The Trout Have Landed

[adelaideaquaponics]

Gday All,

Finally got the trout in today. 25 in all ranging in size from 100-160mm. All seem to have survived the 1 1/2 hr trip from the trout farm back home ok. The plants have been in for the last week or 2 and I am sure are looking forward to some of that special fertiliser only fish can provide.
I am running one of Murrays 3 bed balcony kits. At the moment only 2 of the beds have plants in them and the third has "a" yabbie, hopefully he will have a few friends within the next couple of weeks. I am still looking at different ways to cycle the yabbie water back into the main tank and then through the growbeds so that should give me something to tinker with as they system settles down.

Cheers

Darren

[Outbackozzie]

Ummm, temperature over summer?

Trout only go to low 20's you know?

Gee murrays beds look sweet as :)

[adelaideaquaponics]

Hi Outbackozzie,

Yeah trout will pretty much stop feeding over 20 or so degrees but my system is under cover and I have found that frozen 2 lt milk bottles full of water make for nice icebergs and keep the temp down. Also keeping high disolved oxygen (DO) levels assists if the temp does get up a bit high as well as cutting back the food.
I am also looking at either a foam cladding or barrier around the tank made out of old cut down foam broccoli boxes if the morning sun that gets under my "fishgola" starts to cause any problems.
Hopefully it all works as the growth rates of trout sound pretty exciting.
If I have to go to jades or goldies I will be stuck with heating the tank all winter and I am trying to avoid that to conserve power. If I can get the bulk of the fish through the summer they should have a ball through an Adelaide winter.

Very happy with all Murrays gear it works really well and looks great too.

Cheers

[Outbackozzie]

Good luck - you will be needing it I reckon :)

[djs-sa]

good to see the fish,

Just some advice the trout will fry in an adelaide summer and ur nth of adelaide so a little hotter, I wouldnt rely on that air pump alone to give u high DO levels and also get the correct litres per minute air stones to suit the number of outlets to the litres per hour on the pump.
I would be building some insulation around ur tank asap. Once we get 25oC days(nearly here) constantly u will be 4 ever icing up ur tank day in day out.

my old boy lives in tooperang and believe it or not I wear long pants down there all summer long its freezing.

2lt of water frozen wont cut it try larger size containers as they will last alot longer (4lt plus) icecream tubs buckets are good because u dont need many containers as u pop the 4lt block out and make a stock pile if ur got the freezer space, if u need to run a second fridge/freezer!
well a heater might be cheaper in the tank and then better range of fish :) good luck with tho and hope to see ur system 1 day.
u could have stopped by on the way to the trout farm if u wanted

[adelaideaquaponics]

Thanks for the info DJS. I have plenty of freezer space and will do some bigger blocks. The only time the freezer gets a bit full is when we buy a side of beef of one of our friends. If I had to run an extra freezer it would have defeated the purpose and I would have gone for golden perch, still want to try some next summer or in another tank soon. The air pump isnt the only aeration, I am also running a 2800 l/h external canister filter with a venturi and air bar and am waiting on another venturi from murray for the spare return pipe. I still havent had a look for anything to measure DO so if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them, obviously I dont want to spend a fortune.
I didnt know you were located on the way to the trout farm. The 3 1/2 hour return trip with the 2 kids (2 & 4) was enough, maybe I could have dropped them off ....... do you have anything you need destroyed??? Next time I am down that way I will let you know as I would love to have a look at all your Barra.

Cheers

[djs-sa]

ur kids could have destroyed my yyard with my son he's 5 lol:)
send them in the tanks for cleaning duties if they step outa line:)

DO meters are dear as 1000 bucks plus, that i've looked at if u find a cheap desent 1 u would like to know also

[Dufflight]

Just run a lot of air.:)

[GaryD]

Hi,

Nice size trout. I wish I could buy 'fingerlings' like those.

This device may be even more effective than the ice idea.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-swimming-pool-cooler/

It could be adapted to cool a fish tank even more readily than a swimming pool.....and the power costs would be lower, too.

Gary

[adelaideaquaponics]

Gday Gary,

I was very disappointed about the size of the fingerlings ........... not. I am tempted to eat one now. Must be patient.

The cooler looks like a great idea, I have a couple of spare exhaust fans lying around, if I get it working I will post some pics, thanks for the info.

Cheers

[adelaideaquaponics]

Gday All,

Had a couple of hot days over the weekend 29 and 33 and was a bit worried about the temp of the tank but it only got to 22, the fish were still happy, active and feeding. From what I have read and seen I gather trout just like to eat ........ good on them!

Have posted a pic after I added some shade cloth skirts to the system which seems to be assisting in keeping the temperature variation down a bit (up to 8 degrees a day when hot). I am currently collecting foam broccoli boxes and hope to cut them up and stick them to the tank under the shadecloth over the weekend to further insulate and stabilise the tank temperature.

