Would You Like Some Fish With Your Hops.

[kirem]

just read Pete's posts, he covers just about all the basics very clearly. Great posts

Dissolved oxygen is key, try to splash the water at as many places as possible

the fish ratio of 1:10 is when everything is working spot on, no room for error etc. but I can't eat or give away 100 fish, so I halve it. I normally grow murray cod, and the little ones or slow growers get eaten by larger fish, but I work my fish number based on this.

I normally have three grow beds, one of which is dedicated to herbs and I have grown garlic in that as well

Aquaponics is a lot like brewing, the basics are the basics, but many ways to skin a cat.

I started out with a foam broccoli box as a grow bed sitting over the top of my fish tank. The fish tank is now a grow bed! The foam box had holes punched in the bottom so it just drained freely. Once I got started I worked on ways to make it work better and then just got bigger and better. Looking at what was freely or cheaply available and what I needed to spend money on. I still need to put more aeration in the system, it is the most crucial thing.

In my experience, most species can tolerate higher temps, it is just at higher temps, higher DO is harder/if not impossible. So spend some money on aeration and higher temps (within reason) are less of concern.

 

[bonj]

I have read Pete's info, and there's some great stuff there. I am still a little confused about the fish tank to grow bed ratio. the 1:1 and 1:3 ratios don't explain the ratio of capacity... how much grow bed volume for that 1000L tank size?

 

[pdilley]

fun fun fun!

Since kirem steered me towards this on the chat one day, I now have grand plans for an aquaponic system with redclaw... I'm just a little stumped on how to match the pump flow with for a flood and drain system (probably using auto-siphons)... and matching the fish tank to growbed sizes. Anybody have any magic algorithms?

Matching is so easy you will kick yourself for how easy it is


With your sump pump you connect the tank water to the grow bed.

But in between in the plumbing you have a T-connector and the extra connection goes to a valve that regulates water flow. This valve simply dumps water on the other side back into the fish tank. This A. Oxygenates the fish tank (you can never have enough oxygen, once the O2 levels are saturated excess is never absorbed). and B. cuts the pump flow rate into the actual grow bed down.

You take your watch and you time how long it takes for the water to fill the grow bed and reach the top of the exit pipe starting the siphon. If this time is less than 12 minutes your flow rate is too fast so you open the valve on the T-connector more and let more water escape back into the fish tank. You then time it again until you reach about 12 minutes then you have "dialled" your system in.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

I have read Pete's info, and there's some great stuff there. I am still a little confused about the fish tank to grow bed ratio. the 1:1 and 1:3 ratios don't explain the ratio of capacity... how much grow bed volume for that 1000L tank size?

Shout out to Kirem, love the yabbies! I was always thinking what about those Tassy ones they fly in to posh restaurants live, just slip a few in your tank and have big buggers on the plate as well as fish.

Ok 1:1 ratio.

You have a 1000 Litre fish tank. You must put on 1000 litres worth of grow beds.

If your grow beds are 250 litre capacity each, you put on 4 of them. If you have 300 litre capacity grow beds you put on 3 of them (close enough to 1:1).

Ok 1:3 Ratio.

You have a 1000 Litre fish tank. You must put on 3000 litres worth of grow beds.

If your grow beds are 250 litre capacity each, you put on 12 of them. If you have 300 litre capacity grow beds you put on 10 of them (spot on this time round).




The golden depth ratio with Aquaponics is 30cm deep beds. Smaller will work but not be as productive as a minimum of 30cm depth.



The other rule is nutrient rich fish water grows algae, and oh boy does it! - So the algae rule is you make sure you fill your grow media in a few cm above the water level where it enters into the exit tube creating the syphon. That way nutrient rich water never gets direct contact with the fish water and your system remains algae clean. This is also the reason why your fish tank is mostly covered from direct sunlight.



When I said cover your grow beds that was just a carport roof, or if going the whole hog putting out a greenhouse frame and poly tarp roof to direct the rainfall off the grow beds where it will overfill the fish tank when the beds flood and drain.



P.S. I am not sure if I'm getting my DVD back from the neighbour



Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[bonj]

I was thinking of some elaborate bypass system, but you have put it so simply.... I just kicked myself in the head (well, I would have if I was that flexible). Any magic numbers for pump flow ratings? I plan on building a simple system, but with the possibility of expansion. Probably start with the minimum you recommend (1000L).

Matching is so easy you will kick yourself for how easy it is


With your sump pump you connect the tank water to the grow bed.

But in between in the plumbing you have a T-connector and the extra connection goes to a valve that regulates water flow. This valve simply dumps water on the other side back into the fish tank. This A. Oxygenates the fish tank (you can never have enough oxygen, once the O2 levels are saturated excess is never absorbed). and B. cuts the pump flow rate into the actual grow bed down.

