Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

pulled number 2 this morning, had his nose to the ground and kicking feebly, he had a monster bruise on his side that was the size of a 50c piece and his swim bladder was punctured. he's now marinating in the fridge going to join his mate tonight for dinner

Sounds like you need some bird netting

Hi Freebz, I really like the idea of your hybrid wicking bed arrangement. Thinking of trying a larger version, making a 6m x 1.5m x 0.6m timber box, lined with a void in the bottom. Have thought about 90mm storm water pipes (6m long) laid lenght ways with circulat saw cuts also lenght ways. Blue metal over the top for a total of around 150mm, layers of shade clothe and 450mm of soil. All plumbed to my aquaponics. Would like to run the void at a constant height to avoid fluctuations but could put an external syphon on it.

What are your thoughts and any advice?

Cheers Muzza

you could set your height with a stand pipe but i don't think that it necessarily needs to be at a constant height

i would possibly put a few bits of pipe in vertically to help the void breathe

I gather a key to a beds success is it must be able to breathe so point taken about vertical pipes. Can a constant water height in the void be a disadvantage?

Cheers Muzza

i don't think it would make much of a difference but might end up with stagnant areas where F&D ensures total water motion

...
so i have 9 trout left and new fish arriving this weekend so i thought i'd split the 9 between my ibc and big system, so yesterday i fish out the little silvers from the ibc and stick them in with the goldies then put 4 trout in the ibc

come out 3 hours later to see how well everyone is settling in to find i missed a silver and he is getting chased by the trout, so quickly fish him out and stick in with his mates. crisis averted...

come out this morning running late of course to find that one of the pipes on the ibc has cracked and has emptied the tank, so out with the hose and electrical tape to sort it out quick like then off to work.

come home worrying all day if the fish are going to be toast because of the chlorine in the water, they are alright but the pump for the tank i put the silvers in yesterday has crapped out and that also supplies the aeration for that tank, luckily no one died but have spent the best part of an hour to make up an adaptor for the replacement pump and it's the same pump...WTF...

Gee, what an emotional rollercoaster Freebz, good to hear all fishies came out ok.

p.s. where are you 'escaping very soon' to?

we have been looking at a few properties about 20km east of albany, have family down there and really need a change, just waiting for the Mrs to get her transfer to there and we're off

well the IBC hit 28 today getting very nerve wracking for those trout remaining still eating though,
i'm hoping they will last till the weekend, bit of a bummer though was hoping they'd last a few more weeks in there as plant growth has taken off since sticking in the big fish

Hey Freebz, been reading through your thread. Love it. Thanks for posting all the info.

Regards, Martin.

Ahh.. holidays
time for some long overdue maintenance i think, and spelt harvest time for a brew up.

cleaning out the growbeds is much more fun these days with the ducks catching everything that i drop them, should get some high protein eggs out of them after all the caterpillars and silverbeet they ate.

has anyone had much success with eggplant in AP? I've had one in for 14 months now and has done bugger all

I think Faye was doing egg plant...but I could be completely wrong

mine has gone from 5 inches tall to 7 inches with two golfball size fruit which sat there for a few months then dropped off, maybe i just cant grow eggplant

Hows the egg plant freebz?