Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Pretty much, yep !!

May get it finished this weekend - photos to come when I have. The bench is leveled up and in position, just gotta raise the ground a littl in from of the sink and finish connectin the drain.

You guys will be comparing kitchens soon.....

Yeah, I'll be in that - mine's pretty new !

You win.... mines trashed...

Hi Chillidude, love your system. I don't know how you managed to convince the missus to have a fish pond in the house but all credit to you.

I recall when I was looking through your thread some time ago you had a couple of huge airstones and I think you said you got them from Spectrum(?). Anyhow I was looking through their site (good prices on air stones) and was confused by the different types. There are high and low pressure types. So my questions are what size stones did you use and what type?
Looking at other threads where there have been problems with airpumps as they were too restricted, would I be right in saying that if I have a pump that blows 35l/hr then I should have air stone(s) that will take that much air?
My system is in a green house so planning on mounting the pump up high during late autumn, winter and early spring so it pumps warm air into the water and so hopefully raises them temp enough to get an extra month or 2 of SP growing.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Cheers
Marc

My bad Chilli my post above should read 35l/min.

Apologies MdW - the last few weeks have been flat out (fortunately most of it was aquaculture related) and the forum was the time consumer that got sacrificed.

You're right, I got my airstones from Spectrum, I got the big, aluminium oxide, low pressure airstones (DY102-F2 150 mm x 50 mm round with 9.5 and 5.0 nipple). My air pump is 120L/min, but that serves three FT's though eight airstones.

Mounting the airstone up high is fine, just remember that when the when the weather gets warmer, you don't want to mount the pump below the water line or as soon as the power goes off the water will siphon back into the pump and bugger it up !

You do sort of need to match your airstone cpacity up to your pump, but don't get too stressed, it's not an exact science.

Thanks for the help chillidude.
I ended up getting 4 of the same airstones from Spectrum. I think they are good value for money. They are big, put out heaps of air and delivery was cheap and quick. The tub now looks like a spa!!

Well worth the money.

How are your silvers going and what sort of water temps are you getting? From your photos it looks like you are up in the hills like me but from the view (great view by the way, I have to climb on my roof to get that sort of vista) it looks like the northern hills. Not that it matters its just as cold and rocky.

Cheers
Marc

Nice work MdW ! Yep, no problem with ano of those stones in 18 months.

Silver are doing well. The big ones in the system still eating worms and duckweed. The smaller ones to go into the system when the trout come out are doing well in a 200L aquarium in the shed.

I'm due east of Midland, so water temps in the system is pretty good, swinging between 12-14°C for the last couple of weeks. Warm enough for the SPs to keep eating small amounts, the veges to keep growing, and the trout to be ravenous most of the time.

First update in ages - same post is on the 2011 Trout Competition thread, but I wanted it here for posterity.....

OK, pulled out the first 6 tonight - two for the neighbour (our plumber) and 4 four for us ! Couldn't be rooted weighing/photographing all six, but they were pretty much the same size.

Dunno what he did, but I cooked ours as Trout Almandine - always loved that sauce Unfortunately the small brain I've mentioned before kicked in and I forgot to phot the cooked dish - but I did get the results (the last photo). Taste was pretty damn good !

Great fish and a great job.
what size were they when they went in?

Looks alright, bit small though have you got a link to the recipe???

15g-20g, Marc


Smartarse - I'll put the recipe up soon (It's out of the old version of the Doyles Restaurant cookbook)

OK - another weekend, more trout down my mouth .....

Somebody on here, one of the Ivans I think, inspired me to fillet my fish after seeing photos of his. What a pain in the quoit - slippery bloody fish incombination with a sharp knife - next ones are gunne be eaten whole again !!

Anyway, for posterity, the largest of the fish came in at 370g, and there's 6 fish in the bowl in the first photo.

Nice pink flesh, so what are you feeding them??