Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I dont know how i missed this little gem of a system. Looks great Porter.

I had the same issue with my NHO in my aquarium. All the tetras would go and have a look and get sucked up.

I had a change of level as well, so they would have had an aqua roller coaster! With mine though, because the fish were never getting any bigger i had to use a very small mesh to stop them. I have to clear the mesh every other day...

Hi rsevs3, thanks very much!

Hey! found a way to get the fingerlings out of the pipes...i put two pots of elodea at the far end of the tanks, furthest from the pipes and made a large expanse of empty water in between, that way they had to be brave to cross it!!

So far it has worked an had the added advantage of giving them the opportunity create a place for them to hide and gain a little confidence while they grew to big to get in!! Win Win!!

Hi all, i haven't posted an update for awhile, and the sun was out for a change so here are a few photos of the greenhouse.

I had time to get some more done on the lids this weekend, I am using an old double bed base i have lugged around for about 20 years as the actual lids. I need to find some more hinges and some little handles but its getting there and a lot easier than lifting the heavy cage lids everyday.

The co-species experiment is progressing just fine, the Rainbow Trout are growing very fast, the Brown Trout are much slower by comparison. All the cat fish have been set free to roam the entire system, filtration and drains and all, because i simply could NOT keep them out of it!! So where the Trout are still confined to the tanks, the catfish are as free as they please to roam.

The Murray Cod are fairly elusive, but when they are crept up on, have grown startlingly big in such a short time! … it COULD explain where some of the smaller fish went..(we are missing about 4 littiles) but there is no way to tell who is brunching on who.

A little more planting done too, parsnips, onions, cabbages, broccoli, peas, Brussels sprouts, and a banana passion fruit!!! (the really thin vine climbing the frame!)

The next step for us is to aggressively attack the algae issue. We beat it out of the fish tanks, and we have chased it all the way into the grow beds where we have begun the fight with black plastic to start with. I would ultimately like to clad the grow beds, but that’s out or reach at the moment.

But, all in all, we are growing nicely, plenty of food makes its way into the kitchen.

Still a lot planned for this year, hopefully we will get the chance to actually start some of our other projects soon.

And a couple more.

a couple more, should be cod, tandus and rainbows in here

same again

Hi everyone,

Has it really been 5 months? Time Flies!

Ok, so we had to move house, but we are up and running again, the plants are growing and the fish are swimming so its business as usual.

We don't have the greenhouse anymore, it just didn't fit, so the old neighbours bought it.

Benefits of this set up are we have a slab floor so no more footing issues, its naturally sloped so better return flow and we have a rain tank to get us off using mains water.

I moved all the siphons to the ends of the beds to give me more room walking and working in the isles, we bought the tanks right up to the water return pipes instead of them being well away like they were in the last place.

I have built a new airlift system to keep the water flowing through the filter instead of just recirculating the tanks, and we are achieving a lift height of 8 - 10 inches above the waterline at full watering cycle, from a depth of 13 inches. Brilliant! We have upgraded the air pump to 4800L/h instead of 840L/h which is fun!

Rosemary, Tomatoes, Grapes, Garlic, Leeks, Onions, carrots, capsicums, parsley, celery, beetroots, basil, pumpkin, cucumber, oregano, beans, and strawberries, are all growing well and the Rainbows just keep swimming.

So all in all, we are pretty happy.

Wow, cant believe you moved all that porter.

System still looks great, nice work.

Hi there Charlie! Nice to catch up with you, I appreciate your kind words!

Yep, i couldn't help thinking of your move you did a while back during this one, I have to say it is a task i dread having to do again in the future, that's for sure! Its a lonesome job that one!

I just caught up with your system, they are some nifty Wicking buckets you have there, and that FRS of yours is still on my to do list, i will pick your brain when i can get some time to kick it off. Looks real good Charlie.

Regards to you,

Well its been fun,

Mainly learning how to keep an outdoor system verses my old indoor greenhouse system, but it's coming along nicely,

We have some new breeding stock, dam breed male Yabbies, eyes to tail tip lengths are averaging between 13-17cm, and are working to keep things actually surprisingly clean on the tank bottom, and eating me out of carrots.

Had a massive nitrite spike that saw fish loss, but instant help from Joel and Craig saw that contained with no further loses, i am very grateful for that help.

We still have some work to do, we are nearly finished a complete fish tank refit, very cool, i will get some photos up soon on that, a couple of other advancements are due, but waiting for couriers is a nightmare.

We are eating out of here regularly, the usual herbs, Broccoli, spring onions, garlic, celery, But other than that, just tidy up generally.

Humming along nicely.

couldn't find the photos, but found them now.

Getting along now, this is probably the best growing season we have ever had.

We are getting a much steadier growth rate compared to this time last year,

I am not sure if its because its outside v greenhouse or what it is but its working whatever it is.

front and back view as it were.

Looks great as usual, porter. Hey I missed those yabbie pics, sheez they are massive! Nice!

Have you settled into the new place nicely? Vegies are going gang busters, I love this time of year.

This is a beautiful set up. gives me lots of ideas for mine, thank you.