Full of spuds

The potatoes are thriving, even growing through the hessian bags. This has been the easiest way to grow spuds with no digging and a much higher yield - so I hope.

Growth Spurt

The warmer weather and longer days, plus the addition of more fish, has really prompted growth.

1. The Silverbeet and parsley have continued to grow after many harvests.
2. Going to seed, but the celery has provided many harvests and I've planted 12 more.
3. Broccolini is just about to form heads so not long to harvesting.
4. Burbless Cucumber, not sure if this will thrive but so far so good.
5. Parsley just keeps growing, even though I cut nearly all
6. And finally, the strawberries have now started to grow well.

Rainbow Trout and Silver Perch

Melbourne has extremes of temperatures that makes fish selection limited.

After extensive research and reading, the obvious choice is Silver Perch which will grow well in the temperature ranges of my region. They appear to be hardy but are on the expensive side, from the local aquarium, as I don't need 100's of fingerlings. Tank 3 is all goldfish, as an ongoing source of biological cycles. The middle tank has a selection of both goldfish and brown feeder goldfish so 6 Silver Perch are housed there.

Rainbow Trout require a temperature range between 0-19 C and tend not to survive above 25C. I purchased 35 Rainbow Trout fingerlings and within that week we had temperatures above 28 C so I lost about 8-10 but the remaining stock is doing well in the third tank. They are on their own, no other fish and may put in a pump with a flow line that I will run under the house to help keep the temperatures lower than outdoor, by at least 10C during the hotter months. I am hopeful of success!

I did have Yabbies in this tank, started with 12, only 7 left. Although they had gained size, it was very apparent that I needed a much bigger area than 215 litres to breed them successfully to lunch size! They have since found a new home elsewhere.

Rapid Growth in October

Now that the system has matured and the bio-nutrients have kicked in, the plant growth is quite rapid. For a period, I tested a system of running for only 45 minutes in the hour, therefore for 15 minutes the grow beds drain. The idea was to allow the roots oxygen, as per the flood and drain method, but I did notice that the tomatoes in particular did not fair well. Since returning to 100% flow, all plants have renewed growth. Lesson: Don't fix something that isn't broken!

The Broccolini and Snow peas have ready regained vigor and growing very well

I use the aquaponics water with diluted worm poo for the potato bags and have they taken off:

I now have four potato bags and have all reached the full height of the hessian bags, nearly a metre of dirt (from the chicken run) and looking forward to harvest in Summer.

Tomatoes are in...

Have now bought four varieties of tomatoes; Roma, Sweet Bite, Cherry Roma and Beams Yellow.

I have included some broccolini and chives, now just waiting for September to plant the Capsicum, one red, one yellow, one green.

A Bag of Spuds on the side

I know aquaponics is not compatible for growing very many root vegetables, particularly not potatoes.
Since we enjoy roasted and mash, as well as a good potato salad in summer, I've set up an alternative system for growing them which I was told dates back many generations.

This is aptly called Spuds in a bag. Simple and very versatile and I'm told huge harvests without digging, and doesn't take up a lot of room because it works on vertical growth.

It involves a hessian bag and access to a large amount good composted soil. Getting the hessian bag was the hardest, my local produce store had these bags as dog pillow bags, and are perfect for only $4.50 each.
As I have chickens, their scratching yard has THE best aerated and fertilized soil (without being too acidic) so I had a win/win situation. Simply roll the bag down three quarters, fill that portion with the soil, plant the spuds and wait for them to grow about 40cm high, then unroll the bag about 20-30cm, back fill with more soil and repeat until the bag is full and the plants are growing beyond the height of the bag.
Each time this is done, the plants will send out roots and grow more spuds at that level, all the way up the bag. Therefore, when the spuds at the top section are a good size then you know the ones at the bottom should be huge so then harvest the lot. I have planted two different spuds, the pontiacs and the standard whites. I also put the bags on shade cloth, so they are not sitting directly on dirt and shouldn't rot as quickly. I use diluted worm water from the worm farm mixed with water from the aquaponics as the main watering for my spuds.

Once harvested, I can then put the old soil back in the chook pen and start again. I will set up two more bags when these two are half way so I can alternate and have plenty to harvest.

Getting closer to Spring

With the daylight hours starting to get longer, and the weather a bit warmer, well on certain days anyway, I've now planted some Broccolini and a few Strawberries.

The back section has been left empty in preparation for tomatoes. I will plant two Cherry and two Roma tomatoes in two grow beds. I will also plant a few capsicums and that should be the extent of these six growbeds for this spring. The peas are doing well too, and have plenty of small pods on the way.

I will post regular updated pics of the growth over the next few months.

Warmer weather

Now that the temperature of the water appears to be more stable around 8-11 degrees minimum, I have purchased five silver perch fingerlings with 15 dark comets in the middle tank. I have also added another 15 comets to tank 3 to really kick start the new grow beds and the first two are doing well:

One lesson learnt is not to overcrowd. I've removed a few lettuces that were being smothered and moved the chives to a different bed.

The second planting of silverbeet and celery is also picking up:

A few weeks ago I started my second growbed of Lettuce and parsley, giving more room for individual plants in the centre, rather than around the sides:

Full growth at last

Growth is rapid now with the daylight hours increasing and the bacteria cycling well.

I have added a few more yabbies to Tank 1 and when the water temperature is stable above 10c I'll add the Silver Perch fingerlings. In late August I will plant out the other four grow beds with tomatoes, basil, capsicum, and more lettuce.

