Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It all began in September 2014 when I went to the Floriade NightFest in Canberra and they had aquaponics setup. It was an interesting concept so I started reading into it and found this forum.

I read the IBC of aquaponics but thought an ibc system was going to be too big/costly to start with and stumbled across the Nat's 4 barrel system. Perfect i thought looks easy enough to build.

So over my Christmas/ New Year Work break form work i got building, and this is what i ended up with.



In was pretty happy with the result as well as the fact the plants were growing (same cant be said about my dirt garden efforts)

After a couple of months decided I needed more room to grow more plants so decided to double my grow beds.



With the additional Grow beds everything seemed to slow down in growth so i thought its time to take the plunge and buy an IBC to use as a fish tank and get some Real fish (Ones i can eat shhh don't tell them that though)



I added the IBC and took a drive to get some Silver Perch, 26 in total. Within a couple of days of adding the first the growth was explosive.



One problem I didnt consider with the IBC was algae growth over a short period of time the side were starting to turn green so i wrapped the IBC in builders plastic in hopes of keeping the water a bit warmer and to stop the algae growth before it became a problem.



After getting bored of the perch not eating with the water temp being so cold in winter along with slow down in growth I added another IBC first tank for some trout and a RFF.


I think its safe to say I've been bitten by the aquaponics bug.

Yeah man, you are gone, totally gone !

..
And how.. taken in hook line and sinker..

It is impossible to start a basic system and not desire MORE... MORE Please..
..
.

I have a feeling this is still only the beginning for you!

One of us! One of us!

Definitely still just the beginning. Need more room though

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well done, and scalable too

Any one able to tell me if I can put the outlet of Continual Flow growbed lower then the water level in the sump tank? The overall water level in the growbed will be higher then the sump tank.

Something like this?



I could put the IBC GrowBed up on Besser blocks but this way I could get an extra 200-250L of Media for filtration.

Yes, because depending on exactly how you build and configure it either the whole bed, or the lower 1/2 (below the level of the highest part of the discharge pipe) will simply operate as constant flow. As long as the discharge is drawn from the bottom of the vessel, you should avoid creating a large anaerobic area, and it should be a biomedia section, as you intend. I suspect this would be more effective if the top half was flood and drain,either due to start-stop pumping or some sort of discharge siphon, but as long as the DO remains adequate, it should work well.

How much DO will I need? I have a 60l/min air pump connected to 3 stones will that be enough? Should I put stones in the bottom of the bed?



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Over the past week I have noticed a Cloudy/Oily film appearing on top of the surface of the trout tank.. it doesn't appear to be in the Sp Tank, RFF or Sump. Any ideas what it is?? Should I be worried?

Hiya signore, I think it's protein from the fish feed. How many and big are the trout you have?

11 trout around around 21cm

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Ok, cool. If all your water parameters are good and the fish still eating I wouldn't be too concerned. Keep an eye on it though.

Ph is 7.6 am .25 everything else is zero. Just added another bed with 450l of media to get rid of the remaining ammonia.

Trout are eating 10g twice a day. Silver perch haven't eaten in about a week but the water is only 8c.

Thanks for your help.

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Anyone know how long it takes a newly added bed to cycle when being added to an existing system?

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