Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'd like to know of anyone that has done Silvers over 12 months even with heating! Unless there original stock started at 100g+

Rup....I would like to re state my water temps for 6-9 months of the year struggle to even reach 18degrees let alone stay there for enough days in a row for the SP to get into a proper feeding routine. Although im only 30mins from F&F I would say my overnight temps can be 2-3 degrees cooler. His inground tanks I believe would also make a difference.

I think everyones climate is different and suits different species. I'm just trying to find the one that suits me. Over the last 19 months I lost quite a few SP while keeping some of them in a heated aquarium that had yabbies in it (rookie mistake). The odd one or two here and there from the dreaded fungus (possibly introduce from a few Goldfish I had or they came with it) I lost 25 just recently from a combination of cold water temps, slightly high water test readings (maybe caused by a dead SP), and disturbing solids build up in the Sump, they all died from the fungus too.

I would love to be able to run trout year round although our summers are so unpredictable. Last summer would have been no problem to keep the trout going. From memory my water temps topped out at 27 maybe two day for the whole summer followed by a cold night which brought it back down again.
Although the summer before was one of the hottest on record! SP fed well for 3 months!

Here's the FT

Just going to get your thoughts on my SLO that I need to design for the FT. I can't go through the side of the fridge because of the evaporator being part of the top 350mm. So I think my design would work similar to a P trap. As the FT reaches max height it overflows in to the exit pipe through the bottom. as long as I keep the outlet to the GB's lower then the overflow drain in the FT, it should drain .
Have a look at my crude drawing for a sunday morning. I guess that the only issue I could see is that the over size trap could have a tendency to catch the solids rather than disperse it on to the GB's.
Also should I have another pipe out the tank in case this SLO does fail?

regards
Matt

Nice looking tank! You would need to be carefull that the SLO you have drawn there does not syphon your tank.

Yeah!.... Will have to put a Tee in the top horizontal section of the trap....thanks for the tip simon...

regards
Matt

Well, found a couple of hours over the weekend and sealed the freezers and tested for water tightness for a couple of day. All Ok.
kids love to pose...
just got to find another $250 to have enough materials to build sump...

Regards
Matt

So are you going to leave the light in there so the fish can see to eat there din din in the dark

That would require the fridge door to be open...

yep!

Might have to hook it up to a manual switch because I think it relies on the gravity switch..

regards
Matt

For a tank that size do you need a sump?
You could run a const flood with beds above the tank, pump the water up - let it gravity feed down. Would be simpler and cheaper...?

of course raising the beds or sinking the tank might not be.....

Yeah im running constant flood at the moment after reading the BYAP trials, so there is no real need for a sump with the right layout.

would be less water to chill as well...

I have got 25 silvers off rupert probably 4-5 months ago. I have had times where i have not fed them for a week due to them not eating with no issues.

They are not hard to care for but they are very small 6-7cm still and havent grown at all in that time.

Zman, your in Sydney, I had 40-50mm silvers 19months and some didn't grow at all the others died! Climate in Victoria is very touch and go for SP. In some parts near impossible.

Ouch 4-5cm in 19 months, yeah thats pretty crazy!

Yeah I've been considering different ways to keep the heat transfer to a minimum...
here are the options I've been toying with.

1. original plan is to be CHIFT PIST and only pump to GB when temp in FT is below 23
2. remove GB media and replace with raft system. this way the polystyrene will keep a very good seal and minimize contact with air.
3. Constant flood GB. this could remove the sump and remove the heat exchange issue and reduce the cost . Will have to have a better think about this. The only issue I have experienced with constant flood is that the water seems to be less clearer and my fish are nowhere near as aggressive towards the feed???

anyone else experienced this???

regards
Matt