Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have noticed a few people seem to start systems get going and then dissapear do they have a crash and get dishartend .If you do have a crash remember the inferstructure [all the hard work] is allready there you can successfully run on seasol to keep the plants going .I had a major one chemical contamination i buried the fish then started by scrubbing the fish tanks with bleach then filled one at a time and tested with goldfish [gunea pigs] then i flushed the beds put one at a time back on line .If i can do it anybody can [i realy get pi---d off when things dont go right]

maybe they arent serious enough about it all f&f?

thanks for the encouragement F&F, it's good for folks to hear this

Yes theres been some bloody good systems dissapear

not one of them, just on hold, waiting for my bionic knees,
recup. will take few weeks after each one

Some people may be coming and going, and their systems may still be ticking along nicely perhaps, but we just don;t hear about them any more....

But it is true FF, people shouldn't just give up if they have one set back..

Keep in mind that seasol won't provide the basic nutrients, of NPK to a great extent, in fact there's basically no nitrogen in seasol. You have to use some charlie carp, compost tea, urine etc to get all your nutes..

dont use thrive though

There is something that people also need to take into account...

100Ltr Water = 200 Ltr Growbed = 6kg Fish (FOR MAX STOCKING DENSITY)

ie 1000lt water = 2000 Ltr Growbed = 60 Kg fish

For beginners, including myself, dont put 6kg of fish into the system, but keep the same ratios for water and growbed...

This gives a margin for error etc.

Thats something we have discussed with EB and he told me that he thought a system like this could probably have enough nutrient with say 1.5 Kg of fish for every 100 Ltr of water... The more growbed volume you have (bacteria), the better you can process the fish etc...

U know im preaching to the converted here, but If your not intending to eat much from the fish part of the system at first, then start small and build up.

Very true MC all i'd modify from your statement is this


The more growbed volume you have , the better you can process the fish waste via plants etc...

In my mind the bed to fiah ratio is a bout supplying enough plants to use nitrate and enough volume for solids entrapment and biodegrading. Bacteria can colonise a relatively small physical foot print if need be

Sorry for the edit Mc , just want people to have the relationship really clear in their head.

Even better still work on your stocking ratios related to your growbed volumes.. One of the issues with 2:1 growbed to fish tank ratios, is that most media people are using in there growbeds has almost 40-50% air spaces.. If you do have a growbed to fish tank ration of 2:1, with 40-50% air space, you have no water left in your fish tank when the growbeds are pumped full of water...

Go for the biggest fish tank you can afford and/or fit, and base your stocking density on the volume of growbeds that you can have...

Are there any in WA going cheap?

Tony

Sorry tony, you lost me, what exactly?

That was in relation to F&F's comments about AP systems disappearing after the newbie has a system crash. Perhaps there are people out there (in WA) who would care to offload their AP system.

Perhaps I should have used more words in my earlier post.

Tony

LOL

Go on tony, take it of their hands and turn the system around!