Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Jerlin

Your comment about not enough fish... I think your spot on. I would get a greater number of fish... I have 100 in a 3000lt tank, I'm certain it can probably take 300 easily. but i would need to have about 6 grow beds... (I only have two like you so far). I'm going down soon to see EB and buy a couple more.

EB... Yep I know your right, you don't need to put in the stuff, I should have said "can do" instead of "must do" eg. like Iron chellates and Trace elements. But my experience was that my system was dormant for months, whilst I was waiting for barramundi, nothing grew, even once the fish went in it still took longer.
As soon as I did that my system went nuts, i've been growing tomatoes over winter in Perth !

You need a cover over the tank asap. as the sunlight will cause the algae to grow faster
EB's right, too much food for so few fish.

I've started putting a bit of seasol in to liven things up a bit. Also need to work on a cover for the fish tank. Hopefully I can put a few barras in soon.

As for material to use, as a seat / platform over the bricks, I would highly recommend wide composite (plastic) decking. They may not be the cheapest stuff ($16-$22 per lineal meter), but a friend of mine sells them at less than that.

I just did my whole AP system and will post up photos soon

Would love to see a pic of that. If its good I might get that instead.

Nope.... with two grow beds 100 fish is more than enough....

With six grow beds 150-200 fish would be maxing it out...

Have a look at this thread...

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10669

Your set up looks great!
Remember when putting new fish acclimatize them to the new conditions: temperature and chemistry of the water. Float the bag for half an hour, in the pond, then release them in a dish and add slowly pond water. Remove the fish only and put it in the pond. Dont put the shop water in your pond. It is better to avoid possible pollutants.
Do not transfer the fish with a net that has no water in it. The fish trashes, which results in split fins that can cause fin rot. U can catch them with a plastic packet to transfer to the pond.
The temperature in your part was cold up to now???? it takes longer to cycle in cold weather. The moment U see nitrites and after that nitrates it means U have some bio.
Good luck!
How about a big hoop from a plastic pipe with some high % shade cloth for a cover for the pond? U can bend plastic pipes with steam from a tea pot passing on the inside of the pipe or with hot sand filled inside.

Just to update, I've got about 23 very shy barramundi in there and are slowly getting used to the new tank. They have started eating pellets and live minnows.(no more minnows from now though).

Still haven't set up a cover for the tank..so there is a lot of algae growing on the walls and bottom of the tank. Hope its not bad for the barra.

Can I ask what size barras, where did you get them (and how much)? PM if you like. I only manage to find 10x very small 3-6cm barras which I doubt would be big enough to use as fishing bait come the next winter! I also have 5 SP which are about 13-16cm.

I had to just bite the bullet and go for the ones in Golden ponds. They are a bit pricey at $12 a pop. I got them as everyone in the family kept asking me to bring some fish in and I couldn't find anything else (Im new in Perth).

They seem to be doing ok now, but was a bit worried when I brought them over as they all looked so pale. Almost like white barras. They are starting to get darker, but not as much as I'd like.

I've seen barras at a friends place who are so bold and come right up to you when you stand near the tank. But I cant see mine doing that, as they cover for shelter as soon as anything moves near the tank.

I'd recommend that you move the 5sp from that tank if you are gonna get the barras as they will kill them. (or use them as live feed).

Oh and the size would be around 10-12 inches

if you have SP in the tank already you cannot add barra or trout. the barra will attack and kill the SP.

and your right abouth them being so small, i would aim for 10-12 cm barra this time of year

Readings on Saturday morning worried me slightly..

Ammonia - 1
Nitrites - 5
Nitrates 10

Stopped feeding and put a tarp cover over the ft to stop algae that was growing like mad.. Ideally I should probably aim for Ammonia and nitrites at 0 right?

Should I be panicking at nitrite-5?

What's the ph?

Add sea salt in the tank at 1kg for every 1000l of water.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

ph is at about 7.8