Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

System is still ticking over nicely, estimate there to be close to 60kg of Trout bio-mass and 30-40kg of Silver Perch in the system. My PH is at its lowest every at 7, Ammonia and Nitrates are both on zero and water temp was 9 deg this morning.

Might be time to get some shell grit to buffer the PH. Next on the list is worms for the grow beds.

Have been harvesting lots of veggies, though they have slowed down with the cold weather.

Hoping to add some more Red fin to the pond next week.

Muzza

That's gonna be one truck load of shell grit!

Think I'll just throw a couple of bags in the bottom of the MBBF and see what happens

Whats wrong with 7?

Hey Charlie, I'm happy with 7 but it's been on a decline for the past 4 weeks, dropping from the high 7's. So just trying to be pro-active and arrest the falling PH and maintain it there.

I agree with Charlie, it was a great movie after all.

Caught up a couple of the 200 Trout this morning to check their weights, the first weighed 385 grams and the second 443 grams. There getting fed approximately 1.2kgs daily which works out to be 1.5% of their mass so I'm on track there.

Caught a average sized Silver Perch from my first batch of 250 fish and he weighed 250 grams. plus there's another 150 in there from the second batch which weigh in at 100 grams. They are starting to come on the chew with water temps getting up to 16deg in the arvo. I've increased their feed to a total of two minutes on there feeder which is approximately 120grams of pellets. Plus there getting heaps of duck weed and nearly a whole Cos lettuce daily. Looks like I've lost nearly all the 100 fry I bought at Easter time. They struggled with the cold water temps I think.

So I estimate my fish mass to be 80kg for the trout and 62kg and 15kg for the Silver Perch for a total of 157kg. I'm interested to find out my systems limitations. My levels for Ammonia and Nitrates are still very low.

Red-Fin have settled into the pond, though they hide under the bridge during the day and can be seen at night time hunting the shrimp and gambusia. The Kikuyu has grown into the pond which benefits the shrimp and gambusia, plus will provide places for the Red-fin to spawn.

I added 25kg of salt before I left two weeks ago but have since had 110mm of rain which would have diluted my system by 30% adding 4400L. So I added another 25kg yesterday which should bring it up to close to 3ppt.

36kg of Shell grit was added two weeks ago into my moving bed bio filter and the PH has maintained around the 7 mark.

Plants are trucking along nicely, I've planted out nearly a whole growbed in strawberries which haven't been bothered by the salt which tells me I'm less than 3ppt.

Well I better go and clean my brush filter as its pretty dirty after two weeks.

Cheers Muzza

Muzza

Are you introducing your water to the brush filters from the bottom or the top or just going straight through?

Hi Sleepe, flow just passes through brush filter. Where the flow enters the 1m x 1m x.6m trough I turn it down with a 90deg elbow so the brush in front doesn't get full flow onto it. And there's a 250mm void which also help's drop out solids which build up on the far side.

Thanks for that.

Weather has been a bit shitty so I thought I'd have a play with the video camera. The water is a bit dirty as the Trout were just feeding and the Silvers were given heaps of duck weed.




I tried to get some Mullberry cuttings going for my chook pen. Two were put in the ground and have since died but two were put into a growbed and they have shoots. I think I'll leave them in there for another month and transplant in September when it starts warming up.

My cuttings are taking off in GB.

You're not going to give the fruit to the chooks are you, or is it for a roost?

So the misses can make some Jam . Plus fill in a few gaps

All good Aussie chook pens need a lemon and mullberry tree in them

Nice one Muzza. Used to eat mulberries as a kid and used to keep silkworms too. Your post brought back from good memories.

Just swapped the Trout onto 7mm Skrettings Spectra FF pellets after picking up three bags this morning from the freight depot. With the freight added it worked out to $3.50/kilo. Be interesting to see how long before there is a colour difference in the fillets. I'll grab a couple out on Friday to smoke for the weekend and take a photo for reference.

Ordered my Cryovak machine last week so waiting patiently for it to arrive. Looking forward to playing with it. Ended up getting a Caso, a german made unit that double seals and has the roll holder at rear. Bought a heap of rolls with it. 12 at 20cm and 10 at 28cm so shouldn't run out for a while.



Got told by the misses to hurry up and build the pot/trellis arrangement for the tomatoes. So I'm hoping to have the pots and trellis up by the weekend and then I'll plumb them up next time I'm home. (plus spray the fire breaks, prune a few trees and make a big batch of beef jerky in between)

Got in contact with the Challenger Tafe at Freo yesterday hoping to en-roll in a online aquaculture course to be told they no longer do them, spewing.
So now looking else where. The Natfish course in Grafton, NSW looks like the next option.