Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good to see your still at it PJL!

That's a lot of trout you lucky bugger.
Have a good trout season, I hope they grow out well.

It's not like you don't have room in there!

Thanks, Martin. I hope you're enjoying the Land of the Long White Cloud.

You're right, Mel Redcap! I have sufficient space/volume to raise thousands of trout at a time in this tank, if only the filtration was up to the task.

I'm pleased with how my fish are performing this time around. I've lost just one trout out of this year's batch, and that one hung herself out to dry on the overhead bird netting. All of the others are going well, although they're growing quite slowly relative to the growth rates that we know trout can achieve, if fed well. Mine are relatively small due to being fed less than they can consume, but I still have filtration limitations which I dare not exceed so the fish stay hungry but, otherwise, alive and well.

In previous years, by the time I'd had my trout for 10-12 weeks, I'd lost up to 10% of them through ammonia/nitrite spikes, for no apparent reason or by misadventure. This year the figure is 0.002%.

Good thinking

Correction: my losses this season equate to 0.2%, not 0.002%.

Nice going PJ. I hope they it all goes well.

Martin.

Not bad odds PJ, Are you happy with the set up? Any fish pics? Whats the story at the puddle?

Thank you, Martin.

I'm not overly happy with set-up, Charlie. I need more grow beds than the five I have in service now, but the sump into which they drain is a limiting factor. I got hold of an unusual but decent-sized tank that I could probably use as a sump but I haven't yet come up with a detailed plan for its use. I'll post a pic or two when I get a chance.
The existing grow beds have been doing too much work and became clogged with waste quite early in the season. I at least need to install something to settle or strain solids out of the fish water before it enters the grow beds but I haven't had time to do it.

I've heard no news of the Puddle other than, in response to an advertisement, someone went in and caught many of the 100 silver perch that were growing nicely there. I was disappointed that I wasn't given the opportunity to do so.

This could be sump #3 unless I come up with a better use for it.

I made a random dab in the big tank and came up with about a dozen lively trout. They might be easier to catch than in previous seasons but they have a long way to go before they're pan size.

Re the tank two entries above this one, I've come up with a better use for it than as a sump tank. It will be a fish tank in my shade-house, with a few IBC grow beds and an IBC sump attached. It would be great to set it up using solar power but that might have to be a project for the future. (I'll just add it to the list...)

I've been plagued in the last couple of years with too much in the way of solids entering my GBs via the drains from the bottom of the fish tank. It was even worse this year because of the 60% increase in fish numbers.

To rectify the problem I have I've finally built and installed a radial flow filter (RFF) to separate some of these solids before they clog my grow media.

Unlike the other RFF that I installed when I first started with AP in 2012 (200L drum, still operating), this one is pressurised. Also, the waste outlet is 40mm diameter rather than 25mm and that makes a significant difference when it comes to sucking up detritus. It helps that I have also used an eight armed waste-lifting spigot which I've re-purposed from a pool sand filter.

Now I suppose it's a case of hoping that the worms in the partially clogged GBs can eat their way through the sludge, and unclog the media sufficiently well that I can keep the the GBs operational through to the end of the trout season.

Incredible system PLJ. Thanks for the updates. Sad about your friend's Puddle system. I just did a WiFi installation for some folks that just moved in nearby. They told me a disheartening story about the Koi pond in the house they sold. While explaining to the new owners about the Koi pond they understood the new people would take care of their beloved fish or they would have moved the Koi. They just learned the new owners' killed the Koi and filled in the pond with cement. What is wrong with people? That was mean and rude.