The Trout Have Landed

[adelaideaquaponics]

Hi DJS,

Cooler still under construction ........ cant get enought time without the kids and although they try to help working with them is not overly productive. Will have some free time in the next couple of days and should be pretty much ready for a test run by mid next week.

I put some foam insulation on the tank and grow beds early in the week and the tank hasnt been over 20 so far this week including todays 30ish.

Cheers

Darren

[adelaideaquaponics]

Hi All,

Latest pics from my system.

The plants are going crazy, have started picking zuccini and tomatos are nearly ready, beans are going well. Fish are happy and growing with a couple over 200g and the yabbies are just angry. I have 21 yabbies at the moment with the biggest couple at 90g and most of the rest 40-60g.

Cheers

Darren

[djs-sa]

nice photo's but i'm still wondering about ur water temps ? adelaide is warming up
how r u keeping the heat down?

[adelaideaquaponics]

Gday DJS,

The insulation on the tank has kept temps very stable of late. Temp peaked at 20.3 today at about 1pm, added 5 bottles of ice and went down to 19 and stayed there, just checked and is 19.2 (9pm). Still working on the cooler, I have changed from the rotary spray arm I made to a flexable tube spray setup.

Cheers

[adelaideaquaponics]

Merry Christmas everyone.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe festive season.

Weighed a couple of fish today. A couple are still only 150g or so but the bulk of them (15-18) are around the 260-290g and a couple are over 300g.
It took me about 20 shots to get one of a trout laying still.

We have been harvesting heaps of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, the kids love getting out there to pick them for lunch and dinner. We have had plenty of beans but had to pull a couple of plants out recently due to an outbreak of spider mite. We get quite a few caterpillars in the system but between the trout and the yabbies they dont last too long.

The system is running really well and has settled down nicely. I dont have too much maintenance work to do to it which gives me far too much time to think of new setups and maybe more fish varieties.

Have a great christmas and new year.

Darren

[Murray]

Same to you Darren.
I am keent o get some trout and give them a run. Good to see that you have had good success.

[aussieap]

Hi Darren are ur trout rainbows or browns? Browns have a slightly higher temperature tolerance, but they do not grow quite as fast.

Next time u want to weigh them, go to ur local pharmacy. Ask for the stuff that is good for tooth ache, can't remember what it is called, but costs 10 bucks for a small vial. It is an anaesthetic.
Put 6 drops into a bucket or drum of system water with an airstone in it and stir well.
Have a recovery bucket beside, with system water and an airstone.
Net a few fish into the first bucket. After a few minutes they will be VERY docile and can be handled carefully with wet rubber gloves covered in system water, (so u don't rub off the protective slime coating.)
Weigh ur fish. Put them in the recovery tank and then back into ur system once they have come back from their snooze.
You will get accurate weights and photos of each fish if needed!

[Outbackozzie]

Its called clove oil. Its very good used properly.

Browns are too slow growing for most of us that cant keep temps below 28 ish over summer.

AA's are definately rainbows.

[adelaideaquaponics]

Hi Aussieap,

All mine are rainbows, great fish. They definitely enjoy their food!!!! Have been very happy with their growth over summer despite having to watch the food amounts due to heat, still feed them 3 or 4 times a day most days.

Thanks for the info re weighing the fish, it gets pretty exciting trying to weigh a rainbow with 1 hand whilst taking a picture with the other, the kids seem to find it pretty funny.

Thanks Outback for clarification on the clove oil. I will have to give it a try ...... does it only work on fish??? Might try it on the kids and/or wife if it would make them more docile. Especially the wife when I come up with new ideas for modifying the house and yard for a new AP idea.

Cheers

Darren

[Outbackozzie]

It is extremely toxic if ingested, do a google

or look here :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_of_cloves

[aussieap]

nice get obo, thx. aa, let's just say a little goes a long way......