Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Ian,

If you want a cheap cheap funnel stand pipe, you can not go past an empty plastic bottle.

Just hot glue on a 25mm piece of pipe, cut to the desire height and your done!

Various names Ian - it's a nice, sweet , mild, chilli basically - nice looking plant by the way (quite big leaves compared to most chillies).

Here in WA they commonly sell 'em under the name paprika, but they're not the reall paprika chillies.

Slit them down the length, take out the pith and seeds and stuff 'em with cooked mince meat and cheese, then grill them on the BBQ !!

Brilliant job!

I've been reading everything in this forum before I start my setup, have an ibc based plan in mind myself, so i'm stoked to have found this thread. I know for certain I can't make the end product to that standard but it gives me something to aim for instead of blindly stumbling the beautification process

Hey there..!!
I have been following your post since last six months and I must say I got so many useful information related to this.
Thank you for sharing this with us..!!

Yo decal, using the plastic bottle doesn't worry you about it dissolving over time into the water and putting harmful toxins into the fish?

Hi Abdul,
I keep covers over them to keep the sun off. Ifmtheybare degrading it's going to take a very, very long time.

:]

Hi All and sundry;
Just a "long time coming" update:
Have harvested a couple of 750 gram Jades for tonight's Dinner. Water in Brisbane very cold, at 16 degrees in the tank (outside IBC) These have made it through winter outside in the insulated IBC slide top system in the open, but just had a couple die off, so time to harvest.

Capsicums, self sown bok Choy etc. still growing in GB.

Decommisioned Megabin system ready for spring clean up and some more Silvers. Have to fabricate two extra grow beds to match the existing mini-orb ones.

Still working and proving prototype for small self contained system, looking good with better than expected results. Will keep you informed as more progress is made. (Can't just jump into things!!)

Cheers IanK

Nice work Ian, but where's the meal photos, still coming?

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

Nice looking Jades Ian.... how old were they???

Faye: They were eaten too quickly for any "meaningfull" photos.
FYI, I just gutted them and stuffed the cavity with a couple of slices of Bush Lemon, a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh dill then seal wrapped them in Oven paper. Steamed in a Bamboo steamer for 20 minutes ( I allow about a minute for each 100 Gram of Fish). Their flesh was beautifully flaked and moist, skin just peeled off and bones came away without any problem. Scales are not a problem done this way. The small cheek meats were the standout!
I must mention the amount of cavity fat in these 2 specimens; about 150 grams each, white, clean and easy to remove. The others (before winter) had very little! No wonder they don't eat very much over winter with this reserve of energy available.

John: I got them as 40mm fingerlings from Livefish on the 22nd February 2011. Out of the 25 delivered, 2 were dead on arrival and I lost 5 due to various circumstances over that time. Mainly due to stress I think from countinually showing them to visitors and the Grandkids. The rest have been gradually taken for various BBQs and meals as we felt the urge! Only two left now. Will order some more this month as well a some more Silvers for the Mega-Bin system under the house.
So, they have weathered two Brisbane winters in the open with water temperatures down to 14 degrees. Because the IBC system is insulated with 75mm EPS, the temperature may have been low, but the Rate of Change was extremely slow. I am sure now, from my observations, that it is not always the low or high temps that kill the fish, but how quickly the water temperature changes. I'm sure the insulation slows this rate and allows the fish to adapt to the changing conditions much better.

Cheers all, IanK

Hi there Ian,

I am fairly new to this forum and trying to learn as much as i can for the completion of my test project at IBC gardening. For the moment i have 1 thing to add and one question, the question may sound silly though. Ill keep it for the end of my post.

When you were writing about the compost heater i can only add to try and use copper piping af a smaller diameter in a coil form. More heat will transfer in your water inside the piping coil and heat is not an issue because copper can stand a high amount of it.

I'm going to try building one myself, as i am located in Europe, to be exact in the flemish region of Belgium, where winters can get as cold as -20° celsius, so to extend the growing season i will be needing a greenhouse of some sorts and lots of passive heating, as i want to build as green as it gets. Thats allso why i use rainwater to fill the FT instead of tap water wich has ph levels that are too low or high, and lots of bad things in it for the fishies.

Now for the question , i still don't understand a lot about siphons, could you explain some to me. I would be using a selfmade one... The siphon used in the tutorial video of the people from BYA i can understand but the bell and affnan siphons i can't get in my head... Not to mention about the others that are used in various systems.

I'll make pictures of the stage of building i am at this afternoon as it's still morning here, and i'm going shopping for expanded clay and thinner for spraypainting the growbed and sump and a few other things... The fish tank will be insulated too, so no need for painting there...

grtz,

Michael from Belgium

Hi mate

Nice build
I was trying to find somewhere in the build how you put the viewing windows in the ibc
Any tips?
Cheers
Mick

Mickb,
Sorry my friend, but the windows are in my Megabin system, not the IBC. The "Dobbie" shots are in the wrong thread.
Will get back to you tomorrow with some new photos. The IBC has an internal metal frame which precludes the installation of the size of windows I have in the MegaBin system. I think I remember a member of this forum who put in "circular" windows into an IBC, but I can't remember whom.

Anyway, thanks for keeping me interested in the forum and I shall give you a couple of clues to installing viewing windows to any tank situation.

Be in touch.
Cheers IanK