You take your watch and you time how long it takes for the water to fill the grow bed and reach the top of the exit pipe starting the siphon. If this time is less than 12 minutes your flow rate is too fast so you open the valve on the T-connector more and let more water escape back into the fish tank. You then time it again until you reach about 12 minutes then you have "dialled" your system in.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[bonj]

Pete, you are a total legend! Thanks for clearing the ratios up. I had read it as 1x fish tank to 1 growbed (of unknown volumes)... but now I know you were talking about the volume it is much clearer.

 

[pdilley]

Pumps in the video with the full starter kits range from 3000 litres per hour to 4800 litres per hour.


The guy who made the video sells all his kits so he spent quite a bit of time in the video promoting his gear but he also showed how to do it with bath tubs although their small 300 litre or so size makes them less than ideal for stability he still shows you how to do it. EDIT: Model 3000/4000/5000 was used in his kits on the video.

Have a butchers at his products he put together for an idea of the the ranges and sizes of gear:

http://www.aquaponics.net.au/



Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Pete, you are a total legend! Thanks for clearing the ratios up. I had read it as 1x fish tank to 1 growbed (of unknown volumes)... but now I know you were talking about the volume it is much clearer.

1 fish to 10 litres of water is the amount of fish you stock in the system.

so 100 fish for your 1000 litre tank or 200 fish for a 2000 litre tank, etc.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[bonj]

Have a butchers at his products he put together for an idea of the the ranges and sizes of gear:

http://www.aquaponics.net.au/

I have checked that site out, and they're nice and close to me too... but the kit systems are a little pricey.

 

[wakkatoo]

I was only just talking to my wife about the location of my aquaponics system about an hour ago. Jump on here and look what I find!!

Brewer Pete- what dvd have you got? Google has brought up a couple of aussie possibilities.

 

[pdilley]

Kits are pricey! He sells D.I.Y. kits so you can get 1000 litre tanks for $500 or so. You can also supply all your own gear sourced from all over. Just using the kit as the guide, the top end has a 2300 litre fish tank and 200 litre fingerling tank. Four 585 litre grow beds and can handle a total of eight 585 litre grow beds. Includes and 8000 lph pump (assume its for the main tank) and a 6000 lph pump (assume its for the fingerling tank which empties splashing and oxygenating the main tank.

These are turnkey systems so we see the end of the spectrum with these and everyone reusing what is available or building there own systems as with Kirems setup. They're all good and cater to different folks.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

I was only just talking to my wife about the location of my aquaponics system about an hour ago. Jump on here and look what I find!!

Brewer Pete- what dvd have you got? Google has brought up a couple of aussie possibilities.

From here:
http://www.aquaponics.net.au/dvd.htm

Aquaponics Made Easy
Murray Hallam.
33.00 plus post

I also have although not from here:
Food Forest
Permaculture
Geoff Lawton.
33.00 plus post

That last video blew me away. Read reviews were people even cried, powerful stuff.. makes me want to give it a go one day.

and this one:
Harvesting Water
Permaculture
Geoff Lawton.
33.00 plus post.

just missing this one:
Permaculture Design
Geoff Lawton.
33.00 plus post



Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[wakkatoo]

Kirem - how do you access the inside of your IBC fish tank? Couldn't quite see how in the pic

edit - my bad, just enlarged the photo and saw the access hatch you cut

 

[kirem]

One of the inhabitants.

View attachment 36499

 

[litre_o_cola]

One of the inhabitants.

View attachment 36499

Looks great!
How long did it take to get to that size?

 

[kirem]

Looks great!
How long did it take to get to that size?

maybe 2-3 years. Murray cod stop feeding and growing during winter, if I warmed my tank I could get them to that size in maybe 1.5-2.5 years. That is one of the bigger ones and will probably be on a bbq soon.

The bigger cod and barra like eat the smaller ones

 

[Mantis]

Well its started. I have the tank and the canister filter and am waiting on the pump

Tank and 30L filter



Sump outlet



Tank interior with conical bottom to the sump




Will fill the tank tonight after work after I put some mesh over the sump hole to stop fishies going down the pipe

 

[Mantis]

One of the inhabitants.

View attachment 36499

I am now very tempted to get some cod

Mantis -- green with envy

 

[devo]

I started getting into AP about 2 months ago and just stumbled across this thread. I've currently been building an AP set up to grow yabbies and herb/vegs. Here is a small pilot set up that I'm trialling and a pic of a bigger rig I hope to have up and running soon.

 

[kirem]

View attachment 36632
View attachment 36633

the rebuilt system.

the grow bed has an auto siphon/ bell-valve in the middle
submersible pump in the fish tank
T-piece below the water line and a valve on the grow pump line to adjust for correct grow bed fill time
autumn/winter vegies planted

The system is cycling away now and I am very happy with the rebuild.