Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Milne! yes mate, it is all good here at the moment, the new system is growing strongly!
I have attached a few photos but there are loads more here:

http://macedon-ranges-aquaponics.tumblr ... 015/05/30/
this is the latest growth update,

and this is the rest of everything else that is happening:
http://macedon-ranges-aquaponics.tumblr.com/

Come on up when the weathers better, I'd love your thoughts.

Good to hear from you,



HI Sammo, hows things?

I still haven't gotten around to covering the little system as yet, but for the big system i just used weed matting and no-nails to secure it. It came up alright though and is doing the job well. I still have the beds to do when the rain stops. Hopefully i can do like wise and eventually clad the whole lot and smarten it up some.

Regards,


Hi Peter,
Very happy to hear you are rebuilding, its looking very neat!
Proper and adequate filtration is essential, beauty mate, Keep me posted on your progress.
Our water temps have dropped to lows of 1Deg in the Perch tank and they are only feeding twice a week now, its very quiet, but the trout in the DW system are loving it!
Don't get bent to much around the axles about water numbers at the moment, manage your feeding and filtration and the rest will fall into place.
Good to hear from you,
Regards to you both,

Hi All, its been a while, so i thought an update might be in order.

The little system is trundling along as per usual, its 4-5 years old now, how time flies!

30 silver perch, a handful of Cod and 30 assorted Trout are keeping it powering along nicely.

Kale, Broccoli, cress, grapes, tomatoes, beans, spring onions, coriander, sage, rosemary and rhubarb occupy it at the moment with no complaints.

Other than that, no complaints.

Give me a sec and I will get some up of our deep water system too.

Regards

Our DWC,

We had to reconfigure it a little for better performance,

30 rainbows and 30 browns in here,

Celery, beans, kale, lettuce, sage, basil, coriander and strawberries in this one.

Its first full planting after its initial test planting and so far so good.

Regards

Looking good!

Just a heads up with the celery, it got so heavy that it started pulling the rafts into the water, and they were starting to die off.

ALthough, your supports look a little stronger at keeping it above water.

All looking great there mate:thumbright:

Have you got Willy up and running yet?

Hi Colum, Hows things Mate?

Yea, it's a little deceiving, when they're raised up like this, they take the full weight of the roots and plants and bow a little, however when the boards are back in place, they straighten out and support the weight beautifully.

I don't usually raise them unless its to show visitors or update the Blog, but it is fun to see peoples faces!



Hi Mate! thanks very much,
Willy's system design is complete on paper, it's going to be substantial.
The parts list is crazy long,
We are just waiting for some parts to begin building.
The site has been leveled and i BELIEVE that the foundations for the RAS part of it begins to be laid down next week, we had to suspend the build over winter to monitor the ground for run off etc.
He has a fair bit of welding to do and i don't envy him one bit!
But i have to tell you, it is going to be a smart looking system!

He came out to Ballarat Hatchery Saturday just gone and we were talking again about getting down there to see you and catch up and have a coffee,

Will look forward to it,
Regards,

Great stuff, look forward to seeing you both

Nice work, Porter. System looks great.

The biggest learning curve for me with this system, is learning what 'needs' what plants have in a mixed planting DWC environment.

In this instance, the Celery, some 3ft tall, that we had at each end of the beds was simply depleting the rest of the system of nutrients, they are such heavy feeders.

Now that I have moved both rafts side by side at the very end, it has slowed the water flow significantly at the outlet. But since then, we have seen a big change in those plants that were yellowing.

I think next seasons planting I will go by 'Row' as opposed to by 'Raft', so instead of having a raft per vegie type, I will have an entire row from one end to the other.

That way i can place the heavy feeders right the way down one side of the system and the light feeders still have a chance.

Probably old news to you long time DWC growers, but its been fun.

I discovered the same thing. But if you plant anything next to Celery, make sure it isn't over shadowed by the massive plants.

looking good Porter, the root system on celery sure is impressive.
God bless, froggo

looking good mate, how are the rafts holding up with all the moisture?

Hi Colum, I live for the day i can have a little more space!!

Hi Froggo! Thanks Mate, Hows things up your way?

Hi Craig,
Yeah really good, the rafts are holding up just fine,
They are sitting up off the water level by 3/4 of an inch or so,
They are even weather pretty well,
It was an experiment that seems to have paid off pretty well.

Regards

Looks great Porter Keep up the good work.

Love the growth - all looks great.

Really like the DWC tops - are they made from marine ply and varnished/2 packed? Have you just used broom handles for the support?

Like the fact they can be secured into position preventing access to the DWC water. One reason why I didn't want to do EPS DWC was due to drowning risks if a small child were to lift off the EPS.