Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I agree I had toms of 4 X 8 plywood. But the liner is an extreme expense. I like your set up very cool

Hi Chris, thanks very much for mentioning Earthen Foodie on your blog I showed the wife and she was delighted (had a tear in her eyes). I've had a look at your other link in your sig and it's funny that you have the soaps site as well because we had a soaps and candles site called ScentualFlair running for a while, unfortunately I think my lack of web building knowledge contributed to the lack of hits to the site. This time around my wife has added links to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pintrest which has increased traffic to the site markedly. Again thanks for your much appreciated post.

No problem HC! My wife has been drooling over the blushing beet cake post and wants me to make it for her. I'm waiting for the free e-book now but it still hasn't shown up in my email from Earth Events.

I threw some lettuce seeds in one of the growbeds almost a month ago. After a couple days I got sprouts but there is very little growth compared to the growth I see in other systems on the forum. The lettuce plants are only about 2" high. I've had some eggplant and hot pepper plants in the system since it was cycling but they are only about 4" high. It's been a couple months since I cycled the system.

I have 2 tomato plants that are about 7 feet tall but I've only picked 4 tomatoes from them. The tomato plant is the only plant that has really taken off.

I only have about 22 3" goldfish in the 300 gallon system. I haven't lost any fish in the last 3 months so I must be doing something correctly at least.

The last test of the system showed a PH of 7.0, Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate 0-5 ppm. I've never really had high Nitrate readings after the system cycled but they are usually closer to 0 than 5 ever since the tomato plants were put in 3 months ago.

Granted, this is just a test system to see how everything works together before I expand but I don't want to expand if I'm not going to get better growth in a larger system. Does anyone have any ideas that might help me see more growth?

We have been making progress towards our aquaponics system expansion. The new hoop greenhouse should be done in a couple weeks and progress on the fish tank setup is coming along nicely.

Just a look at some goldfish and koi in the small system. Most of them are about 2-3" long and when I got them 8 months ago they were all about .5" long. There are over 50 goldfish and 2 koi in the 300 gallon tank. Haven't lost any since I fixed the larger holes on the SLO that they were using as a water tube ride to the growbeds.

I think you have to change the food, we got some comets in a 1000l+ plastic tub and they grew from 1" to 3" in 3 months. they get crumbled skretting barra food plus all the green stuff which is growing in the tub.

The black tubs look good, do you have to frame them or are the stable enough to be filled with water and freestanding?

Cheers

They are made with rigid foam and are freestanding. They do need support underneath if they will be up on blocks though. At least in the middle or they will sag a little.

Maybe the goldfish I picked up at Petsmart are a species that don't grow very big. I may try some different food in the Spring when it warms up. No sense dealing with it right now when they are not that hungry due to the cold water (around 50 to 56 F).

The Tubs are Rubbermaid Stock tanks which are designed to be abused by horses and livestock. Very tough and will last a long time in the sun - no frame required just bottom support as APFTW mentioned. Don't know if you have them in Australia but they're common in the US.

Had to Google Humpty Doo to figure where you were

I think they are just Comet goldfish at Petco and Petsmart, they can get past 12". The common goldfish will be around 6-10" from what I can find.

I think I have over 30 of the comets between the 20 gallon AP system and the 44 gallon corner tank. After 6 months a few are 5" but mostly staying in the 3-4"

I know this is an older post but sometimes with a new system, a few good doses of seaweed and/or chelated (or whatever seems to be most lacking) can often go a long way to perking up growth and getting better fruiting going on. Of course if you are feeding "goldfish food" like aquarium type fish food, feeding a better quality feed meant to grow fish flesh instead of just trying to keep an aquarium clean (avoid the need for water changes which we don't need because we want the nutrients for the plants) could go a long way to growing more veggies. Your nitrate level is low so simply feeding more might help.

thanks TCLynx! I've since moved up a little bit on the aquaponics systems. This test system is now in pieces and some of it has been incorporated into the new DWC system. believe it or not, I still have those same 30 goldfish as well as another 25 I added shortly after that post (along with 2 koi). they have been added to one of the long dwc's in the new setup and now I'm raising 275+ channel catfish. I still cannot get the system to show any nitrates but the plant growth is great. I guess my plants are using up the nitrates at the same rate they are produced. who really knows!

If the plant growth is great, then you must be in balance.

Ya know some of those cheap little goldfish are the best!