Thread: aquaponics

Always lots of hydroponic gear for sale at the Public Trustee's Police Seized Goods auctions. Expect a visit from thr Drug Squad a few months after you buy any, just to see what you are doing with it. They get plenty of business from eager recyclers and put the gear back through the auction rooms and restart the cycle.

I used to have a setup on my folks place

I wanted to go with yabbies instead of fish in a couple of old bath tubs but only ever got as far as goldfish. I'm going to try again once I move into a place with more room

This fellow has the best setup I've seen so far he's out at Kal last I heard
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Sounds interesting. I'd like to get some outdoor fish ponds going.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Sounds interesting. I'd like to get some outdoor fish ponds going.

Just need to dig up that swimming pool.

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Just need to dig up that swimming pool.

What? After I just filled it in?

We ran two above ground swimming pools with redclaw crays for about 8 years or so, never really got to the production stage of a meal a week that I was planning, but had a lot of fun and a lot of good feeds on the way.
We started off with a rather basic aeration system consisting of pumps, timers, sprays etc., but as time went on we found that natural weed growth aerated the water just as well and saved the power bill for the pumps!
Fed the crays on chook pellets and stocked one tank with three goldfish (originally) to satisfy the neighbourhood as far as mossies were concerned, but the sideline production of these little blighters kept the neighbourhood fish tanks and ponds well stocked for the time I had them. Almost as prolific breeders as were the crays. We noted that the big crays were catching and eating the little fish, but at the same time the big fish were devouring lots of the baby crays. Fair enough I suppose.
The other tank we stocked with some African thingo fish for the same reason (mossie control) but the crays cleaned them out pretty quickly. The crays themselves, being basic vegetarians, didn't attack the wrigglers, but did eat the fish. Whether that was for the food value or the perceived threat value we never found out.
Climate is an important factor, the warmer the climate the more prolific the breeding, and here in SE Qld it was proven by a couple of commercial ventures that our climate was on the southern extremity of the Qld Redclaw range and slightly too far north for the WA Marron market.
If you go into the Crayfish side of things, remember that their closest relative on this intriguing earth of ours is the common cockroach, and as a result of this relationship they are very susceptible to the effects of insecticides.
The cray waste that we siphoned from the tanks floors regularly (using the pumps relocated inlet pipe) was magic fertiliser and great for veges.
We were toying with the idea of growing some Silver Perch with the crays but apparently the perch are a lot fussier about their water cleanliness and also won't breed in the same tanks. (We would have had to keep purchasing fingerlings and that would have defeated the cause.)
Have a go. Its good fun, very rewarding, great when you get visitors and decide to have a BBQ on the spur of the moment, and the best use yet I have seen for a back yard swimming pool once the kids have grown up.
Regards
Glen

I seriously considered turning the pool into fish pond. It was a large above ground pool that had been mostly sunken into the ground. In the end, I pulled it out and filled the hole.

Andrew, slightly off the subject of aquaculture, but you stated that you were a keen gardener but found the hobby expensive in the water useage department.
I pinched an idea from one of my mates and as a result now I am an avid collector of old bath tubs. I mount these on old school desk frames to bring them to waist height (I dare say the W.A. Ed system uses similar equipment in classrooms as to their Qld counterparts), fill them with my favourite veg soil mix and grow my vege's in the bath tubs.
Firstly, the water used to nurture the plants filters through the soil, then drains through the drainage mixture in the bottom of the tubs (either aggregate or broken up poly whatever - or bean bag filling) and is then collected in buckets placed under the plug holes ready to be recycled.
Secondly, the slave labour employed in this venture (self and wife) don't have to bend down to weed and pest control is much easier when the pests are at a closer range.
Thirdly, I didn't have to dig big holes to place my gardens!
Fourth, I can localise any treatment any specific plant type may require in that I limit each tub to one species (except in the case of lettuce).
Fifth, Plant compatibility is almost eliminated in that the different species don't share the same soil.
And lastly, it starts a lot of conversations and is productive to boot.
One of my favourite TV shows in the dim dark past was "the Good Life", and a lot of good ideas were incorporated in that show.
Regards
Glen