they going to be able to cope better? Obviously having both would be great, but I've only got one pump.

The way you have it is probably acheiving both Gemmel... raising the DO... and pushing more water over the gills...

Dont know what you're complaining about... has to be at least 42 up here at the moment...

"what is more important, saturation of O2 or getting water past their gills?"

I would say getting it past their gills is more important. That way they dont have to expend energy to breathe. Trout in the wild streams use this strategy all the time.

By the looks of that pump though, you should be able to play around with it and achieve both by using the spray to create a whirlpool.

Keep plugging away though, I want to see at least some of these survive summer....they'll be monsters by december 2011 if they do!

Well, even as temps started dropping off, down through the 23s and 22s the trout continued to struggle.

The end result: I have 5 left. Water temps when I last checked are at 19 degrees, and this cooler weather is set to stay. The remaining fish are healthy lookin' once more.

Not really worth keeping the 5 or so I still have left in the 3000L tank though.... gunna have to get some more tanks as the new trout season is in March!

We hope so Gemmel... but getting fingerlings could be a real problem...

I got told that Triton had been hit by the floods before Xmas... and had lost everything... zip,zilch,nada... until this time next year....

Aw crap really? That sucks! Thanks for the heads up, I will have to find another hatchery!

I guess Ballarat is a bit far to go eh Gemmel

I cant see putting the pump sideways submerged in the tank being of as much benefit as having it spraying on the surface. The fact that you are creating a current means that the fish are actually having to consume more oxygen just to hold position. Sure they do this in rivers but the majority of the time a Trout will take up position in an eddy or behind a rock where the current is reduced, in a tank they are exposed to the full flow of what your pump is pushing out. If you want to create a bit of a current just use the spray bar from above the water line as at least that way you are increasing the available DO at the same time.

Brook trout are available to me, should I take some?

YES....(i don't know if its really a good idea or not I just wanted to see pictures of them)

Yeah, a few people have grown brown/brook trout...

I dont know how they turned out but june july ballarat got eggs from tassie and also something else
I havent been there yet

Maybe atlantic salmon

Well seeing as I am taking delivery of this years trout and I still have 7 of last years trout, I needed to add a new tank to the system.

Firstly I've added some mussels to a polystyrene box with some scoria in the bottom. This sits under the return from the growbeds.


So I managed to get my hands on a couple of free IBC's. They were rusted as buggery, the base absolutely useless, so that was pulled off. However the plastic is still good.

So I set 1 up next to my main tank, and used the pump return to pump up to the IBC, it'll "overflow" back into the main tank. CHOP style but without a growbed in between.

I've put a square fiber glass laundry tub in the top of the IBC - it just happens to fit perfectly. The idea being that I can put some mussells in here with a bit of polystyrene and plants and the water goes up to this, it then flows down into the main part of the IBC, overflows from the IBC's connection down the bottom back into the tank. Yet to plumb up the bottom outlet.


I can still pull that tub out - you can just slowly lift it out of the water and the water goes out of the drain until it's empty. When you put it back in it all flows in through the drain:


I have also put a couple of overflows as a contingency plan, currently that's how the water is going back to the main tank.




My 7 remaining trout will be moved there:



I have to go and pick the Brook trout up at Jindabyne, and I don't think I can get down there in time! They're 5 inches and roughly 80c ea!! Gotta pick them up in the next 2 weeks.

Edit: Heh - adding a rusty IBC with the bottom cut off makes it less of a "Pro" system. Need to change my thread title