Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

and lastly

Hey mate, I'm in Maroochydore.

Not too sure if I will put anything other than goldies in my current set-up. I will probably end up having edible fish in my larger system.

My basil is doing well, and I recently planted rockmelon and some butterhead (I think?) lettuce in my second grow bed (added recently).

Nice work on the grow beds!

Quick update..... system has been running fully functional now for not quite a month, all growbeds filled, piped, pumping, fish in tanks 25jades and 25 silvers, unfortunately the hatchery sent them bagged together and I was unable to tell the difference at that small size, now that they are all feeding, probably 2 weeks, I have noticed a substantial increase in size of a number of individuals, possibly up to 4 ,5 and even some cases 6 times the size..... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, ph seems to sit on 7.4 on the high range test and 7.6 on the low range, so not sure what that equates to..... maybe I am colour blind???? have been feeding the fish 3 times daily, as much as they will eat over a couple of minutes. transplant shock has worn of the plants from my initial system, and the ones that survived the transplant in the hot weather are now showing signs of growth, I have also added seeds to the 2 new GB's and have lemon basil, normal basil, green salad lettuce, red salad lettuce, iceburg lettuce, coriander, dill, red choy, bok choy, mizuna, cumin, tomatoes and cucumbers all sprouting.... I even have a watermelon seed sprouted in the corner.... will attempt to get pics up soon..... all the rain we have had recently, has kept the system nice and full.

plans at the moment, include, timber cladding for the system, once I have assured myself there are no maintenance issues, and setting up a shade cloth directly over the system to assist with the scorching sun during midday in summer. also thinking/toying with the idea of diverting the drain pipe from GB 3 and 4 (constant flooded beds), around the front of the stand/system and using as a small NFT system during winter and decommision come summer (might help temps during winter?).... at the moment it is just an idea I am considering....

I have also got my worm farm stocked and running (slowly at the moment ) and I even researched and built a BSFL harvester with leftover bits of my old system, see how that goes.... may be able to use the larvae for treats for my oscars and bass in my 6ft aquarium aswell....

here are some pics of the system fully operational..... now i have the aesthetics to focus on....... apart from planting seeds, seasol and feeding fish i have done no maintenance at all for about 2weeks now...... love it..... i do however still manage to spend hours out there checking on the fish, and attempting to watch the plants grow.... ph is still a bit high, between 7.4 and 7.8 however every test has reported nil ammo and nil nitrites and i have been feeding quite heavily, the SLO's seem to be working a treat, hardly a sceric of sediment on the bottom of the FT's. the plan from here is to beautify the system inspired by icemans parents system with some slight differences. i still have a spare ibc in my garage, i was showing my missus some pics of fordys 2nd system and she actually suggested i attempt something similar but get this, 2 side by side, so in effect it would be more of a bench hahaha although maybe i wont start that system until i have this one fully completed, i will give myself a few months before planning starts on that one......

some closeups of GB's 3 and 4

underneath the system/drains

BFSL and worm

quick update...... timber cladding done, just need to add a couple more supports on the roof, before i add the shadecloth. few little touch ups here and there and pretty happy with it all at the moment. ph still sitting slightly high, still waiting for it to come down, but still getting fairly good plant growth, ammonia, nitrite still 0 and nitrates present fish growing well. everthing working smoothly (touch wood) my partner had to keep an eye on it while i was away for 2 weeks and no problems.... pretty stoked about that.

So apart from watching everything ticking along, fish growing, plants going well, ph dropping, no issues to report, everything seems to be running super smooth (touch wood), I have added wire mesh to the back of my system for climbing plants cucumbers, snow peas, beans etc, also to tie tomatoes up to. the only thing required now is to finish adding shadecloth to the top of the system, not that it should be a problem until summer comes around again, so it gives me plenty of time

You have done well Rob. After you put the shade cloth on I would have some clear plastic that could be pulled over the in the event of heavy rain.

thanks for the help chainsaw and the look at your system. I do have some clear plastic sheets at home from one of the earlier designs, so hopefully lengths are long enough to reuse.

So how did you cope with all the rainy weather?

Missed this one. Looks great Rob!

So Robbitybobbity, it's been a couple of months now, hows the planning of system no. 2 going?
Your system looks great by the way

Thanks guys..... Everything seems to be working quite well at the moment, pH is still a little on the high side so not expecting awesome plant growth until it drops, just playing the patient waiting game for now, let it come down naturally. I don't think that all this rain is helping the cycling too much, but it does keep it topped up which is a bonus.haven't got around to putting plastic sheets up yet, been doing kitchen renos which has been keeping me plenty occupied for now. I must say a big thanks too everyone here, who's system threads I spent countless hours perusing for ideas and inspiration. Have also passed the bug on to a few other friends :-)