Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey there forum members....

I am another 'lurker' who has been on the site for 4 or five months. Never really been much of a internet forum type before, but I have found this particular forum fantastic as far as gathering ideas & learning. I thought that it is now time to 'give a bit back'...

By this I mean hopefully share what's worked for me but also to engage further your collective minds to optimize my system.

Where I am at now>>

I currently have a small system consisting of a 1000L BYA tank which was up until Saturday home to 15 lovely Barramundi. This is connected to 3 portions of chopped IBC containers that sit on top of a welded frame above the tank with a pond pump that is timed to pump for varying times through out the day. I generally allow a bit more pump time mid morning & early evening to remove poop after feeding.

It's all very simple... all kinda DYI approached & ultimately very low maintenance.

I killed my first batch of silver perch (through white spot) in the first week , salted up (heavily) & haven't really looked back. Cycling was a breeze, I rarely check ammonia/nitrates now (once a month) as it seems bombproof.

I also run a 6 foot aquarium in my house which now houses 5 of my lovely barra. More on that later.

I guess now to get the interactive balls & discussions rolling.....

I got the barra late November @ 5cm long. they are now ranging from 15 to 25cm long. I can't see them all growing out by end of April. Troutman is booked for 35 trout as soon as they are available & thus I feel the clock ticking. How realistic is it that some of my fish will be 'plate size' before trout Time? I don't want the energy cost of heating an external system with all of the heat loss through pumping to beds/lack of insulation etc.

My intention is to bring the fish inside & nurse them through winter with a heater 200watt, but in the days they have been inside (with obviously warmer water) they have surprisingly recovered from moving shock in a day & are eating more than the 10 fish outside!!! My aquarium is cycled with a massive external pond filter, but as you all know barra are dirty! If these guys grow to much I'll be eating them before the outside fish. Is there any health consequences when eating aquarium raised fish as far as bacteria/pathogens?

My other concern is if the growth rate is not fast enough, how many fish can I realistically nurse through winter in a six foot aquarium? I was hoping to re-introduce them to the external system after trout harvesting & get them massive over next summer prior to harvest.

I have many more observations & questions but this is enough for an introduction... so hello to you all & I look forward to hearing from you. & yes there will be pictures coming... lots. Haven't even started on the veggies yet!!

Probably.. about two.... if you keep feeding them...

Welcome to the forum bud. Good year 1978.

So... my online presence is not great as you can tell by the delay in my next post...

By the way, can't help but comment on how lovely everyone seems to be on this forum.

I have attached some photos of my system during building phase..

The whole project was instigated by a gift of 2 gal tubes which became the welded frame. My intention was to use as much recycled equipment as possible so a friend kindly gifted some pool fencing 50 x 50mm & 75 x 75mm SHS posts that got chopped up & welded over a few weekends.



I want to share my mistakes so maybe others can avoid them. Always wear either long sleaves/legs or suncream when doing arc welding. This was my 1st attempt at welding & resulted in toasty shins from squatting on the floor while assembling. It could have been worse, I've since heard yarns of unfortunates who were 'freeballing' in baggy pants with disastrous results.



I made the mistake of not comprehending exactly how much mass 3 full grow beds loads onto the frame & very quickly had to 'prop' the bench up with limestone blocks around mid span. Not as attractive as a single span, but still provides some storage space underneath the bench for buckets/nets/fish food tubs. My priority was the children's safety around so it had to be bomb proof. The inital deflection with the gravel was only about 15mm, but now is negligible with the extra propping.



The fish tank is a 1000L BYA number. I borrowed a trailer to pick it up & thought I'd be clever & pick up some blue metal from the mob across the car park. My intention was to fill the grow beds (approx 1000L - 3 IBC halves) half with blue metal topped up with expanded clay to soften the cost. I paid for half a cubic meter but was disappointed to note the scope I got was around 280L when I got home
(I removed it from the tank in 15L buckets & counted as I went). Not a big cry here, but I feel you should get what you pay for.... I told them next time I was down at BYA but no one really seemed to care. End result= more clay. Not a bad prospect really.



A lockable lid has since been added to the fish tank using recycled jarrah floors for kiddi safety.

The shaded structure bolted to the brickwork was welded from recycle steel from benches at my work the were to be binned. The walls were painted from red brick with recycled paint to reduce thermal capacity. The whole thing takes up the space of a small car!!

System looks great. What did you end up deciding with the barra. Maybe eat/freeze the bulk of them and keep a couple in the aquarium.

Currently got five in the aquarium with the 11 biggest still outside. My youngest daughter has taken a shine to them & it is a sure way to get her to sleep in the evenings by putting her in the pram next to the "mundi"as she calls them. I hope they survive winter okay, but it means I'll have to be carefull of adding similarly sized Barra next summer or just sticking to the 5 in 1000 litres, which seems wasteful. I used to be a chef & this is starting to feel like stock roatation!

I have a 10 litre canister filter that so far is doing well with the waste. No ammonia or nitrite spikes at all... only a slight discoloration of the water. Currently I do a third water change every 7 days or so, pouring the water directly into the outside system to make the most of the ntirates & counter for the evaporation as a result of all this warmer weather. Don't know what to do with it come winter when this slows down as it is slightly salted.

A general question to the aquarium boffins out there....
I have graveled the bottom of the aquarium thinking that the extra surface area will provide more nitrifing bacteria colony. Would there be any benefit in having bare glass to aid the filter picking up the poop (ala Chinese restaurant stylings). I figured that regular water changes with a gravel cleaning siphon would be more effective than getting the filter to remove all the solid waste & then having to regularly clean the filter. (A bit of a bitch to prime & get going again once emptied). Thoughts??

Hiya Jonboi, how are those 5 barra travelling.