Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

G'day Mantis, The trout defineately have gone up another gear, my water temps are around the 14 deg mark now.

My system is:
Sump 2000L ( with 300 SP 40-70mm ) with 2 x 100mm aeration stones
Tank 5500L ( 98 Trout > 500g - was 120 ) 2 x 300mm aeration tubes set up as a airlift pump and protein skimmer which also creates extra water flow for heavies removal
1 x Grow Bed 3.6m x 1.2m x .3m constant flood ( about to make 4 more )
Filtration box ( 600L )with 50 Black Night 150mm brushes
Moving bed Bio filter ( 900L ) with 200L K1 media and 4 areation disc's

1 10,000L/hr grundfos pump, runs continually at about 7500L/hr
2 x Air pumps, 1 Hailea 120L/min & 1 Resun 140L/min that run continually
1 12v DC back up compressor that supplies fish only ( not bio filter )
2 x cloverleaf fish feeders
Automatic water level addition in sump
Total system holds roughly 10,000L

Currently feeding close to 1kg of fish food per day, I clean my filter every 2 weeks which involves a 10% loss of system water. Which overflows into my duck pond which overflows onto plants with in the chook pen. So the system gets fresh bore water of about 1000L every 2 weeks.

I designed my system so it can run with less grow beds if need be and to be robust and reliable to cope with higher fish stocking densities. I work a 2x2 FIFO roster and all the misses does while I'm away is top up the fish feeder for me. And of course pick fresh veggies.

I test my water every 2 weeks and have never seen and ammonia or nitrate levels to speak of.
At first my PH was 9 but has gradually come down to 7 where I maintain the level.

Also have heaps of Jilgies, glass shrimp, mussels, minnows in my sump. Goinig to set up some breeding troughs over my sump for yabbies next week and have a crack at them.

Muz

Very NICE Chillidude, not to sound competitive but I can't wait to get home tomorrow and see if any of mine have suffered the same problem.

400gm+... is a nice meal for even a hearty eater...