Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all

Thought I should place a couple of photos of my new system on the forum. The gravel went in last week and I am ready to start growing stuff, I think

So went to sister's and got a couple of sickly looking tomato plants, some nice looking strawberry plants and one tom plant from my own garden and placed the lot in.



Have placed the pump externally with both sumps joined to inlet with T. Would have been much easier to place pump inside sump but this would have heated the water. Its hot here in summer, currently 37 and last night, 25. Pump is Aquabee 3000 and fills both beds (approx 220 Lt) in about 13 min. Inlet pipes are 19 mm poly. Outlet is 19 mm but joined 25 mm PVC to FT.



The 30 Lt green bucket between the growbeds allows for balancing the outlets, so that growbeds fill at same rate. It also filters out the Murray River shrimps, so they can be placed back into the FT (they sometime go up the outlet pipe) and also will be used to grow duckweed.



I have cut the growbed IBC vertically, getting rid of the outlet tap conn and the filler. This also allows for even support of both growbeds from the one IBC. The IBC was taller (1.15 m) then wide or deep so have ended up with a larger area growbed then horizontal cut..



I am currently using the auto syphon method with a timer. 15 min on, 45 off. The auto syphon does not break but both beds fill within the 15 min. The off time allows the beds to empty.

I'm running the system with goldfish, the largest is approx 30 cm. They are doing well. Have been feeding them dog biscuits, lettuce, peas and compost worms. Will have to make them some home made jell food.



Looking forwards to planting a few more things and the weather cooling off a bit. I have a shade-cloth over the beds but have also placed a bed sheet over the top. The water temp is currently 28 degrees.

Cheers
Pat

Really well thought out and set up. You should get plenty of goodies from that system

Thanks Rob.

I still need to finish off a few things. The grow beds will be covered to protect them from the UV and the growbed plumbing needs some distribution around perimeter.
Also need to brace the legs front of growbeds as the beds are approx 640 kg each when full.

There were mistakes along the way. The worst one being - I purchased the growbed IBC for next to nothing... It looked as new, great condition but... Had been used for PVA glue.
No problems I thought I'll cut it open, allow the remaining PVA to set and then peel it off

The PVA glue was a type that I have used myself but realised after it had set... This type does not harden Its a type that is used to glue porous to non porous. An example is gluing melamine covered board to clear board edge.

After three day, I had them clean...

Nicely done mate.

Thanks Earthan Group

I tried to register to your Website, to check out some of the AP systems, but had trouble getting registered!?

Hi Pat,

Good to see another aquaponist from Adelaide.
You are vey well prepared to start your member system page with a completed system. I am yet to get a proper grow bed.
I was impressed about you super size gold fish. Did you go up North to catch them yourself?

Wish you a productive aquaponics life.

Sejin

Hi Pat,

Since you are in Adelaide, hope you do not mind me asking some Adelaide questions.
1) where did you get gravels?
2) where did you get growbeds for how much? Even though i went to a place in Adeliade to see blue barrels and IBC containers.

You seemed to have to metal pipe welding yourself. A vey neat job.

Sejin

Hi Sejin

I like your goldfish pond. It looks great.

I ended up getting 20 mm river stone from NATIONAL TERRAZZO, North Plympton. I tested a few other media but they changed the pH. The river stone tested OK.
It took about 1080 kg to fill 1.1 x 1 m x 2 growbeds to 30 cm. I washed it all and removed sand and a lot of the small stones by using a plastic bakery tray lined with a coarse gutter guard.

The growbeds are made from a 1000 Lt IBC container, which had its vertical centre cut out. I cut the plastic with a jigsaw and the metal frame with an angle grinder. The two halves are now approx 40 cm deep. The container cost $30 from Pat The Drum Man out at Dry Creek. It was cheep due to the fact that it had been used to store PVA glue. It took a very long time to get it clean but the container was as new and had a great metal frame to work with. No welding was needed, the legs have been screwed on. The back of the frame is screwed into the garage's frame.



There are lots of big goldfish in Adelaide's northern rivers. They are quite active at this time of the year. The one in the photo is from the Broughton River, about 200 kl north of Adelaide, 30 Ks past Clare. Caught on a #14 chironomid pattern, fly fishing.



Cheers
Pat

Amazing size.
But looks a bit different from typical gold fishes. Small tail.

Does fish get hurt a liitle in the process of getting caught by fly fishing?

Sejin

[quote="Sejin"]
Does fish get hurt a little in the process of getting caught by fly fishing?
/quote]

Fish does gut hurt a little. It ends up with a pin hole in its lip. Fortunately, carp have an amazingly fast recovery rate.

I debarb my hooks before tying the flies, so any damage is minimal. The hooks I use for goldfish are #14s or #16s, so quite small considering.



Most of the wild goldfish, in our rivers are a green, carpy colour. As you can see by the hup on its back, they are fat and healthy.

Impressive pictures!
The thought of fly fishing does not come easily to me.
But I suppose one can of it is a carp with a gold fish look.

Sejn

Not Carp they are Goldfish.. The uncoloured type..

No Barble's so it not a Koi..

Juergen

Some info from Wikipedia - Full info from below link. very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish

Goldfish were bred from Prussian carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) in China, and they remain the closest wild relative of the goldfish. Previously, some sources claimed the Crucian carp (Carassius carassius) as the wild version of the goldfish. However, they are differentiated by several characteristics. C. auratus have a more pointed snout while the snout of a C. carassius is well rounded. C. gibelio often has a grey/greenish color, while crucian carps are always golden bronze. Juvenile crucian carp have a black spot on the base of the tail which disappears with age. In C. auratus this tail spot is never present. C. auratus have fewer than 31 scales along the lateral line while crucian carp have 33 scales or more.

Nice work DunderOZ.

Watch out for adelaide water at the moment if you are using it for topup. pH reads 7.4 from the tap, and 8.2 after sitting for a day.

And it's good to see someone pulling the goldfish out!

Fly fishing for gold fish. I mentioned that at Sejin's house only yesterday

Thanks BullwinkleII.

My system is very new and I am trying to get the PH down using white vinegar. Have you had any experience with Vinegar for PH adjustment?

Do you know any places, close to Adelaide, for goldfish fishing?

Cheers
Pat