Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at joining a forum so hope i can get the hang of it.
I'm not new to veggie gardening or owning fish but discovered the world of AP a few weeks ago while browsing the web and have been obsessed with finding out more about it ever since (its driving the misses crazy)
I've been reading the threads and finding out the answers to most of the questions i have so far about how it all works and how to set up.
I'm still playing around with ideas but think i will be attempting a IBC CHOP system with yabbies in the sump tank and probably silver perch in the fish tank.
With the record heat wave in Perth at the moment it seams a good idea i set up a shade house too.
Hope to be able to use the knowledge and experience from everyone here to build a workable system on a low budget.
I'm yet to source the IBCs but plan on going to CCRPlascon soon. Does anyone know of any other good places to get IBCs in Perth?

Cheers

Welcome....It's addicting isn't it? Lots of good advice here... I found the hard way that it is usually better to listen to people here on this forum rather than take my own advice. good luck and enjoy the obsession edgewater.

MM

Check the quoka paper for Ibc. Just make sure you find out what has been carried in them.
Silver perch, I will probably get shot down for saying this but, it has been my experience that they are not really as easy care and hardy as everyone says. They take a long time to grow and are not so good in temp extremes.
I would go for either koi and goldfish (year round) or trout in winter and barramundi in summer.
Like I say IMHO.

Welcome Edgewater Aqua! Have you downloaded the free IBC of Aquaponics from the home page? Gumtree is a food place to find IBCs as is the BYAP shop in Jandakot where you can see systems already set up and open 7 days a week.

Welcome edgewater

Your in the right place for all the info you need, all questions are welcomed



Its a shame you have had a bad run with the SP skipd, I wont shoot you down but can I add that Ive had only good experiences with my SP, I will admit they are slow growing and a bit sooky though

Thanks for all theYou replys guys.
Faye yes I have recently downloaded the pdf but havent read through it all yet. Its quite a document, must have taken a long time to put together. Good on BYAP for making it free! Might try and get out to jandicot today.

Welcome to the obsession
I got 25 little silver perch 17months ago as small fingerlings. All are still alive and a few are plate sized, but I will grow them on for another couple of months , touch wood. They are feeding like trout at the moment with water temps over 30.

- same here mantis

- only lost a few in the great power outage of 2011 which cost me nearly all of my trout.

Im feeding 4 times a day now and they are hitting it every time, my FT temp is constantly over 30deg even in the morning.

Welcome Edgewateraqua.

Judging from your username it sounds like you are just around the corner from me (i'm in wanneroo)

I ended up sourcing my IBC's from one of the salvage yards along Gnangara rd. But I was lucky to find them cheap, and with the labeling still intact so I knew what had been in them.

They were running out when I was there (everyone was buying them up for firefighting water tanks), but they may have some more now. Worth a look anyway.

Thanks for the tip samward!
Yeah I'm just around the corner from Wanneroo. I will have to take a drive out there and have a look at those IBCs if i finish work early enough this week.

Managed to pay a visit to BYAP in Jandicot today and have a look at the set ups there.
It was great to see touch and feel all the stuff ive obsessed over on the net ha ha.
Most of the systems there have a pump with a timer in the fish tank and grow beds on raised platforms that gravity feed back to the fish tank. Not sure about setting up a CHOP system now because i quite like the idea of burying the fish tank to keep the temp more stable on hot days. This will scrap my idea of having a sump filled with yabbies of course, but i was thinking i could pump from the fish tank to a header tank that overflows to the grow beds that can be on stands at a comfortable height and put yabbies in there. Any uneaten food from the fish tank could be eaten by the yabbies too.
Does any one have any thoughts on that?

Sounds like a fair enough idea.
Depending on how many GBs you have it may be a little tricky delivering to multiple GB via a header tank.
Just do a sketch and post it here before you drag out the tools. It may save you some time and frustration.
Better to get it right the first time so you dont end up fidling and hampering your system.
(I wish I had of)

Thanks Skipd

Attached is a basic sketch of what i am proposing.
.Fish tank is a buried 1000lt IBC.
.Header tank on top of a stand ( not Necessarily over FT to allow good access) is a cut down IBC (volume yet to be decided)
.SLO gravity feed to 2x half or 300mm IBC GB with valves to control flow.(syphon valves in picture but may use timer)
.GB on stands below Head tank gravity feed back to FT


Has anyone else seen any systems similar to this and know the outcome?
Not sure about how to work out the head pressure on this system if it is from the bottom of the FT at pump height i would guess around 2.6m if at the water level in the FT about 1m less than that i guess.

Any and all feedback would be Appreciated

Thanks

What you have drawn is what is more commonly referred to as a CHIFT PIST system (Murray calls it chop). Normally the overflow is from the fish tank, and the water returns to the sump. See the second diagram down at http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5311 .

Is there a reason why you have draw the system with the fish tank buried?? However, if you want to bury the fish tank, I can't think of a reason why it would not work the way you have drawn it. Provided that you still have sufficient access to the fish tank for maintinence and fishing. You may also have a problem with solids buildup in your fish tank, but that depends on how and where the pump sits (and will only require a little bit more maintenance to manualy clean / sweep periodically).

The head height / pressure is a measure of how far up the water has to be pumped from the pump. So in your case, about 2.6m.

Ok canned the idea of a header tank. Wanted to try and avoid temp swings by burying the tank but plan on insulating it with fiberglass insulation or similar.
Since last i posted ive been to byap to get some blue barrels for a 1 half barrel systeym. cycling it with seasol and charley carp now. Got some lettuce, pak choi, rocket, spring onions and broccolini seeds in there 3 days ago which have already sprouted.
Will try and upload photos soon. Have got a master test kit and try to test at the same time each day. Used tap water to fill this small system.
One thing i noticed when i tested my bore water though is slightly high ph but ammonia reading off the chart.
Has anyone else encountered bore water ammonia levels this high?

If your bore water has a high level of ammonia.. then the Charlie Carp wont be needed...