Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

First harvest. I took 2 out. This one was 644grams, the other was 506grams.

They sure come out a lot bigger than they look in the tank. This is the first fish from the aquaponics system. Pretty happy with them. 2 down, 15 to go.

Andrew

Yes, the scales were cleared to zero before the trout went on it..

We got these trout in May of this year, i think we had a really good winter, as we normally get between -0 to -5 for weeks on end, but it was a bit warmer this year. We found the best temp for trout feeding was between 8-13 degrees.

We will be pulling some more out in the next few weeks as our temps in the tank are now between 17-19 degrees and we will be getting some warm weather up here soon.

how are everyone else's water temps going? checked my tank temp for the first time today, sat around 14.5 for most of the day and then rose to about 15.5

I think I'll be able to keep hold of these trout for a fair big longer yet, starting to wonder if my tank will ever get hot enough for barra under the patio where its located..

lloyddavis,

My temps peaked at about 17c a few days ago, but this morning, was just under 10c. I'm keeping an eye on the temps as I suspect when they decide to peak again (probably late next week) the temps may go up fast.

The trout tank is in the shade, but its plumbed into a below ground fish pond thats in the open and the grow beds are in full sun (when its out)

My Tanks were down to 12 last night. Don't know what they got down to overnight as I didn't check until 11am this morning. Water is at 14.3 ATM. The Silvers are sulking and the trout are splashing water at them.

I have found that my blue barrels can add a lot of heat to the system as there seems to be a lot more surface area for the sun to heat up - half the barrels are facing North west and the others north east so they can get heaps of sun. The water had got up to 25C (on the 28+C day a few weeks back) before I shaded the barrels. When you put your hand into the flooded hydroton on the sunny side on a sunny day the water is very warm.

My temp peaked at 21 this afternoon, we have had a few days over 30. Trout are still feeding great. At least we have some cooler temps coming.

At what stage will the trout stop feeding, ie max temp they can handle? It's my first time growing trout. The silvers have become really active now.

They start hating life around 22-23deg

I've been plotting my water and air temps for the past few months in my system thread, I wish my water was still in the low teens! The trout go off their feed in the afternoons when the water gets to near and over 20C, like it did today. Tomorrow is forecast to be 34 in town, Tue has been revised down to 35C, and Wed 34C... I'm not looking forward to it, but do have a couple of hundred kg of ice in readiness.

Interstingly, Arc en Ciel Trout Farm suggest over 18 is dangerous for trout, above 22C is fatal, but clearly that isn't the case, as RupertofOz has had 23C a few times recently.

19 fish and 19 degrees
bought 6 bags of ice today to get them through to next weekend for smoke up with friends.

19 here too and trout still feeding ok. System is in the open at the moment till I get the shadecloth over the hoophouse again, but cooler weather coming

You will be surprised how little difference 6 bags of ice makes.
I've calculated that a 3 degree rise I had one day a few weeks ago in my system would require ~150kg of ice to counter. I cant remember off hand how many litres of water you have in your system, but the 150kg for mine is for 6000 litres of water.

last season my trout were feeding and relatively Ok even at 24 to 25C. So far this season the water has got to 25C and apart from not eating so much, were fine.

Last season I harvested all the remaining trout in the tank when the water got to 27C - that stressed them. I left one fish in and he survived for another month until I took pity on him and ate him (didn't eat much either so no point in keeping him). I'm not suggesting that temps like this are Ok for the fish but if it just a hot day or 2 and then it is going to cool down they should be fine in my experience but then we have the hardy WA Trout and my night time temps are lower than Perth that gives some relief and I have heaps of air.

quite alot of fluctuation in temps then, I will see what happens when we finally get a warm day, its been very cool this weekend and the trout have fed very well.

I have 2 blue barrels in full sun the large growbed however is only in part sun which will help a lot.

Lloyd I would suggest shading your barrel sides so they don't get any direct sun. It made a significant difference for me. Have a look at my thread to see my temporary arrangement. I spent the weekend making it look better and cover more of the barrels. I'm also looking at using something more shady than doubled over 70% shadecloth if I need to.

yep, think I might do that, by the way nice work with the Veggies, its a jungle out there!