Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They will only get to harvest size if you get rid of a few... Nice pics though Tony....

Never fear I'm only keeping about 150..
50 are being picked up this weekend, and 400 in several weeks. Then there'll be only 50 or so left to give away..

What happened to the salmon if you don't mind me asking?

Well........

All was going superbly. For 10 months they grew and grew and the system ran seamlessly with very little needed in the way of monitoring or adjustment. Nitrates just hummed along at a nice 5ppm, ammonia 0.25ppm, Nitrites 0 and pH 7.8... Everything just 'sang'

Then..... with winter growth gone to seed, Salmon now 350 - 450gms and feeding heavily on 7mm pellets, I decided I needed to clear out 1 of the growbeds and replant it..

But.... 24 hours later all hell broke loose..!

I went to the tank and it was a milky brown, the salmon were gasping for air, some were floating, and all nutrient levels were completely off the scale...

Over the period of 1 week, unfortunately despite all efforts everyone one of the fish died. There was nothing I could do to save them as the O2 levels also plummeted.

At first and for a number of weeks afterwards, I was adamant someone had dumped a load of topsoil into my tank as it was as murky as the River Murray. But as Nitrite levels hit 100ppm it could only have been nutrient overload from the growbed. I must have dislodged a heap of sediment as I cleared out the growbed whilst water was pumping through it...

It took a solid 6-8 weeks for the nutrient levels to return to normal.

Lessons learnt...
1. DO NOT clear out growbeds whilst the pump is running. Better to pull plants inb/w cycles so no sediment is easily washed into the tank.
2. Do not take anything for granted when fish loading is near maturity. In two easy steps, complacency can rear up and bite a huge chunk out of your over confident butt..

I was though looking forward to trying the salmon to see what they tasted like.

But the new trout are so cool.. Much more fun to play with than Salmon anyway..

Yikes! I am so sorry to hear that, I was quite excited to see someone was trying salmon as I have been wondering about the feasibility of that. But your system is awesome and I have no doubt your second try will go much better!

DAMN thats a lotta fish

I just bought 30 trout & got stressed after releasing them into the tank.
650!!!! I'd need medicating.

you'll get used to it eventually

i'd need medicationg too

Usually some medicating happens after you get new fish, seems the natural thing to do..

I'm medicated now - and they don't come for 2 days yet

Preparation is everything CD! Well done for being so organised.

Thanks Faye - always good to hear I'm on the right track

A total of 500 trout are now out of the tank leaving me with about 140-150...

That is still too high for my system with only 3 growbeds, but hoping to get another one down here real soon if we can get someone else to order some so it doesn't cost me a fortune in shipping. But I really do need an extra bed for rotation and seedlings so I can harvest from the 3 others.

And hopefully the reduction in fish will help my pH of 6.0 start to come back to normal...

One thing I've come to realise, is that AP in colder climates really is quite tough to balance.. No offence to our warmer climate wonders, but slow growth, moulds and fungus in glasshouses, bugs and diseases, warm one day / freezing the next, limited choice of plants to grow through Autumn and Winter, and everything else in b/w is taking its tole on the enjoyment sometimes..

Well about to salt now starting at 1ppm. So 3.5kg going in.. And we'll see what happens.

Hi Tony,

oh wow, just finished reading............not sure if I am enthused or confused, doesn't seem quite as
easy as I first thought.

thank you for sharing all your 'adventures', it helps to know the pit falls applicable to Tassie!

kind regards
Gail