Anyone into Aquaponics

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chondrogreen

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Anyone into Aquaponics?
That is raising fish & plant together via a large fish tank (pond) that pumps water into garden beds then returns the water back to the tank. The fish create ammonia etc to feed the plants & the plants aid to clean & oxygenate the water for the fish, so its a win win cycle with beneifts of a great seafood & vegetable feast come harvest time. I am setting up a 3500l tank for trout, a 1000l sump for yabbies & multiple 100l garden beds for my fruit & veg.


Anyway just interested in finding out how many people are involved.
Tell us a bit about your set-up & what you have growing.
 
I find it interesting but haven't yet done it myself. A friend of mine did however using over the top ttrickle style filters to hold the plants in and had fish tank fluros over the top of that. Can't remember the growing medium but he was growing tomatoes and they were doing really well
 
no.. but im into hydroponics ;)

You know I wrote a big spiel about douches commenting on hydro and dope but then thought better of it thinking to myself "as much as I know the comments are going to flow as it is sooo predictable, I should just shut up untill it happens, who knows they might even suprise me and act mature for a change".

I did get a suprise though......Your response was recieved rather later then I had expected.

Now for the next lot of kiddies to remark about it. :rolleyes:

If I sound harsh it is because I would like my thread to stay on topic (unlike my native GTP one)
 
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I have looked into it, tried it in a manually operated system but possums, insects and probably also rats ate pretty much everything. Things like lettuce and asian greens seemed to go well (until they got eaten).

There is a fair bit of info around on the net and a few forums too.
 
I think I remember Swaddo on here was into it at some stage...don't know if he still is though...
 
I wee'd on the garden once... does that count?

The truth is I used to have a 3.6m (diameter) pool which had barra in it... but... I never did the whole auaponics thing. Though it had crossed my mind... Unfortunately I only rent therefore setting up expensive systems often doesn't work :(

Would like to see pics of your set up or where you're getting the ideas from - something to look at in the future...

But in the mean time I'll just continue to pee on the garden.
 
Slim6y can I ask what the growth rate of the Barra was like?
I'm still undecided on what fish to stock, but would like something with fast growth as I love a feed and would like to harvest every 12months roughly. I understand Barra would be far from full grown by then but if they'd be a decent meal I'd be happy.
 
Slim6y can I ask what the growth rate of the Barra was like?
I'm still undecided on what fish to stock, but would like something with fast growth as I love a feed and would like to harvest every 12months roughly. I understand Barra would be far from full grown by then but if they'd be a decent meal I'd be happy.

Barra grow very quickly, but would require heating. You could easily get them up to eating size in a year. When i used to keep them i would buy them from a petshop at around 20mm long and sell/trade them back to the shop when they where around 40cm, which was around 6-8months later. They are carnivorous though so feeding them eliminates any environmental benifit.

Tilapia are the best species for aquaponics but they are an illegal noxious pest here, although im not sure about NSW regulations though. They are a pest, but they go well in aquaculture and taste nice. Its a shame we arnt allowed to keep them in secure tanks inside their existing range or in places where they wouldnt survive in the wild.
 
I'm looking at buying one of murrays systems later in the year, plan is to stock it with jade perch :) hopefully the vegies grow better than my vegie garden out back.
 
Slim6y can I ask what the growth rate of the Barra was like?
I'm still undecided on what fish to stock, but would like something with fast growth as I love a feed and would like to harvest every 12months roughly. I understand Barra would be far from full grown by then but if they'd be a decent meal I'd be happy.

I do live in the tropics and they stopped feeding for about 3 months during winter... but they became very friendly after that and ate loads and grew loads. Unfortunately a slight hitch occurred and the fish died on a very hot November's day - so experiment over...

But growth was moderate :)
 
If you heat the water and feed the barra enough the growth rate will be phenomenal. You will probably want to eat it before it gets to the 12 month mark.
 
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