Gary's Existing System

[GaryD]

This is my existing system......about 8 months old.

The system comprises an 800 litre mega bin, a 250 litre fingerling tank and a 200 litre sedimentation tank.

It has a total water capacity of 1000 litres and it houses 44 Jade Perch which are now plate size (500gm+) and another 65 Jade Perch fingerlings.

My growing systems comprise a small gravel/LECA ebb and flow grow bed and several growing trays and satellite pots.

[GaryD]

My growing systems comprise:

Flood and drain bed - filled with 10mm drainage gravel and LECA - one square metre in area - originally planted out to silver beet - now a herb garden.
Satellite pots - coco-peat - watered by hand - used for larger plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicums.
Tray System - coco-peat - watered by hand - excellent for salad vegetables, Asian Greens and herbs.The flood and drain bed recirculates water from my fish tank. The satellite pots and tray system trays are 'open loop.'

[GaryD]

We've recently relocated all of our non-recirculating growing systems because they were on the southern side of our shed and spent most of the day in total shade.

They have all been moved up closer to the house where they now receive several hours of sunlight each day.

[GaryD]

Hi,

This morning, I walked into my shed and found that most of the 600 litres of water that had been in my fish tank was on the shed floor.

My 44 Jade Perch were in about 100mm of water.

A small bulkhead fitting (that carries the water from my fingerling tank back into the main fish tank) had become blocked (by a fingerling) causing it to overflow......and overflow, etc etc. This is the second time that I've have this problem.....with exactly the same cause.....in the past few weeks. I simply forgot to replace the little strainer that would have prevented the fingerling from getting into the fitting.

I've attached a photo that shows the fitting with the small strainer re-attached.

I was fortunate that I discovered it when I did.....and that, for the second time, my fish have survived my negligence.

I can't recommend Jade Perch highly enough. They are one tough little fish. As you can see from the photos, they were surfing rather than swimming.

An interesting by-product of the whole episode was that, several months ago, I placed about 500 compost worms into each of my trickling bio-filters. I'd been wondering what happened to them. The photo evidences the fact that they're still going strong inside the bio-filter. I recovered this small batch from the tank before the fish realised that they were there.

GaryD.

[Macca]

You are a lucky ****** heh. Those fish look a good size Gary. Should have taken the opportunity to grab a couple for dinner LOL Have you eaten any yet. What do Jade Perch taste like?

Oops - looks like even mild language is beeped out here - sorry.

[GaryD]

Hi Macca,



Oops - looks like even mild language is beeped out here - sorry.


Since we cater to people of all ages and circumstances, the language editor on our forum software is set pretty fine.

You're right, I am lucky.....it could have been much worse. It just to show how the little things can conspire to bring you unstuck.

I've eaten several species of freshwater fish so I'd be struggling to recall what Jade Perch taste like compared to the others. My main recollection is that Silver Perch seemed to be bonier that most of the others.

Gary

[Quietly]

I heard about the problems of fish being stuck in pipes fairly early in the process.
My tanks are inter connected with 32mm pipe and I use a fitting with a piece of laundry bag material over the opening. They will need cleaning every now and then but I changed the existing ones over in less than a minute the other day so it no big deal for such an important piece of the equipment. See pic attached

[GaryD]

Thanks Quietly,

Your solution is a simple and inexpensive one....the best kind.

My problem is not so much that I didn't have a strainer but rather that I forgot to replace it when I cleaned it. As much as it would be good for me to be able to blame the gear, it's a simple case of pilot error.

Gary

[njh]

Thanks Quietly,

Your solution is a simple and inexpensive one....the best kind.

My problem is not so much that I didn't have a strainer but rather that I forgot to replace it when I cleaned it. As much as it would be good for me to be able to blame the gear, it's a simple case of pilot error.

Gary

It's probably worth adding a secondary overflow with no obstruction?

[GaryD]

Hi njh,

I think you're right. I'm also working on another solution to do with the placement of the fingerling tank.

Gary

[njh]

Hi njh,

I think you're right. I'm also working on another solution to do with the placement of the fingerling tank.

Gary

The railways developed a design philosophy that we should copy for AP design: fail safe. A fail safe system is one that fails in a way that causes the least harm. Not recirculating the beds is less harmful than pumping all the water out, and pumping the water around continuously is less harm than pumping all the water out.

It often requires more effort to implement a failsafe system, but it always pays off :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherent_safety (Note the first example! :)

[GaryD]

Hi njh,

Your posts are always informative, frequently entertaining.....and sometimes (much less often) a little confronting.

Thank you for your excellent contributions in general......and for this gem in particular.

Gary

[GaryD]

Here's some photos of my fish.

The larger fish are Jade Perch - I've had 44 of them about 40 weeks (it started out to be 50) - many of them are ready to eat.

