Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Everyone... Figure i should do one of these just so i'm not another of the faceless masses...


I like fish (and cheese!).


Grew up in Tassie, on a family vineyard growing premium wine grapes, about 40km out of Launceston. 40km is a long way in Tassie, so of course we had our own garden for every kind of fruit and vegetable possible in our climate. We had a small orchard of apples, pears, plums, cherries, citrus (mostly lemons, because nothing else grows WELL in the cold!).

The garden itself was full of all sorts of seasonal produce, more tomatoes than we knew what to do with (which resulted in a pantry more than half full of preserves at times!). The chooks would often wander through freely as they wished, as long as they didn't eat away at the plants too much.

I wasn't really super interested in gardening at that age, i'll admit... Moved out of home pretty early and started my own journey, firstly to Melbourne, then back to Tassie for a few years, which is where i started out in IT.

Pay wasn't that good, and the work wasn't thrilling, with no real ability to advance myself at that stage, so when i got a job offer to move to Perth, i took it and never really looked back.

These days, i do more enterprise IT (networking) and private communications systems work - be it fibre optics (NBN style, but for private business), TV systems, microwave links, or plain old Cat6 Ethernet. More in the telecommunciations trade these days than IT, but still working for an IT/ISP company, so they're quite complimentary skillsets. Mostly working FIFO these days, but otherwise i'm office-based in Perth.

Anyway, long story short is, i bought a house recently, so finally had a bit of a say in what goes on in the garden! Perth soils are crap, by the way. So i could if i really wanted to try and build up the soil quality here, but really... Why use soil if you don't have to?! And, if i didn't mention, i like fish.

In case you've not seen it, i've started with a single IBC system, tucked in under my patio which gets some good afternoon sun (very little morning sun though). It's not an ideal location, but enough for me to test the water, so to speak, in aquaponics.

The system hasn't fully cycled yet (ammonia is gone, nitrites through the roof, nitrates appearing), but i'm already considering how to expand into a decent 3 or 4 growbed system of a decent size, with a maybe 2 or 3 thousand litre fishtank... I've got plenty of space in the back yard, it just needs to be cleared out first, after the people i bought the place off decided that a fake stone riverbed that drains towards the house in winter was a good idea.

So that's the next *big* project for the back yard, clear the whole lot out and start again. And a shed. That's probably first, then i'll throw in the new AP system after that. I've not really done a lot of woodwork or construction jobs, but that's something that will be featuring heavily in the coming months, with a new outdoor kitchen being built, to be quickly followed by a renovation of the indoor kitchen.

My only rule for the garden, and what i grow, is this:

I must be able to either:
a) Eat it, or;
b) Brew with it

If i can't do either, it doesn't get planted. Function over form.

Other interests include:
Amateur Radio (HAM radio)
Beer/Whisky/Port/Ok, alcohol generally.
Mountain biking/Cycling
HIking/Camping
Electronics
Sound engineering/AV
Photography
Homebrewing - Beer, Cider, etc.
Ingress (Ingress Perth)



And finally, thanks to everyone who has helped so far, and will help in the future with some no doubt very silly questions i'll have to ask. Hopefully i'll be able to return the favour for you and others too

Cheers!

Chig.

Hi Chig,

saw your other post, welcome aboard.
the initial IBC setup will teach you a few tricks and provide many ideas for the inevitable expansion

take a look at the various wicking bed threads around here as well.
Another good way to manage water and get good results and complements the AP side.

the one thing that does do very well in the gutless Perth soil is fruit trees.
Got to have at least a lemon and we grow limes without too many issues and just hand watering.
(We go mandarins and oranges as well but then you got to deal with the fruit fly).
Just need to go with good mulches and couple bags manure in the initial stages.

Photos, we need photos!

Have you ridden the Munda Biddi Trail on the MTB yet?

Haha, i'll get some photos sorted out in a few weeks - i'm in the middle of the desert currently, so the closest thing you'll get to any photos is some bush tomatoes growing in the area

Haven't done the Minda Biddi yet, but it certainly is on the list... I attempted a Perth > Brisbane cycle tour a few years ago, but sadly had issues with my knee after about 5 days in - only got down to busselton! Still something i want to do, but going to need to do some serious fitness work to get race-fit again.

At home at the moment i have a lemon tree and a mandarin - though the mandarin fruit are quite small, and the skin is very tough. That said, the flavour is quite good. I also have a peach tree, which last year got absolutely massacred by fruit fly - i've put up a few traps this year in the hope it'll reduce their numbers... I doubt i'll go close to removing all the resident population, but it'll at least be on the decline.

Hey Chig... Missed your intro thread, great to see another ingress player getting into aquaponics..

To anyone else wondering what ingress is....? If you have a smart phone, try it out, it's free, it's a great way to get out and about, get fit, meet new people, and have fun... Go resistance.....

Welcome Chigerama.

Im from Tassie, born in Burnie. My family was in mining so when the tin industry dies back in the early 80's we all moved to the goldfields. Im in NSW now but my parents have gone back to Tas, they are in Perth near Launceston (the other perth). I havent been back for years but hope to next year for a visit. Im definitely a warmer weather bloke nowadays.

Best of luck with the build.

That's because you're soft Charlie.....

Haha, only on the inside mate. You look soft from the outside

Haha thanks guys...

System is going well... no fatalities, everything is looking lush...

Actually, I have been wondering about growing HOPS in AP..

Anyone know where one can get plants.. I do wish I was in Tasy, where they grow wild..
..
.

They don't really grow wild... they just grow well. Think i've got a hop bine still alive in the garden down there at my folks place...

I bought the rhizome from a guy on ebay originally, long time ago, but i do remember it had to be treated a certain way for Tassie customs to allow it... I can only assume WA would be the same, so haven't bothered here.

NSW would be pretty lax in that regard, i'd say.

Yea pretty easy to get hold of here in NSW, Bui. they were more readily available a couple months ago but there should still be some around.

Try ebay or a brewing forum like AHB.