Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

indeed and as the oldest of the ent and being a spritely 11000 years old and the oldest living being in middle earth I am tend to ponder at length until driven to action;) Do you have your blue card for that avitar of yours:)

Shintaro is a childhood hero, with his sidekick Tombe the Mist. I spent hours trying to jump backwards onto the shed roof gave me thighs like bull frogs. A friend of mine made some samurai star knives from tinplate at school and actually pinned a blowfly to the laundry wall with it...legend!!!
I do truly have a blue card...somewhere...probably expired...

Sorry to hear about the thighs, would suggest long shorts on public occasions;). Have always secretly suspected as with all quality B grade martial arts pics that the blue card is actually red:) guess that fly was lucky you didnt have chopsticks mr Myagi

Thighs are not for public viewing...but have grown out with age. Shintaro is above reproach. Mess with him and I will personally add Humonia to your drinking pond. Tee Hee, I am feeling naughty!

Another shot of haloperidol for the man in room 4 please.

KE, did you see any headlines for Toowoomba today...seige, hostage, police storm house...one I have 'cared' about

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2007/no ... omba-home/

That is correct Snag, except I did mention that this trough is designed to be only half filled.

Quoting Me:

"the Box trough is designed to be filled half way up (or to the ridge in the plastic, hence it's quoted 340L, it will in fact hold twice that volume if filled. "

So in fact this will hold about 700L if full, 600 if a reasonable lip remains to prevent spillage. Thereby pricing this trough at only 50c/L

It's by far the best thing I could find, and I have contacts in the industry!
The only thing I couldn't get a decent price (or discount even) on was 'Box Pallets' These are injection moulded pallets either 2m*1m or 1m*1m and vary from 300mm high to 1m high, and would be suitable for tanks as well as grow beds. They have ribs 50-75mm thick injection moulded in a grid spaced about 150mm apart, these things wont swell crack break or nothing! And they're stackable!

Imagine, a dozen of these, and a forklift.
plum them with venturies so they can drain into each other on an overflow basis
then to get your fish, just unstack them
it would have to be the highest density around
plus on the very top, you could have a short one acting as a growbed.

or just a small system, each tank gets a growbed that fits neatly on top.
It's the perfect prefab aquaponics solution.

Many thanks, Kudapucat. The more I look at these troughs, the more I like them, especially as you point out they make a stackable type system that reduces 'footprint' for folks like me with limited space. And yup, the $/Litre ratio is even better than I thought. I am wondering...would several systems of this type with growbeds stacked on top of the stocktrough be more viable than one big tank (say 3000L) feeding several growbeds with associated plumbing/pumping costs, not to mention the space factor? It would have to be a timed f&d type with standpipe, or continious flow. Has anyone done research on tank size verses fish size?? What I am also wondering is this...is there a minimum size tank that allows full growth potential, or does the tank size have no bearing upon growth rate? Does a big tank actually encourage growth? I also wonder if a circular tank 'fools' the fish into thinking it is in a big tank?

Axis II, the "Axis of evil" ?

The world turns on Axis II

For those puzzling about this cryptic exchange, I refer you to the 'Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Psychiatry Rev.4' found in your AP Toolkit.

Think that's the one I used to prop up one of the growbed legs to make it level SNAG....

And that would be about the most useful thing you could do with it!!!

Use a high flow of water recirculating in the pump so they grow BIG muscles due to having to swim all day

First, the grow beds I pictured earlier are not stackable, I was talking about something I've not been able to price.

Next, Size of tank imho has little bearing on the size of fish grown. If you have a larger body of water, there is more natural food, there is also a larger 'exercise yard' for the fish.

It is my experience that these wive's tales always have basis in the mundane. So now we're talking about goldfish in a pond left outside with no food and no care.

A big pond allows better water quality, a larger natural food source and a more stable temperature.

My evidence for believing this a wive's tale is that I have kept fish in varying sizes of aquariums for nigh on 10 years now, and whilst they do grow out of a tank it is only because the tank is too small to allow movement.

I have grown 2 Tandanus Tandanus with 2 Salmon Cats in a 2'x1'x1' tank before and achieved a size of 6-8" before I lost one due to water quality, and took pity on them cos there wasn't much room left.

The box troughs however are a neat idea imho, as you can use the entire tank area to grow vegies, you'll probably want extra beds as well however.
I wouldn't bother with a tank that was less than 1mx1m and probably 700L as a minimum (0.7m high for the math deficient)

Quote "First, the grow beds I pictured earlier are not stackable, I was talking about something I've not been able to price. "

Yup, gotcha, my bad


Quote "Next, Size of tank imho has little bearing on the size of fish grown. If you have a larger body of water, there is more natural food, there is also a larger 'exercise yard' for the fish."

Hmmm, I was talking more about growth rates than genetic disposition.
It seems to me that the quality of the environment we provide will have a significant impact upon growth rates and stress. An unspoken goal of aquaponics imho is turnover...not ultimate mass achieved. The max experimental stocking figure of 6kg fish per 100L tank size is not economically viable if it takes 10 years to achieve. I was just wondering if any trials of big vs small tanks had highlighted an optimum fish tank size yet. I don't argue about fish in natural environments, but we are looking at a very artificial environment here, don't know where the 'natural' food source comes from.

Quote "It is my experience that these wive's tales always have basis in the mundane. So now we're talking about goldfish in a pond left outside with no food and no care. "

Lost me there...

Quote "A big pond allows better water quality, a larger natural food source and a more stable temperature. "

Yup, I agree, but we are talking about tanks, not ponds. Better water quality...yes, if it is not overstocked for the growbed size. More stable temp..,.yes, but that depends on the physical attributes of the microclimate where the tank is located. Natural food source...no, does not exist in an aquaculture tank.

Quote "
My evidence for believing this a wive's tale is that I have kept fish in varying sizes of aquariums for nigh on 10 years now, and whilst they do grow out of a tank it is only because the tank is too small to allow movement."

Fish will continue growing all their life, unless disease, predators or fishermen intervene. I am talking about growth rates.

Quote "I wouldn't bother with a tank that was less than 1mx1m and probably 700L as a minimum (0.7m high for the math deficient)"

Your call...but I am amazed by the scaleability of the aquaponic concept...from aquaria supporting a couple of tomatoes grown in the living room to tanks of tens of thousands of litres supporting greenhouses full of lush growth. Seems to be very flexible. But, yup, I think bigger is better.

Love the debate...we all benefit