Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok, some updates



before pulling out the second row of beds



half way there



graveled up and flowing nicely.

I pulled an amaxing amount of shit out of my pump i'm surprised the pump was even still running, and now the system runs much better, I assumed the pump was jsut getting old, but no. so take this as a warning, watch out for the impellor on your pumps.

one more set of beds to be changed over as soon as I get some more energy.

pond now has a cover too. more than two weeks of full sun and I get algae, so I decided just to cover it.

and some photos with the new camera. critiscism/comments welcome

Looks good orcy

I like the diversity of you photography Orcy, a good mix of nice clear photos

Dont envy you moving all that gravel but its looking good. Camera works great too

mantis, the gravel nearly killed me moving it into those growbeds, so now to have to move it out, and back again is a bit of a kick in the teeth. morale of the story is "buy the right growbeds the first time", and dont try and skimp on costs and time. to be honest the only reason I went with the black tubs was because murray had a 6 week leadtime on growbeds. So I went with another method, and it didnt work very well. essentially the connection between the two tubs got blocked, and the tub on the water inlet side filled with gunk. anway, each of the syphons worked perfectly in the new beds, and the change in plumbing is only minor.

Faye, I like to take photos of all sorts of stuff. I'm shooting with a 18-270 F3.5-F6 lens at the moment, so I have a huge dynamic range over which to shoot. I already wish it was a little quicker at the longest zoom. F4 would be nice sometimes. but, we cant have everything.

and then there were 3.





in the rain and all, I still managed to get it all done, and i'm pretty bloody happy, all three flood and drain magnificantly, first time, and every time. I have a little mud in the fishtank, but that will clear over the next week or so I expect, especially if we get some more rain.

well, all three growbeds have been running without a hitch for 2 days now. the water in the pond is crystal clear, and I expect the problems I was having with algae and murky water were more to do with the blocked impellor rather than any other factors. it also helps that we have had consistent rain, which always helps clear the water nicely.

i've planted a heap of rainbow card, water celery and a bunch of seeds. I mostly planted fast growing greens because I feel that with the system shock, i need maximum nutrient removal while I wait to make sure i havent shocked the system too badly, and am convinced the bacteria are back to full strength. I think it will be fine. I havent tested any levels. in fact, the masterkit remains in the cupboard essentially unused. The clear water and healthy fish tell me much more than the test kit would anway.

i'll update when everything has grown a bit more. basically just some tidying up to do now, and its full steam growing season. Its also damn near time to catch my first jade and see how they taste.

on an aside, I now have 6 1100mm round black tubs for sale. alll have a 90mm tank connector on one side with enough pipe to get fittings on, and 3 of them have a hole in them for a 32mm bulkhead. if anyone is interested, let me know. they didnt work for my application with two of them connected together, but i'm sure they would work briliantly as single tub extensions to a system.

another update, although this is now quadriple posting, which is super poor form.

Harvested my first Jade Perch today. ~680g green, and 515g gutted. I expected these guys to be holding fat in the guts, but I still wasnt quite prepared for how fatty. almost exactly 300mm from mouth to the V in the tail. This guy wasnt the biggest, so I guess the biggest in the tank might be 800g. Caught on line and hook, with a little grasshopper as bait. Anyway, proof is in the pics.







Currently roasting with smoke in the BBQ. updates when its done and eaten

and the system. now running for a week with three of murrays growbeds, and I couldnt be happier.

Thats a damb fine looking fish there Orcy. My jades wont get that big because they wont have time.
How old would that fish be ?

the oldest fish in there would be nearly 18months old (august/september 2010 from going back through the thread). and a second batch went in around 12 months ago I think. both times I jut got 25 from livefish, and there are probably 30 jades still in the tank. I also have maybe 4 or 5 of the Sleepy cod left. they are getting big too, though probably another 2 years away from eating

I have to admit, it was VERY fatty. Next time I will fillet the fish, and smoke it filleted, see if that helps.

Double post...see below.

I can't see the photos. Just photo bucket error

That's what happens when people link to "photobucket" ... if they're not logged in... or the photo's deleted/moved.... then the photo's aren't available....

Which is why we suggest uploading them on the forum...