Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Naa, all I meant is they are prone to blocking due o build up. Just keep it in mind is all.

Today I added a small bio filter to the system consisting of a bucket with lots of holes containing shade cloth and some filter material from a fish hatchery out of a biologically controlled area. I hope that will kick start the system a little bit.

I also got an email, that the ordered barramundi is ready for transfer on Friday, which is 3 weeks earlier than expected, but it will be fine.

Got the first 2kg of ridleys 4mm barramundi pellets as well but looks like I have to place a proper order shortly...

I don't use distrobution grids in my grow beds. If don't timed flood and drain I see NO need for distrobution around the bed. I have a few beds with siphons and I just let the water flow in at one corner and the siphon is in the opposite corner and it has been fine with the 1" stand pipes on the siphons and I've only had to poke the gravel in the corner with a stick maybe once or twice in 9 months.

About the only situation I'm starting to feel I need a distrobution grid is in my constant flood overflow beds that are getting a large constant flow of unfiltered water. Those beds have clogged but so would a distrobution grid under those conditions (silly expecting 200 gallons of grow bed to handle more than 10 gallons per minute.)

I am thinking about removing them and place a cup of filter material under the outlet, gives me more room in the gb and a visual check on the water flow. Maybe with some poly going down to the filter so I don't get to much sunlight on the water.

On my to do list before Friday... build pump controller to cycle between the 2 pumps every 30 minutes, improvements in the air stone location and cover the Slo overflow pipe with mesh...

G'day Gwydion,

I'm just around the corner from you in Bakewell. Yet to get my system up and running (been concentrating on the wicking beds, which are going beserk!). Have you managed to source some redclaw or cherabin yet? I'm thinking of running a simple 2 IBC set-up (FT, ST and 2 grown beds) for Cherabin or Redclaw but havent met any other AP's here in Darwin yet to poach ideas from!

Cheers
Alan

Hello Alan

we have to catch up one day if you are that close.

I caught lots cherupin but they ended all up in the pot... I have heard you cannot breed them in captivity, they need saltwater access after spawning. Red claws are much better but I haven't caught any yet, but I guess any freshwater River around the rural area should be fine.

Cheers

Oliver

Soo, i got my barramundi, the fisheries were generous and i ended up with 54 Barramundi. I just adjusted them to the temps and mixed 6 times every 5 minutes 0.5l of my water to the water in the plastic bag to bring the ph from 6.5 to closer to 8.1. Now they are swimming in their new "forever"home... until nom nom nom...

I organised some parts tomorrow to build a small heater out of 50m poly pipe and a recirc pump. At the moment the water is at 23 degrees in the morning and 25 degrees in the evening.

There is also 100kg of Skretting Nova FF on the road to Darwin in sizes 3, 5, 7 and 9mm. Paid under $5 per kg including freight which is better than expected. Ridley's asked to take 1,000kg per order and transport is $4300 plus $1800 for the feed itself.

Now i have to build a cycle timer for my old chest freezer to keep it at around 15 degrees to store the feed. Tried the warmest setting on the thermostat and it still goes down to -10 degrees. My wife said i can have the old beer fridge and we buy a nicer one for the living room, but that has to wait a while.

I am not supposed to feed the fish this evening... but they look at me like my dog (which is always hungry... wolfhound). NO Oliver NO... And tomorrow morning only when the temps are still above 23 degrees which was just the case the last days.

Cheers

Can have a container delivered to Darwin for less than that price. Are the pellet sizes another recommendation from CDU. Just helped chainsaw unload 22 barra from his tank weighing between 6.5 kg and 2.4 kilogram. The pellet he uses are Ridleys 4 mm no larger. 9 mm seems excessive to me.

Great to see the system coming together, will be great to introduce myself next time I am in the NT. cheers

No the food sizes were mentioned when we went to the NT fisheries from memory.

I am already thinking of a bigger tank for when the fish gets to a bigger size... my wife asked whether we could keep a couple for breeding.

You are welcome ccbear, there is always cold beer around to share (when i am not on call that is... its a no beer week now... :/ ). Cheers

Breeding equals five to seven years and depending if you get a pair. Not sure if they will breed in tanks, you may have to check back with fisheries. Cheers

Sure the Nt fisheries are breeding more than 1,000,000 per year in tanks, but i am not sure whether it involves change between fresh and saltwater etc.

Most likely by injection as in most fisheries

possible, I didn't look much into it.

I did some improvements before the fish went in, shade cloth covers for the tanks, removed the poly piping around the gb which helps to keep the temps more stable. It's early in the morning and the temp stayed at 26 degree I've night.

Had to crumble the food and after a couple of minutes nearly all the fish was sitting in one corner were the air and water flow concentrated the sinking crumbles. a couple of brave ones (or very hungry ones) even splashed through the surface.

It's big fun.

Day 2 with fish added to the system, all fish still alive, ammonia still around 0.25, Ph went slightly down from 8.1 to 7.9.

Installed a poly pipe heater with 50m of 13mm pipe, have to check the temps over the next days to see how much difference it makes. Water went up to 26.5 degrees today which is the warmest so far and it was overcast most of the day.

I also installed a fresh/marine type light (10,000k) above the tanks on a timer until i get around to install some skylights (which will be hard, cutting holes in the container above the tanks, have to organise some welding blankets and ear plugs for the fishies... )

Hello guys and gals...

I was a little bit busy the last days and didn't have much time for updates and pictures, but they will follow in the next days.

In short i have finished the insulation on the GBs and STs but the cladding is still missing, there is now an access door next to the GBs to get into the container and i hope it will stabilise the temps a little bit, i was close to installing a whirly bird on the container but decided to wait until closer to the wet season and make some use out of the higher temps inside.

I joined a hand on workshop in microcontroller programming last week and will order the smallest one they have this week to build a little bit more sophisticated timer control for the recirculation pumps, heater pump, FT lighting and water top up valve.

The fishies are still all alive 8 guppies, 54 barramundi, 6 sucking catfish (all in seperate tanks). The veggies are growing a little bit thanks to Dinosaur Pee supplements.

The ammonia reading went to 4 ppm during the last days, since today i get small readings on nitrite (0.25) and nitrate (between 0 and 5) as well.

More in the following days...

Cheers

Oliver