My "Other Investments" - Aquaponics at Home

They told me their was more meat on the bones of gold fish then silver fish LOL.

They are just to help kick start the cycling process too build up the good bacteria etc. The zucchini, carrot, tomato & capsicum seeds i throw into the beds are all starting to pop up so looking good to date.

Now just to kill the kids in the house behind me & it will be peaceful.
 
Hey Dross, very well laid out and some great ideas in this setup. Thanks for sharing.

The greenhouse, did you cut out holes in the PVC as support guides and just bend the radius to your required size ? More info on this would be appreciated I need some type of protection down the side. I don't have a lot of space nor money so this looks to be semi cheaper option maybe.
 
Austacker, thanks mate,

PVC is to keep the irrigation pipe at 1 meter intervals & add support, gets too bendy in the Qld heat when the arch is so large. Each peice is a total of 8.3 meters so it wouls make the hoop house 3 meters tall & 4 meters wide, i made it 5 meters long.

once i finish framing the ends & rodent proofing the bottom I've throw the plastic over the whole thing & put a section either side 2 meters wide that will roll up from the top of the base board to to just under the top of the shade cloth.

Then i can fill the remaining floor space up with wicking beds, after the weed mat goes down & a layer of straw. Sorry its such a mess with stuff laying all over the place but its still a work in progress.

i put in a heap of seeds just last week & today came home to all the yellow zucchini plant about 1cm above the clay balls. Carrots are just under the surface, capsicums are growing well as are the tomato seeds, yellow Beetroots slower than the rest, very exciting stage at the moment.
 
Wasn't acquaponics originally done with fish living in the water beneath plants, i.e. with their roots growing in mesh etc, and the fish pretty much swimming around in the roots? Or is that considered ancient tech?
 
Many variations on the same (ancient) theme GP, this way is easier to ensure water returning to the fish is cleaner as it allows for filtration not only by plants but mechanical means etc also helps with aeration every little bit helps with water quality.
 
goldpelican said:
Wasn't acquaponics originally done with fish living in the water beneath plants, i.e. with their roots growing in mesh etc, and the fish pretty much swimming around in the roots? Or is that considered ancient tech?
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As dross said is quite correct. Generally just with the plants on top is not enough to filter the water. You can get a lot of grow bed from a tank. You can still float some plants in the fish tank. I plan on putting some mint in. This way it doesn't take over the grow bed, plus I have plenty of Mint for those summer Mojitos :) The Perch I have will work on the roots a bit as well. Most herbs can be done in a floating basket I believe.

http://backyardaquaponicsshop.com/shop/floating-basket/
 
SilverSurfer77 said:
Ok as promised here are some pics of my Tomatoe plants and just noticed this morning, my first Tomatoe :D
So this is just 4 weeks from a seedling into a pot, so stoked about the results and how fast they grow.
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Pick out the side shoots, get a better crop that way the side shoots are the ones between the horizontal shoots which bear the fruit and the main stem (i.e. the ones in the V of the stem/branch join)
 
^^^^^ ShadowPeo

Do you mean these ones ?

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Yep that's them, also we have always removed the lower two branches as tomatoes do not like getting their leaves wet, the removal of the branches eliminates this problem 99% of the time
 
I thought I would update at it has been a few weeks. The system seems to have settled in and I now have some algae which I have been told and seen to be a good thing. The plants seem to have settled well. Especially considering we have had storms, hail, gusting winds, stupid hot days and they are all fully in the elements.

I also got rid of the gravel base the other week. This was a big job and I lost a few fish in the process. Overall it was essential to be done and I believe it was the best thing to do. Sorry fish :(

I now have some Chilli coming up and start of the Capsicum. The tomotoes are a little slower but they had a hard start. I was told to perhaps spread them around a little. I may do this later today and see what the roots etc... are like. I can see some flowers coming up so I will leave those and move the others.

The few fish I have left have settled in fine and so have the Yabbies. I need to expand some areas for them to go but overall there seems enough places for them.

Any questions or advice always welcomed.

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I like the Yabbie!

Algae is not such a great thing but is probably inevitable.

It uses up nutrients and if something causes it to die back it reduces the dissolved oxygen in the water as it breaks down.

It does help use up the nitrates though and if you decide to clean it out then suddenly the other plants have to do that job or the nitrates spike.

In general the advice I have come across is...

Cover the fish tank with shade cloth to stop too much light penetration which will slow down algae growth.

Have the level of water in the grow beds around 2-5 cm below the substrate to prevent algae growth in the growbeds.

Get a fish that likes to eat algae or get some fresh water muscles to filter the water, though that is extra work too.

Looks good though!

edit: I know you are already doing the first thing :)
 
Jislizard said:
Have the level of water in the grow beds around 2-5 cm below the substrate to prevent algae growth in the growbeds.

Get a fish that likes to eat algae or get some fresh water muscles to filter the water, though that is extra work too.
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Cheers, I am going to cut the overflow a little lower still. I am finding the moisture on the surface of the rocks which over summer will cause a lot of water loss. I can see it only needs a few mill to fix this. Hence why I have left my access to this until all working well.

I do have some Silver Perch in there which I believe will eat the algae as well. So I just need to add a few more in to replace the few I lost. In all of the places I went algae was present and no one bothered with it. I suppose a difference between a little and a bloom though.

I am working on a Yabbie breeder box. As a few are heavy with eggs. This is a work in progress. I am trying to secure future batches.

Hopefully this weekend I can get out and add a few more plants and some Strawberries to the front edge + a few floating beds for the fish to hide and feed off the roots etc ?
 
Austacker,

Hows it all coming along?

Any updated Pics?

Been reading alot about Aquaponics over the last couple of months as I plan on starting a system pretty soon.
In Melbourne, so the climate can be pretty extreme at times. Wouldn't mind alternating between Trout in the
colder months and Silver Perch in the warmer months. Haven't told my wife yet. Suppose once she starts
seeing these IBC's and plumbing pipes in the backyard she will know I am upto something. We have a pond
and I was thinking of stocking that with fish and creating some growbeds. Only problem with that idea, we have
used the pond as a sort of a swimming pool for our dog when she comes back from her run she jumps straight in. :lol:

I will stick with the IBC method.

Cheers markcoinoz
 
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