Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

There is 60+ mini indoor systems based on aquariums of different sizes, 30+ seasonal outdoor systems, and 8-10 greenhoused (most of tham passive solar) systems. This is what I know of, but week I get some info about new systems. I collected some data to start a tilapia fingerling project for next season. The paricipating aquaponic system would need 3600-4000 fingerlings from spring.

Thats where we are.

We have quite a winter this year again. Temps are down below zero for weeks and I had no direct sunshine for two weeks.

Finally today we are looking for a sunny day. I'll do a video this weekend.


This is an off topic, but intresting video. Welsh catfish hunting for pigeons.

Any chance you or someone in Hungary could post pictures of the aquarium based systems?

Happy new year!

Its been a while since my last post, sorry for that.

Bob H: My system as running till late november, now its dry and waiting to be restarted. It surved me as a display kit and we made some trips through out the country. I normally only brought the aquarium and the growbed (with plants) with me and leased water and some fish on site. Here is a pic: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=472957306056781&set=a.472957119390133.113502.196859216999926&type=3&theater

I think you can find some more photos on my FB page: http://www.facebook.com/aquaponics.hu


The system is running. We had a tragic december with only two days of direct sunshine the system cooled down to ~4C again. January was much better water temp is arround 8-9C now. I'm planting the spring vegetables now. If you feel like follow my FB page for updates.


Wish you sunshine and no fires for the aussies!

Thanks, but many unfortunate ppl are braving fires again. Tasmania had some bad ones, and I heard on the news a few nights ago that there were up to 120 fires burning in NSW. Although that sounds high to me....

Looks like AP is really taking off in your country, congratulations!

I looked at your aquarium pictures. Very interesting. How do you water the plants? Sorry if thats been asked before.

The mini system has a 6,5W 150l/h pump, a standard 54l aquarium (60x30x30), the growbed plastic box covered with wood (60x40x22) and a mini Affnan siphon (bell sized 32, standpipe 20).

Its february and its spring time

Looks great zsazsa.

I am really impressed with how your system has handled the cold. Also how much warmer it is inside compared to outside.

We have a very hard winter again. So far it was very dark, for the passive solar greenhouse clouds are the worst that can happen. Cold is not a problem untill you have sunshine.

I tried out an idea to reduce the humidity problem, on one hand I managed to reduce the hummidity but i lost so much heat on the way that all together its a failiure. Its a lession, and its a great experience. Failiure is part of development. If you never fail you are not developing, or you are a liar!

Hey Peter,

maybe you should try to assemble an air/air heat recuperation unit?

Good day to you sir!

Hi Peter,

I was wondering what was the coldest day you have had so far this winter? I live in Nova Scotia, Canada and we are right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean at about 45º Latitude.

However, we have had temperature here go down to -23ºC (-15 average) quite a bit this winter and up to +31ºC in the summer. Usually we will have cold but bright days, or not so cold and darker days during the winter.

I'm thinking about a design similar in concept to yours and this thread has been most informative. Keep up the good work.

-Mike-

zsazsa what's news?

Joo napod kivanok (good day)

(if I remember correctly from my vacation to Hungary, mmmmm.... many years ago)

Just wanted to compliment you on your detailed reports. Hope you are well and still going strong with the AP.

If you by ay chance know of a catfish supplier who'll deliver in the Netherlands or Germany I'd be interested. It is easy to get African catfish in the Netherlands but can't find a source for silurus glanis. I can't keep the african catfish warm enough here, unfortunately.

Ohh its been a long time, sorry.

I had too much to look after for a while.

System is going fine, get some pictures here from my FB page : http://www.facebook.com/aquaponics.hu

I'm targeting trout all year round with great success so far. We had two weeks of 35-40C with daily mins of 22-27C. Really hot days. Daily average temp was 25-30C!!! Meanwhile my system temp never raised over 23C. This means that the system water temp is 3-18C lower than the air temp, and 7-8C lower than the temp of our rivers and lakes.

So my 2 test trouts are well and feeding. End of august will be the last hard time to survive, as the sun is going lower but weather is still hot, but I'm confident that we will make it.

The trick is to use the greenhouse properly! Here is how:

- No shading on the greenhouse. I tried this last summer, it doesnt work, and its bad for the greens.
- No water changes. Simply because you dont need to.

- The front growbeds are always full with greens, so the gravel is shaded.
- Cover the fishtank.
- Spray a can of water on the floor on the hardest nights, to help cooling a bit.
- Evaporation is around 2% daily. I try to keep the system water topped (more water = more thermal mass = less thermal swings. I replace water every 3-4 days using well water (14-15C), adding 300l of 15C water will lover the system temp with ~ 0,5C but every tiny bit helps.


I'll make a video on this soon.

Thats it!

We are organizing the Central European Aquaponics Jamboree 2013.
Its gonna be september 28-29. Its gonna be cheaper, more on the experince side than theoretical, and we will start a 50m2 Passive Solar GH system together. Till than I leave you with the video of CEAJ 2012, which finally have an english subtitle.

Thats it for now.