Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

1800 liters of growbed and 4000ltr of tanks, what fish density would you expect to support?

If it were my system and brand new as it is, I would put 30 trout in and cycle it with them carefully.
Others will have other ideas no doubt
Very nice work

Considering only the 1800L of GB filtration and assuming all of the water gets to "visit" this media during a cycle, in a mature system at 1 fish per 20-25L => 72 to 90 fish.

I'd reduce numbers by at least 25% for the first "season" of the system.

Play it safe when cycling and add only a few fish, or even better, fish-less cycle and then add the fish when the system is "run in".

You may have 4000L of water but you'll need to know where it all is at every time during the pumping on/off cycle, so there are other considerations which may reduce this density.

Sigh

Have an 18000 ltr pump working the CHIFT PIST so with the calcs I have done with the heights it should cycle the lot each time. Was aiming for around 50 - 60 max so will probably keep it at the lower number. FTs all have air so fish should be happy.

Well have the grow beds full, fruit trees in (bit more gravel to top them off) and running the system regularly to tune it in(glad i spent a bit more and put ball valves everywhere) Waters pretty cloudy so may have to run a couple of filter pads to see if that cleans it up.

Found out the fruit trees are not draining fast enough ( should have put in 40mm pipe) which leads to the sump draining in 13 mins,will run a second line in to increase the drainage speed.

Pretty happy so far but can detect a slight oily smell from the sump even though we could not smell anything after cleaning. Anyone know where you can get water tested for chemical residue?

Threw in a few hundred liters of water from my first system so it should be on its way to cycling. Just need to get the air pump finished off and running before dropping a couple of goldfish in to test it. Trout will follow soon after.

Photo's or it didn't happen....

But seriously, I would love to see more details of the fruit trees. And the system as a whole for that matter. Are the fruit trees basically set up as a small grow bed? Or did you do something different?

Cheers
Sam.

Same setup as grow beds but without the stand pipes at the moment. Due to constraints on the sump size I cant fill them up to let them drain so will just make sure that they get good coverage. Will do some photos later as its always dark when I get home

Used 25mm male threaded socket to female threaded socket to form the drain and then out to the sump. Problem is with 6 connected together the 25 mm pipe is not enough to get it all to the sump so the lower ones half fill. But its not a major drama.

Looking good be interest in the latest photos when available

Photos of the fruit trees for Samward plus some extras ( lots of photos)

Top feeds in to the trees


Each tub has a tap plus a main tap on the inlet pipe for overall adjustment



Trickle pipes to feed across drum


Outlets at bottom


Returns to the sump covered with a walkway made from the old fence



Extra cover for the pipes plus curious mutt


sump bubbling away


Air lines along the main FT feeds. Black poly tubes allow air to escape during starup to quieten the system as well as
stopping gurgling when the pump switches off.


Overall photos of the system




I may end up putting one more tub at the end to put a grape vine along the fence.

Hope you like!

That look sooo good Badger, nice work

Thanks!
Just added some more photos to the previous post Faye.

Very nice thanks Badger

Update. I now have my backup system up and running. An APC 650 ups with two car batteries attached connected to my air pump. With 10 trout in the system to start it cycling it is looking good. Checked them this morning and they are looking happy and feeding so will wait and see.

Good news Badger, those trout will grow like wildfire. We have one in our IBC that I have named "Jaws" he seems to be far outweighing the others