Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Have been reeding the forum for a while now thought i should join. Built the first setup like the video in BYA did what alot of others did and put sp in with in a week but been a lot luckier than most in that they have all survived, water temp has droped alot to when i started and thought that sp might suffer a bit but they seem to be doing well. built the second system about a month ago now have a couple of gold fish and some yabbies fron the local river here and also used the river water to start the system off. Its a 1000l tank about 600l of grow beds with another three 500l tanks under the grow beds to use as nurseries, yabbies etc. I am planning on adding some trout to the 1000l tank soon but would like some advice on how many would be good for this system if possable the seedlings have all got new shoots on them Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrates 0 ph 7.2 water temp 9.2C hope thats enough info.
The first setup is doing well growing slowed a bit with the cold weather and bugs have caused some greif as well but have tried the chilli and garlic spray to sought them out.
Any way thanks for all the info i have read in the forum been very helpful

Welcome matnicoli

You'll certainly find everything you need to know, here.

As this is still your first year (at least for that system), I'd keep it simple and not go more than 10 trout. As the system matures it is better able to cope with a significant load, but continue the good sense you've shown so far and take it easy.

Patience is actually one of the hardest things about aquaponics

Some in my family would say otherwise on the patience theyre probally right to I go out each day hoping to see a forest and table size fish im sure it will all come in time. By using the local river water and been running for a month now would adding trout in a week or 2 be ok, dont want to stuff the fish around or me for that fact as its a 4 hr drive to tooperang trout farm was going to get around a hundred because of the price is much cheaper and add the rest to some dams around here and maybe the river might even increase my chances of catch them here, wishful thinking i know

That water temp is a bit of a worry.
I live in Perth and I have SP and RTrout in an IBC system. I regulate the temp on cold nights by adding a water heater from an aquarium. I have it set at 18 degrees and try to keep the temp at about 13 to 14 degrees when cold. I turn it off during the day and only have it on when nights are cold. This is ok for both types of fish and reduces stress.
Less stress the better.
I to have had no problem with my system and have lost only a couple of fish since starting, one jumped into a floating grow bed that's in the tank and didn't get out again. Very happy with the system so far.
With 900 ltr FT I have 12 RTrout and 15 SP plus 10 gold fish for color and all are doing fine.

Thanks for that bryjjk, have now ordered a heater to keep them happy the reason i never bothered before was reading a fact sheet on silvers
http://www.aquariumindustries.com.au/As ... rPerch.pdf it said they can go down to 5c but i will put in a heater would aid in the growing to. The trout should do well as the fly fishing mob release then into the river here although summer might be a problem hopefully they will be full grown before the water temp rises to much I have 24 sp in the first AP project and will split them and put half in the big tank when the temp rises. Im having huge delemmas with bugs though they have totally destroyed the cauliflowers and now started on the broccoli any sugestions Im using chilli and garlic at the moment celery beetroot and lettuce havent been touched