Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Janet, nice pictures!

How much are you feeding your fish per day? I am still feeding mine 4 tablespoons twice a day, until I can increase my plant mass and bed volume.

Fishies get 3 Tablespoons 3 times a day if I am home, and 4 Tablespoons 2 times a day if I am at the office. I make that as 40-45 grams per day. I can't sqeeze in extra growbed space unless I get really creative, so overall, the fish mass has to go down. Next grow-out batch will be more like 40 fish instead of 55.

Glad to hear we're on the same page; I was worried that mine were getting way too small feedings comparatively...

Auto-siphon. Brilliant.

Having trouble giving up the flag? LOL

There are a couple of beaut systems in victoria (better than mine ) Food and fish has a trully outstanding one for large areas, and Steve and ange (BIL and SIL) have an outstanding courtyard system that support 30 odd plands and take up vitrually NO room.

How long have you been in OZ?

I just thought there should be some honesty in advertising. If you didn't know I was from the States, I'd look learning disabled the first time I opened my mouth about metric measurements. We've been here a month or so. I'm gathering odds nends for a small barrel-ponics system, but our first place here is a rental, so I want it to be transport-ish.

have a squiz at steve and anges courtyard system under "members systems"

Here's another couple of small backyard type systems Eli ....

Tims system

Simmos system

Update.

I've been having problems getting seeds to germinate directly in the gravel. For those seeds that do germinate, I have a lot of problems with the seedlings damping off (iow, they look fine one day, and fall over the next, rotten at the base.) Once seedlings get established, it's not a problem. I think the combination of lower light than ideal plus the wet nature of AP is giving me the problems. I tried setting the seeds in little depressions in the gravel, and although it got better germination, I still have the damping off problem.

Conversely, transplants with a little size to them are settling into the gravel beautifully. I crumble out what soil I can, rinse them under the faucet, and dig a little hole into the gravel. I spread the roots, then cover them back over. Finally, I pour an extra cup of fish-tank-water over the roots--that's a hold over from my dirt gardening transplant technique. I'm not really sure that last step is needed, but it is easy to do and it makes me happy.

Since this is "Janet's Jungle", and my light is not ideal for some of the typical veggies, I've decided that it is fair game to plant some tropical/flowering plants that will take moist, lower light conditions. I found an Australian tree fern, a begonia, a coleus, and some Crossandra at the local nursery. They transplanted without complaint. I also bought some Swiss Chard and pepper plants that are old enough to be past the damping off problem. I planted some Shiso and Chervil seeds in pots to try to get them old enough to transplant to the gravel, too.

I'm desperately trying to increase plant mass. My nitrates are still higher than I would like (about 200), and I really think I need to thin out the fish. (Since husband and I were unable to reliably sex the fish, we kept all the fish instead of culling the females out.) I hate to just dispose of the culls (just selected by size, this time), and was thinking in terms of fish broth, but with the high nitrates, I'm afraid I'll get too fishy of a taste. Decisions decisions.

Janet, can you hold the culls in clean water for two or three days? I hear that takes care of fishy taste.

I was thinking about that, Doug. I'm not willing to use the bathtub, but I do have a 20gal tub that was the fish tank of my original prototype. If I did daily water changes, I might not have to set up filtration, just an airstone. Hmmmm...wonder how many fish I can purge in 20gal (75liters).

Hi Janet:
That is interesting. Maybe you could pile up a little hill of gravel to start the seeds higher above the water line, and just water them when you feed the fish? I have been starting seeds in peat pellets in the gravel and they get pretty wet and they are move on top of the gravel to dry out some. I've transplanted some sprouts from the AP to the dirt garden with some problems so far. The Thai basil died (it was pretty big and the shock of moving from wet gravel to dirt was too much).

For the nitrates I am chaning out water, probably 5 gallons every three days or so, which is not helping much. But that may be an option if you can gear up a tap water aging pipeline.

Hi Janet Ive been told to feed my fish (silver perch) on cubed raw potato for a couple of days it cleans out their system while theyre waiting to be eaten!
Havent tried it but intend to soon.

Janet,
I just made my daughter a cheap 100 gallon AP system that you could build in your back yard now that it is warm.
I made a cement block box 3 blocks wide by 4 blocks long. I went three blocks hig and made sure the blocks overlap. I then took some wire and tied it around each row of blocks tightly. I used no cement.

I then simply put some ordinary polyethelene plastick inside and filled with water. I have had no problems with bowing or leakage. If you need I can post a pic. The tank cost me only $10.00 USD for blocks and plastick. It can be easily reassembled and disassembled within minutes. took me only 30 minutes to build the first time around. I expect less time if I do it again.

Just a suggestion.

"Hi" by the way.

DT good idea! Was wondering about how much block would be needed to keep from shifting without otehr support. I have probably 30 blocks just sitting on the side of the garage - moved them around just yesterday so they look a bit less trashy. The blocks absorb a good amount of sunlight and warmth too during the day.