Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi all
found this excellent site while researching my current project/obsession
thought you guys could give it a coat of looking at and give me some pointers.

the rough plan at the moment is

10m x 4 m building
glass on sun facing side (south up here)
central wall running full length so as to provide a insulated back 'fishroom'
the back room will be filled with small fish tanks linked to house ornamental tropical fish.
the front 'glass' room will house the growbeds.
glass room will also house some fish tanks so there is maximum waste production when there is max growth.
fish scaled down in the winter
maybe heat half the glass room through the winter.
fish room heated year round.
sections of small fish tanks linked to a central sump this sump linked to the flood drain growing beds
i want to make it as enviromentally friendly and sustainable as possible.

feedback of any kind will be valuable.

blodger uk

hmmm, sounds complicated yet interesting!
that sure will use a lot of glass too. ... as I am very much a visual person you could'nt possibly post a picture of some sor depicting yorur fantastic sounding idea???

Glad you found the group blodger.... Sounds like your in the right place....

Check out this link to the Speraneo's system. they have a greenhouse that is very well designed and although they get snow in winter, they are able to grow tropical fish all year round purely thorough their careful design and building practice without having the enormous expense of heating...

I only mention this because thats an area that I think requires a lot of research and design work before constructing.. The idea of a wall in your greenhouse is good, but you may not want it to be a wall that keeps one area totally seperate to the other, with the heating only on 1 side... What will happen is that the greenhouse side will suck the heat out of the water when it pumps through the growbeds... However, with the whole structure well sealed. and a double skinned greenhouse side, with brick wall down the centre, including gaps top and bottom for air circulation. The wall will act as a large heat sink, helping to heat both areas.. The gaps in the brick wall for air circulation can of course be closed or opened as needed.

There's heaps of info on the net about passive solar design and time spent researching will save a lot of money in the long run.. During winter, the front glass section will gain a lot of heat, especially if it's double skinned...

So you breed fish then Blodger?

Joel

great article

hi
great article very inspiring.
i breed a few trops (want to expand) and also frag corals and want to try and breed my marine fish (clowns seahorses cardinals) so my system has to be very multifunctional. add to this wanting to grow food and house my tortoises and ive got a challenge and a half. a marine aquaponic system looks like an interesting prospect. turning fish waste (clownfish) into phyto plancton and glasswort (edible plant) using the glasswort to feed sand hoppers and then turning them into fish food. anyway thats the last system i intend to build . will concentrate on the tried and trusted to start with.

when i get a bit more time will try to draw my intial plan for you guys to look over. and try and ellaborate on what i need it to do but my aim is to produce pet fish and human food in an organic sustainable way.

blodger

Pet fish and human food ...

COOOL

I want to go with fancy cichlids ..

so I am starting with tilapia ...

I also have green chromides and another stripy fancy cichlid fish in the same tank...

Then maybe ... just maybe ... I can do some of the rarer varieties ... and so can my kids at schooll!)

No glass tanks ... or fancy filters //

(Wheelie bins, tomato plants and filters made out of flower pots and buckets!)

I am hoping to get a breeding set of real good electric yellow and electric blues ... grow the fry to 1 cm and show the kids how to sell them...

also messing with the idea of chocolate goldfish ...

Food ... (when they get big enough!)

cheap pig food , chick starter crumbs ..Crushed lupin seed, azolla , duckweed and stuff from the worm farm ... anything really! Even rabbit, sheep or goat poop, boiled pumpkin ..! Boiled beetroot just before sale to enhance colour ...

hi jonnie
sounds good
tropheus moori has many varieties a good herbivore but requires a high ph 8- 8.3
beetroot hmm interresting
yum chocolate goldfish
ive got buckets of daphnia going. sifted make great fry food.
blodger

Blodge .. my bedtime now ...

but cultivating daphnia and brineshrimp .. are they subject to crashes?

Looking forward to learning from you ...


Seems to me like you got a big project on you hands ...

I am just messing and learning for the sake of my classess ...

(But I sure am getting addicted to auaponics at home too! ...)