Plants are going really well and I have noticed the first flowers on the zuccini and a couple of cabbage seeds I dropped into the clay balls have germinated.

I am about to head out to bunnings to price the gear for the evaporative pool cooler (thanks Gary). Once I sort the pump I need to use I will look at connecting to a solar panel so it only runs when there is a decent amount of sunlight around (am looking at the pumps OBO has recommended to Murray as they are low wattage).

Cheers

Darren

[GaryD]

Hi Darren,

The shade cloth on the tank and growbeds is an interesting idea.

Mate, I'd suggest that you keep some large chunks of ice handy pending the arrival of your new cooler......for emergency use. As a former crow-eater, I can remember that a scorcher can sometimes come out of nowhere.....and a hot spell can last for days (and nights).

Gary

[echidna]

Cooling towers are subject to a lot of regulation due to legionella ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionella ) so it might pay to check what controls your local council has on them (do a Google search rather than ring them) and to call the system a water spray aerator ;-) Current research seems to clear cooling towers of being a major source of legionella outbreaks, but it is a good idea to follow the recommendations for legionella control.

[adelaideaquaponics]

Thanks Echidna,

Having legionella might kind of defeat the purpose of organically grown food.
Thanks for the info and the new name for my aerator.

Cheers

Darren

[Murray]

The plants are coming along nicely Darren. It is all looking good.

[adelaideaquaponics]

Thanks Murray,

The plants are going well but the nitrate has still been up around 20-40 for the last week, hopefully it will settle down when the zuccini and tomatoes start fruiting.

Cheers

Darren

[Outbackozzie]

Gee your gonna need that cooler very soon if you are already at 22.

Your going to need an ice factory.

[GaryD]

Hi Darren,



.....but the nitrate has still been up around 20-40 for the last week.....

Don't be concerned, that's not high enough to be any sort of an issue. In some of my recirculating aquaculture units (no attached growing systems), the nitrate tests are blood red and the Jade perch still live quite happily.

While, for a variety of reasons, nitrate levels should be controlled, yours are no big deal.

Gary

[adelaideaquaponics]

Thanks Gary,

Good to know that the nitrate is not a huge problem, the other levels are good, hopefully it will settle down in time. The plants are really loving it. I have been doing a comparison between zuccini I planted in the garden and in the growbed at the same time and the ones in the AP system are miles ahead.

Cheers

Darren

[DaveOponic]

Gary,


I've had my Aquaponics system going since January this year. In all the testing I have done, I have never detected any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. Zero, zilch. Does this mean I need more fish in the pond? I have managed to grow LOTS of Basil but not much success with other plants e.g Zucchini and Cucumbers grow, flower, get fruit and fruit never gets big, drops off. Silver beet grows OK but only small leaves. My pond is around 800 litres approx. and have usually had between 30 - 40 fish - Koi and Tilapia around 10 cm average at present.





Hi Darren,


Don't be concerned, that's not high enough to be any sort of an issue. In some of my recirculating aquaculture units (no attached growing systems), the nitrate tests are blood red and the Jade perch still live quite happily.

While, for a variety of reasons, nitrate levels should be controlled, yours are no big deal.

Gary

[Murray]

If it ain't broke don't fix it
That,s what I reckon.

[GaryD]

Hi Dave,



I have never detected any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.

That's not unusual for an aquaponics system but if your plants aren't growing there's something amiss. I'd have thought that the number and size of the fish would have provided sufficient nutrients to get silver beet going at least.

If your fruiting plants are flowering but dropping the fruit before it matures, it may be a calcium and potassium deficiency. Can you buy Seasol in Brunei?

Can you remind us of your other water parameters......hardness and pH.....and how many plants are hooked up to the system?

Gary

[adelaideaquaponics]

Hi Dave,

re your plants dropping fruit it could also be a pollination problem. What is your bee population like???
If you want to be sure pollenate the flowers by hand, I use a cotton ear cleaning bud (before I use it on my ears) and collecta bit of pollen and go round all the flowers, it can really help your yeild especially on pumpkins, zuccini and cucumber (try not to cross pollenate them or you will get some very interesting fruit!).

Cheers

Darren

[DaveOponic]

I've never seen a bee in Brunei. At least not the buzzing, honey making kind we get in Oz. There's a huge black and yellow beast like a super sized bee but don't see many of them. Mostly the ants do the pollination here and there's lots of them!!!!!

Pollination isn't a problem. We even have bats that pollinate our durian tree.

Just that the fruits/veges don't always reach normal size.

[Hamish]

I had the same problem with those small yellow squash - the ones that look like small flying saucers and taste like zuchini. They all flowered a lot - but then the flowers droped off and no fruit.