Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Sorry to hear about the fish Ryan.

Sorry about your fish Ryan. Whereabouts in Perth are you? I might have some silvers you can have when trout season arrives.

Thanks nebbian. I would definitely be keen. I tried to buy some tandanus from livefish tonight but they don't have 10 in stock

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Finally a chance to update about my IBC system! It has been a long few months for the system including upsets, travelling, tragedy and no end in sight.

With the purchase of a new house taking up much of my time the system had been poorly neglected. The brahmi had taken over almost the entire grow bed, with the garlic chives and a few chilies being the only plants struggling to break through it. The silver perch were getting getting irregular feeding until i sorted out an auto feeder. It was a sorry state of affair for the entire system.

Finally it was time to move the system, so using another bulky, I cut out a section off the top for an access hatch to make a tank that wasn’t going to leak during transit. The idea was to put this tank on the back of a ute, fill it with water, add the fish and drive the 4.5 hours to the new home. I used a battery operated air pump that should last more than long enough for the trip down. Plans always work better before they are initiated… Unfortunately the ute that the fish were on had an overheating issue. It seemed that the IBC on the back, a furniture trailer and and Australian summer were all a bit too much for it. This resulted in a few hour long stop over half way and an air pump that run out of puff. The results? A lot of dead fish unfortunately.

Onward and upward. I roughly set up the system in a temporary location until i complete the earthworks for the new location. I filled the tank with water and put any fish that looked like they might survive the move in. At the end i had a total of six fish survive the move, so given what happened I am pleased to still have a few silvers in the tank. The following day I threw in the plants that made the move and the system was left like this for a few weeks while I was away at work.

Around a week and a half ago I finally got the time to go and purchase some seedlings.

Good to see you back in action champ. And glad to hear your settled in the new house.

Congratulations on the new house. I think a new house needs a new tank and grow bed!
Commiserations on the fish, but I guess with the new house there no stopping you now.
what are the plans for the future? I see you have a new dirt bed. Are you putting in any trout this season?

I couldn't agree more Marc!

My partner has recently been diagnosed with a whole swag of allergies, so AP will be taking center stage in a veg and meat diet.

There is a massive amount if earthworks before anything permanent. But I have another IBC for a tank and the current tank will become another GB. Your system will closely reviewed when I do start designing the new system Marc

Trout, yeah maybe. I have been unsuccessful in trying to get tandanus in decent numbers at a decent price.

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Heya,

Did you want some silvers for your system? I'm about to get some trout and can't eat ten fish in a week :-)

They're about 20 - 25 cm long I think.


Let me know if you want some them. I just have to confirm that the local fish place has trout as well.

I am keen as a bean nebbian. I will not be home from work for another week and a half or so though.

PM me with how much you would like for them. Plus I want to check out your system

Seeing as nebbian was good enough to remind me about my thread, I figured I should give an update

It has been about a three weeks now since I put the new plants in my aquaponics system and the new small dirt garden. It has been interesting to see the growth difference between the two. This has been the first time I have completed a side by side comparison myself.

Of course it should be noted that this is by no means a scientific comparison. The dirt garden and the aquaponics have both been getting regular doses of Seasol or Maxicrop (depending where you live), a little Charlie Carp and little Chelated Iron. I have also sprinkled some slow release fertiliser on the dirt garden. The aquaponics has been getting its regular dose of fish feed while the silver perch are still hitting the feed, although at a slower and slower rate.

So far the results have been surprising for me. While I expected the aquaponics system to outperform the dirt garden, I was expecting to see at least some growth in the dirt. There has been plenty of rain and watering in the dirt, so I don’t believe that lack of water is the culprit. I also think that the aquaponics system gets less sunlight, so I don’t think that is the cause. Thinking about the causes i have come up with some possibilities;

The potting mix used for the dirt garden was very cheap. You have to question the health and nutrient content of it.
It has been getting quite cool at night. The aquaponics plants will not be getting as cold due to the thermal mass of the water.
The dirt garden is definitely seeing some kind of deficiency. I suspect it is either nitrogen or iron, hence the Charlie Carp and Chelated Iron additions.

In the next few weeks I am hoping to make a small greenhouse for both systems in the hope that it will encourage growth. I expect that the tomato will be lying on the ground before I get a chance to string it up as well. It has been quite a while since I have seen such successful growth in my aquaponics system which has been most enjoyable. As always, stay tuned for more updates. Hopefully with more photos this time!

The AP is looking very healthy indeed

I just realised that I have not yet introduced the latest member of the family. Her name is Zero and this is a photo from last week on her first trip to the beach.

Very cute. Why the name zero? Ry-man

1: Its a sweet name.
2: The mrs is a mad gamer and it is the name of an assassin character.
3: Its not the normal 'Spot'
4: It is an easy word to enunciate command with tone. Being a GS it is important to be able to control her easily. (Not in a nasty way obviously, but people who dont know the individual dog can get very nervous when they come bounding.)
5: Its a sweet name

So sweet