Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Added some shade to the setup today, only two SP remaining but the Koi seem unaffected.

Salt is the only Ich remedy I know that you can use in your aquaponic system.

its salted up to about 6ppt already just waiting to see if any live long enough for the salt to do its thing during the free swimming stage. down to one SP.

At least we can hope the salt will protect the other fish in the system even if the last SP doesn't make it.

Last SP gave up the ghost this afternoon, probably not the worst thing in the world at least this way I might avoid the free swimming stage.

Alright so I have left the system running with just the Koi for the last 4 months with the occasional addition of some Charlie Carp to boost the nutrient level, have been getting herbs, capsicum, chillies, tomatoes and salad greens all summer, I have ordered some trout from troutman will see if i can keep something other than Koi alive over winter.

With some free IBC's curtesy of RekLaw I have started another expansion, the plan is for the full size IBC on the right to be the trout tank, being fed from the same sump as the rest of the system with a separate pump, SLO from the trout tank down to the three half IBC's in the front and to run the three new beds as constant flood returning to the sump.



Any thoughts before I plumb it all in tomorrow?

Cant think of any issues Brad. What size SLO are you going for?

90mm SLO then 50mm drains from each bed. learnt my lesson about trying to save money on small pipes last time.

new expansions complete, with the exception of one small leak to be siliconed up when its not raining, I can even throw a siphon over the stand pipe and get it to fire with a lot of sliding up and down but seeing as i only want to dump the water every now and then to flush the bed thats except able.

Anyone had experience with siphons that are 650mm long? I'm going to try and make another siphon over the weekend with a large container on top and a valve separating the two so that i can flood the siphon with water then close the valve and hopefully avoid all the shaking.

Any one know where i can got a dozen good sized yabbies to put in my system, all I've been able to catch are marron. i know i can buy them from golden ponds but am a little apprehensive after my last visits there.

Picked up my trout from troutman this morning and they are now residing in the new tank.

Did some more upgrading over the week.

Media guards for the new beds.


Made a couple of air lifts for the trout tank to provide more O2 and water flow i the tank.


Added a valve to the siphon so i can bleed the air out of it when i put it in, still needs some shaking to get it started though.


Now all thats left to do is fill the new beds with gravel. I think i am going to use blue metal this time instead of scoria, trade the surface area for the ease of cleaning.

Hiya Brad, scoria here in Perth? What the???
Can't see how the siphon works with the heights. Doesn't look like many holes in the media guard either.
Looking forward to the finished product.

They sell it as scoria down here in Rocko but its not what i know as scoria on the east coast. The siphon isn't an auto siphon im going to run the new beds as constant flood its just so i can empty the beds once a week or so to prevent any dead areas. and the media guard works well but it is very over sized at 150mm with a 50mm drain.

After the trailer load of gravel last weekend my three new beds are almost full, is there a real problem with leaving the top 6" empty for now as i want to fill them with expanded clay (need the money first) or should i just fill them with gravel and aim for changing some out for clay next season?