Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

thats no good,

are you heating the water???

matt

Na they are still in the sump tank of the main system where they have been for two summers and one winter this would be their second winter if I get any through.

Reckon I've lost the last of my MC. Been dropping like flies again. IMO due to change of season, lost count of he frosty mornings we have had this autumn, had a Doozey the other day. Also I have been using sinking feed again which gunks up the system something shocking. Am looking for floating feed again will not ever purchase sinking feed again.

Interesting info BB, thanks for sharing. Why is it you think the sinking is causing issues? Harder to manage?

Not sure where to get good floating food. Skrettings are great but we need someone with a business to order x number of bags for them to ship it over from Tas.
I got two bags when Jamie did a bulk order for us a while ago, and have enough to see me through to the end of the year but will be looking around then

Hey I have a business and could order it but need the numbers to order in bulk, who else is interested? Will start another thread.
The sinking is harder to manage in my situation since I do not have time to feed in a ideal routine. So its throw in a handfull in the dark in the morning and hope they eat it all and then throw in a handfull in the dark in the evening and hope the eat it all, its not till the weekend I get to see the ammount of food that is accumulating on the bottom of the tank. The way my system is set up with SLO's the main FT's do not get too bad however the sump tanks get filthly, my sump tanks hold my yabbies, which try there best to clean up the waste and then into the final sump tank which did hold my MC and sump pump. Now it just holds alot of uneaten food and my sump pump.
This is also the reason I do not get the same sort of growth out of my fish that some of you others get, since I can not get enough feed into my fish on a routine basis, some times my fish go with out feed for 5 days before the weekend comes around and at the moment my weekend consists of.... Sunday.......

I find RT tend to take feed off the surface or as falling through the water column but rearly off the bottom. So a large percentage of "sinking" feed is just wasted feed since once it hits the bottom it disregarded by the fish, which in turn results in waste in the system.

Well if it wasn't for the trout there would not be a lot to report, Vegie growth is pretty much stagnant since winter hit.
Celery is going really well though. Broc, cauli and kale are all looking healthy but just stagnant in growth due to the cold.
Hoping things will pick up in Spring.

Got some floating feed recently, and have been amping up the feed rates to both the fingerlings and the yearling stock.
All putting on some good size.

Also took some feed out to the farm dam to see if the stock in the dam were still even there, I was concerned that over summer the water level in the dam got too low and the few heat waves we got would have taken the water temps too high. However if they survived in the tank why not in the dam? Well through a few handfulls in the dam on the weekend and sure enough there is still stock in there! I was pretty excited.

Thats awesome bundy, looking forward to a few pics of the dam stock.

Good news on the dam stock, and shame about the mc

Yeah mantis the murray cod was another unfortunate trial so it's safe to say from my experience that summer species (MC,SP) are not an option in my climate however from recent experience it appears that trout are a year round possibility. Will be trying again this summer to take around 20 or so through summer and look forward to the record breaking catches I will have toward the end of the season this year.

Every thing is starting to take off. A little bit of early spring weather a week ago and all the veggies are making some progress. RT starting to smash the feed more than once a day. Had a bit more time recently to feed, as well as more day light hours helps. Will need to do a bit of a harvest of the yearling stock soon to separate some of the fingerlings. Will be holding off the dam stocking this year since we are getting close to purchasing some land. I will then have my own dam to stock! As well as other prospects.

Having your own dam sounds really cool. Our veggies have pulled there socks up also with a few sunny days. And its only going to get better

Hows the system, Bundy? Oh, and you too mate?

Things are just ticking along at the moment. Harvested all the remaining yearling stock in order to separate my current stock. This years are a bit stunted unfortunately due to the fact they were over crowded in one tank for too long. They are putting on some size now that they are separated but not sure that I'll be making any world records this year. Will probably attempt to put half of the stock out to a dam soon, then try and carry the remaining stock through summer again.
The yearling stock where all around the half kilo mark.
Veggies - kale is still growing wild. Nothing really exciting about the broc and caul. Seems they just have not flowered/fruited. Spring onions and leaks still the best produce I get from the system. Had a great run of celery too. Few herbs growing at the moment too.

All this seasons trout still in my tanks. 50 give or take spread over two tanks. Really haven't met my expectations this year on growth. Let hope their lack of size and lack of warm weather means another over summered stock for next year. The coming days will be a bit of a test. Would harvest some but it's not worth it. I would transport some but again not worth it with the warmer days.
Tank temp today mid morning was 16.8C will be checking on things over the next few days .