Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

First, answers:

Nope, channel catfish this time.
I know. But the way Rupe said it implied I already had an oxygenation problem that the algae would make worse. Just wanted to clarify.
I have tilapia, but I don't want them in the troughs, because they'll eat the roots too. I do have mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) in the troughs, and they also eat algae. I initially put in 80 (about 1/4 of which were pregnant) so it shouldn't take too long to reach a good level of fish.

OK, a real update!
I've been continuing on just fine after the SandKAP partnership dissolved. It's nice to be solely in charge again.

My first greenhouse is in full production (although the troughs aren't quite yet full of plants) but growth has been slow because of the lack of fish. I haven't yet had a harvest, but I expect one in the next couple of months!

The second greenhouse is getting close to being finished. Two troughs are complete (except uniseal plumbing and aeration stones, and the other two are well on their way. I still need to put in and plumb the fish tanks (IBCs for now, probably custom built later) and the gravel beds.



This greenhouse should be done in a few weeks.

(Need to update this pic)

I got 1000 channel catfish today (from Osage Catfishery). I chose Osage because they sell to the Minnesota DNR. I piggybacked on the yearly DNR order, so my cats came up on the same trucks as the DNR fish. Saved a TON in shipping!


Just arrived. Master test kit for scale.


(Sorry no scale. They're 2-3" long).


Acclimating them to the system.

I put the catfish in a trough right now because I don't have a tank ready. I have a screen I can use to corral them to make them easier to net back out.


With the addition of the cats, I now have (in the order of purchase): Yellow Perch (about 100), Tilapia (about 250), Mosquito fish (about 80) and channel catfish (about 1000).

This will probably be still too few fish for one greenhouse. While I love using the IBCs for fish tanks, I think I'm going to build my own tanks, so I can make them bigger so I can hold more fish for each GH. (The IBCs are plumbed so I can easily add more into the system, but there's limited physical space to put them).

Also, I like adding fish slowly, so I don't max out the system. I'd much rather have a slow startup than a massive fish kill.

I have also started bringing on interns (it's a non-paying gig for now). I'll post something over in the Help Wanted section of the forum, if anyone is interested.

For those interns, I'm taking all of my gardening/AP/Sustainable Ag-type books to the greenhouse to start a lending library.

Not a bad start! (All bought back when I had a paycheck! Link to a larger version of the pic, if you're into reading book spines...)

Quite a few good reads in there! Glad to see your running with the punches and getting things up and going.

I've read mycelium running...very good book. I read it once, and skimmed it second time. (still own it)

And highly recommend all his books.

take care,

jeff c

re: Mycelium Running:

Mushrooms totally excite me. I don't know if this is true in .au, but here in the US one of our water pollution issues is drugs: caffeine, prozac, estrogen, etc. If mushrooms can break down petroleum, surely we can find (or engineer) one that will break down drug molecules?

One of my big stumbling blocks on 'closing the loop,' both at home and at HMG, is that I take prescription drugs, so I can't put my own inputs into the system. But if I could have a fungus stage in my grey water system that took those out, oh, the excitement!

(Hint, hint, anyone! )

Now, back to our regularly scheduled fish talk...

Humus in soil also corrects petroleum and high salt content in soil. Michael Martin Melendez from New Mexico did a study showing the effectiveness.

I <3 mushrooms as well but haven't started my mushroom barrels yet. At this rate the community is going to start their own bio-domes ^_^

I have spent too much time on the fungi perfecti website! I really would like to use cordyceps to kill all of the harmfully bugs here, leaving the good ones! I would also like to come up with a way to use mushrooms in the ap system. Btw Karen, I am in love with your project. My wife spent time in Mid-Illinois and Wisconsin when she was younger. What she said passed as salad there just scared a left coaster like me.

LOL do you mean ham salad like made from baloney and mayonnaise? All you need is mayonnaise to make any substance into a salad.

Since I don’t know diddly about mushrooms, I’ll lay out this theory for people to poke holes in.
Fish tank – gravel filtered grow bed – long DWC troughs – another growbed but this time it is filled with straw bales – down to sump – back to fish tank

Straw filters out the algae giving (insert type of plant here) the nutrition it needs to grow. It also may give the shrooms a place to grow. The Fungi.com website has that idea of using the straw as mulch over a dirt garden. Would it not work for an AP system? Keep the water level 2-3" below the top of the bale, let the mycelium/spores/whatever the stuff is work at the top.

I’ve been pondering Karen’s algae issue and how to use straw bales in her current setup. The website from Ronmaggi was just the boost I needed. The thought kinda got hung up in my brain.

So folks, poke away at the theory. Maybe something will come out of it.

you could try something like that but in my experience with mushrooms to much water leads to bacteria over taking it. Conditions have to be right for huge yields. You can do somethings outside like logs and other stuff but for huge yields indoor and controlled climate is the way to go. I love making blocks for shiitake and have not in over a year now. All my stuff is all packed away waiting for some day I have time and room to go crazy once again. fungi.com is all right but there are far better mushroom forums out there plus many people trading agar wedges online so as long as you share stuff postage gets you many different species.

New video!



Includes progress on the mostly-constructed 2nd greenhouse, starting around 3:00, and a quick view of the catfish, at 4:45. Full video is 7:30 long.

Yup, I know I owe much more info. It's coming, I promise. Quick, though, the algae problem is gone.

Awesome Karen, absolutely awesome !

Did your filamentous algae just go away or did you do something ?

I have got Paul Stamets book "Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms"
Awesome book ! I too am in love with mushrooms and as soon as I get more time will be growing oysters..

In that book Stamets mentions that straw or similiar full of mycelium can be placed into polluted streams as "filters" and the fungi will use pollutants as a food and break it down. It has been shown to effectively break down fuel oils etc.

Mushrooms can also effectively remove heavy metals from the environment (in this case you cannot eat them !) and by disposing of the mushrooms the pollutants can be cleaned up.
Very cool

Awesome stuff Karen. Looking forward to more update