Aquaponics - in progress

This is my sister inlaws aquaponics setup. I don't really know much about it but thought i'd post it up out of interest. It's a bit of a rough homemade grow bed, and an old bathtub. The bathtub has a pond liner in it because they couldn't get the plug to seal properly. I think the shadecloth generally keeps leaves and cats out, and provides shade.

I think the fish are "sooty grunter" ? i'm not 100% on that. There's about 10 of them, and about 10 - 15 cm long at the moment.

Photos are at the first stages a few months ago, and then progress to last weekend with some more plant growth. I'm not sure if there's been a few crops or if this is it.

 

The pump is continuous, when it was first set up the water flow was pretty quick (like a garden hose flat out), but last weekend it was pretty slow, so they must be learning and adjusting it as they go. I forgot to ask. If you compare the top two photos and the bottom two photos, you can see that she has bunched up the grow media so the surface level is a bit out of the water, must work better.

 

probably right there Mark, the fish are only small and wouldn't be producing much yet.

 

Hey that's pretty cool.

Question, what is that stuff on the surface? It looks like macadamia nuts! but I'm sure its not.
Just interested.

 

I think the Grow Media is called clay pebbles, you can use different stuff like gravel aswell.

 

There is an abundance of pummice stone washed up on my beaches in northern NSW that would be perfect for aquaponics growing media. Obviously a thorough flush with fresh water is needed. And it free!! I like the concept but does any of you know about how much fish could be harvested from such a set up? Also what are good aquaponics fish species?

Ben

 

Hi Ben, If you're interested i have added some updates/photos to this aquaponics set up in the wickbed thread (i'm a bit unorganized).

I visited a fellas aquaponics set up on Saturday, he has a 1000L tank with 50 fish in it, I think they're Jade Perch, I suspect that might be too many and he might create more space for them in the future.

There is 10 Jade Perch in the bathtub here, maybe a couple hundred litres of water, but the new pond might be nearly 1000L so we should be able to increase the amount, more fish more fish poo?

People usually use gravel because it's cheap but they also say it's harder to work with, it's heavy and is hard on your hands/skin.

In the end, I don't think aquaponics will save you any money because of the set up and ongoing costs.

(note, I am no expert at this stuff)

PS. Here's the wickbed project and also contains updates for this aquaponics thread>> http://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/wick-bed-project.252/

or the simplified build: http://shackers.net/projects/37-aquaponics-in-progress

 

Here's a pic of Terrys aquaponics setup. 1000L fish tank with 50 fish, gravity drains in to two grow beds growing things like spinach, the beds have a flood and drain system using the Bell valve method, (the water builds up to a level and then drains out, not sure exactly the reasons for this but is supposed to help keep worms healthy and in action), they drain in to a lower level tank, then pumps back to the fish tank. Some great stuff happening in peoples backyards.

 

update, we had a big day on Saturday,

1. fish pond is full of water with the fish transfered in to it
2. the water trough is in place and liner is in, basic plumbing is set up (needs a bit more plumbing)
3. the grow bed is finished, new liner is in and media is back in

The water is pumped from the fish tank in to the grow bed, then is flows by gravity in to one end of the water trough, then by gravity back in to the fish pond

when i left Saturday they were filling the grow bed and trough with water . It still needs a little bit more work.

 

cheers Mark. We've done four Saturday sessions, so when you space it out it's not too bad. It might take a few months to build up the water/plant/fish system. I'll get some progress photos over time to see how it's going.

a new blank 2 acre block sounds good. You could do time lapse photos, choose a spot in the block and take a photo from that position once a year or so?

 

But you'll be over there all the time helping out? Maybe you could build a test pizza oven there