Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Gut yes, scale no, as trout dont really have scales, then straight into the fridge or freezer. We eat the skin, which I cook to slightly crispy.

Your Hilux reminds me when they tried killing one on top gear, and it just kept on going.

Glad there was very little damage.

This morning's harvest of peas, all eaten now

I've given up on peas. I hate peeling them. Reminds me of being an apprentice and 50kg of them coming in, and I had to peel them all.

haha, when I was at school we lived in a pea growing area and used to buy big hessian bags of them from a farmer who lived close by. We'd all sit around the table shelling peas for a few hours so mum could make soup etc with them.

These 4 pea plants are producing so well that I think I'll plant a whole lot more next year, so I can sell some at the markets and make some soup. It's been more humid than usual, and lots more rain, so these have no sign of powdery mildew, which was a real problem for the plants in the greenhouse in 2013 where it was dry and the plants never had any rain on them.

Looks like some hot weather on the way for next week, so I thought I'd better pull a few more fish tonight.
10 harvested, with the largest at 1018g, and an average weight of 843g, so a fairly hefty haul. I'm quite pleased with the size, it's just on 9 months since they were 40-90mm long and only a few grams in weight.

One of them had a bit of a bloody tail, it looked like some others had been having a chew on it. I've had a couple of others like that in the past month too.

There should be 69 remaining in this system.

I had to remove the backup DC air pump (running 5 min on/15min off), as it was not pumping much air at all- certainly not enough to keep the fish alive if the main air pump failed. I pulled it apart to discover that the plate with holes that the oulet flapper is a bit warped, with a couple of micro-cracks near a screw hole as well. I rolled up some teflon tape and placed it around the edge between the plate and rubber gasket that it seals against, which appears to have it working again for now. I would have replaced it with the spare Hailea, but the brushes on it are worn out, but I have replacements on order now.

Did you wind up ordering a whole new pump or just replacement parts?



You should try sugar snap peas (snap pea) or snow peas then - no peeling needed.

http://www.rareseeds.com/sugar-snap-pea/

Just replacement brushes, Scotty.

12 more harvested tonight, and I happened to net the Murray Cod, which is still quite small, maybe 250g, so it went back in. When I felt it in the net (I catch them in the dark), I thought it didnt feel right for a trout, so I had a look with a dim light and realised it was the cod.
Largest tonight was 1006g, average 725, as there were a few around 600g. 57 to go!

cool man. Beautiful fish. 1009 grams!!! Outstanding. Anyone keeping score for biggest AP fish?

Wow Gordon,

that's impressive!

Do you gut and pack them straight after the catch?

What do you do with the offal?
I watched one of Murray's videos where he says he throws it in the compost???

Pete.

I net them out, which took 20 mins last night- they kept hiding on the far side of the tank, I think they remember the net from Thrusday night! I put them in the esky with ice, carry them up to the house, weigh them, then start gutting and cleaning them up. My wife operates the vacuum sealer and then they go into the fridge, before being distributed between 3 freezers for fast cooling, unless we have some orders for dolphin friendly cat food, in which case they are left in the fridge and distributed the next day, as half this lot were. The dog gets the occasional liver, and I just tip the guts into the toilet No flushing required though, as it is a Clivus Multrum composting toilet. Eventually, they'll be fertilising my cherry trees.
If vacuum packed and frozen straight away, they still taste perfectly good after 18 months, which is the longest I kept any, from my first batch in 2013.

10 more taken out last night, 2 of which I put in the other system, leaving 47 in the FT. 8 went into the freezer, largest 886g, average 603g, as there were some smaller ones, with the smallest at 380g after gutting, which is "plate size" as sold to restaurants.

Gordon have you got any tips for quarantining my 22 trout?

I was going to salt at 3 PPT and put in a 60 lt plastic container for a week with the bubbler, then slowly bring up the PH by adding FT water.

Pete.