The small fish are also Jade Perch - I've had them for 12 weeks - you'd need 10 of these to make a sandwich. They're growing quickly now. I've noticed a big variation in their size - the largest of them would be double the size of the smaller ones. We started with 66 but we've lost one.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

Today, it reached 27 degees C around Brisbane.....and the water temperature of the AP unit in my shed reached 20 degrees C.

My Jade Perch showed active interest in food for the first time in several weeks.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

Today was my wife's birthday.

We ate fish that we had produced ourselves.

Gutted, gilled and scaled.......400 grams....these are among the smallest of my fish. The biggest ones seem to be the most difficult to catch.
Cooked and ready to eat
Your shareGary

[anniefish]

Gee thanks Gary,
Your generosity is only surpassed by your good looks. What a lovely meal. I bet even the bones taste better than bought fish! Happy Birthday to your wife.
Cheers Ann

[Murray]

Gary....why wasn't I told ?
Was the taste and texture as expected ?

Happy birthday "Wife of Gary"

[GaryD]

Hi,

The taste of Jade Perch is excellent. The flesh is firm and white.

In my view, the ideal plate-size fish would be about 500+ grams.

The fish were not purged and, for our purposes, purging is probably not necessary. We did not detect any muddy/musty off-flavours.

Jade Perch carry a lot of fat and that was evident when we gutted them.

These fish have one of the highest recorded levels of Omega-3 oils.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

I've changed the title of this thread.....so that members can make the distinction between this system and my new one.......Gary's System #2.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

Today, I moved the 42 plate-sized Jade perch to their new home in our new 1000 litre tank.

We moved the 90+ Jade perch fingerlings into this system.

I expect to see some rapid growth in these fish from this point on.

Gary

[GaryD]

The recent cold weather has caused some dramas with our Jade perch fingerlings.

We started with 106 fingerlings but, during the winter, we've lost about 15 of them......at the rate of two or three per week.

The optimum temperature range for Jade perch is 23 - 28 degrees C. They will begin to die once the water temperature remains below 16 degrees C for a protracted period.

The 400 watt heater that we've attempted to maintain a reasonable temperature has failed to keep up with the sub-zero temperatures we've experienced in recent weeks.

So.....today we dismantled this system.

We've kept the bio-filters and used them on a fingerling system that we've set up.

The fingerling tank is a 250 litre fibreglass container. I've built a cover for the tank to attempt to contain the heat.

I've dosed this tank with salt at the rate of 6 parts per thousand to help the fish adapt to what's happening around them.

[anniefish]

Hi gary,
What a shame:(, I have lost a lot of plants due to frosts and am thoroughly sick of this winter. I wish the warm weather would come and stay!
Annie

[GaryD]

Hi,

Things seem to have settled down among my baby Jades.

The water temperature is up around 25 Degrees C and they have begun to eat again.

While the 400 watt heater is providing the heat, the greenhouse plastic cover is stopping it from being lost.

Next winter, all of my juvenile fish will be living in similar circumstances. The cost of the heating is more than offset by the extra growth that happens when the temperature is kept in the correct range.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

I was wading through some images of my original system.

Here's what happens when a fitting blocks up and overflows part of your system......all but about 100mm of the water in my fish tank got pumped out onto the shed floor. At this stage, the fish were doing more walking than swimming.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

I raised my Jade Perch fingerlings, through winter, inside my shed in a 250 litre fibreglasss tank.

A few weeks ago, we transferred them to our 800 litre system. Last week, I decided to move the 800 litre system outside.

The system now comprises the 800 litre tank, two 65 litre bio-filters and a duckweed tank. The bio-filters have been operating continuously since we started our first aquaponics system.....and they have proved to be every bit as effective as gravel growbeds when it comes to nitrification.

While they do not offer the same growing capacity as gravel growbeds, bio-filters are a lot easier to move around. I can pick one of these up and carry it around where I'd need a forklift to move one of my gravel growbeds.

The duckweed tank was, until very recently, attached to my 1000 litre tidal system. I decided that I'd use it to soak up some of the nitrates in the smaller system.

Portability is a desirable design criteria for any aquaponics system.....particularly for people who rent their homes.

Very often, I hear people lament the fact that they cannot start up their AP system because they are planning to move. Bio-filters (in conjunction with lightweight growing systems like NFT, deep water culture, satellite pots, Dutch pots, etc) mean that such people can start up anytime.....and move the system when they move.

There's no reason why, with a bit of care, a fully functional lightweight AP system ought not be moved across town without major disruption.

Another attractive feature of this little system is that it employs a single 3750lph submersible pump which runs continuously.....no autosyphons, no float switches and no timers......simplicity itself.

Gary


Gary