I'll also investigate the trellis apples, could be a winner!

Preparing for Spring planting

Based on the first two grow beds, it takes about 2-3 months for the bacteria to really establish in the scoria of the grow beds. After many hours of washing, I've prepared another four grow beds in preparation of the spring planting of tomatoes, capsicum, beans, more lettuce, oregano and perhaps zucchini. The level of the scoria is not high enough to plant but enough to start the bacteria cycle.

The single pump in the middle tank has proved powerful enough to pump to all six beds, and I can still add one or two more - I'll like to try trellis apples once this system is well established!

It is early July and I'm looking forward to warmer weather (and longer daylight hours) when I can purchase some silver perch fingerlings for the middle tank and some more yabbies for tank one. Though both are fairly hardy, the colder temperatures can raise the mortality rate significantly - patience, patience, patience and let the system develop and cycle by adding stock and plants slowly over time.

How the Aquaponics cycle works

We've all heard of hydroponics, the growing of plants in highly fertilized and treated water without soil. This requires periodic water changes to replace the toxic waste buildups and guess where this usually ends up...

Aquaculture is the culture of fish, trout, perch, etc, in tanks or ponds for restaurant trade or retail. Again this requires massive amounts of energy and water changes to remove the build up of ammonia and guess where this usually ends up...

Both systems need constant attention to water quality to ensure best growth. Aquaponics is the combination of the two, whereby bacteria in the grow beds of clay beads or gravel or even small scoria, develop and change the fish waste (ammonia) into nitrite and and secondary bacteria change this into nitrate which the plants take up for growth. This basically purifies the water that returns to the fish tanks as clean clear water. No need for water changes and once the cycle has established, very little maintenance.

In this system the only feed required is for the livestock, whether fish or crustacean, as adding fertilizers will kill the fish and the bacteria. Pellets for the fish and vegetable scraps for the yabbies is all you need do, every second day in winter and daily during warmer months, and only small amounts so very low costs after initial set up.

Having the grow bed at hip-height also means no bending, there is no weeding or digging and it only requires about 10% of the water used to maintain the average soil veggie patch.

The aim is to produce not only the freshest organic veggies but also fresh fish for the BBQ.

Stage Two

With stage one in full cycle, time to add two more tanks. The total volume of water is approx 600lts with just under 400lts of grow bed area so I still have the opportunity to add more grow beds.
I have connected all three tanks with PVC piping (with crossed wires to stop animal migration) and placed the single pump in the middle that feeds all six grow beds.

I have placed a few yabbies in tank 1 (which I had in pond, now dismantled), and in the warmer spring months will purchase silver perch fingerlings for tank 2. I 'll keep the comets in tank 3 until I have silver perch at two different growth rates, and also as a back up so the system doesn't crash when I harvest the fish and yabbies. Acclimatising the silver perch fingerlings is best done in warmer months - I have no intention of heating the water - I'll get about 12 per tank and six months later buy more to replace the comets. The aquarium shop has offered to buy them back, particularly if they have grown but I've also seen on YouTube Silver perch and goldfish co-existing so will wait on this issue.

Yabbies seem to do better alone, no fishy friends, and I can only keep about 20 in this size tank. Even though I've cut and placed assorted PVC pipes for them, there is a limit due to their aggressive and cannibalistic tendencies, so I am investigating some floating trays/baskets to house more.

Now all I have to do is add the "well rinsed" scoria and let the system cycle. This shouldn't take as long as the first stage as all three tanks are connected and the bacteria is already present in two grow beds.
These new beds will be for spring planting of tomatoes, capsicum, strawberries, broccoli, more lettuce, and if room permits I'll try sweet corn.

Fast growth rate with Home Aquaponics

Now that the bacteria cycle (ammonia to nitrite to nitrate) has established the growth rate is sensational, particularly in the lettuce and celery. The parsley died back to yellow before putting out strong new growth and the chives have only just started coming on.

I covered the return tubing with shadecloth to ensure I didn't accidently drop scoria down there, very hard to get out otherwise. One water inlet at the back was not enough to soak the entire bed, so I made a rectangle of pipe from the water system, drilled opposing holes and now get good coverage over the entire grow bed. Very much a work-in-progress situation.

Putting it all together

Now the fun begins. I stocked the tank with 35 comets (feeder goldfish) to kick start the system. I washed out all the soil from the seedlings and planted celery, chives, lettuce, peas, silverbeet, parsley and at first not much growth. By the 8th or  9th week things really started to improve. I believe it takes about 2 months for the bacteria cycle to get going and I was starting up over winter with less hours of sunlight. The growth rate continues to improve with the celery about 30cm high and the lettuce about the same.

The peas have taken a toll (something ate the whole lot) so another crop has been planted and have started climbing the grid trellis.

It is a simple system, one pump from the tank up to two grow beds. The return water isn't just a hole in the base, its a water trap that only takes from the very base comprising a smaller tube inside a larger one. Water travels up inside the outer tube to overflow over the inner tube which is cut at half height. This was too much water so I drilled holes along the length of the inner tube to regulate the flow - this seems to have worked well. The syphon system seemed too much effort in comparison. 

This system faces north, under the eave so during cold weather it is well protected and in the height of summer will afford some shade to avoid too much evaporation and overheating.

I hope to set up two more systems side-by-side and connect them up to house yabbies and silver perch.

Trip to Bunnings

Bunnings had absolutely everything I needed to create my first setup.
I found a 250lt black rectangular tank, 60lt black tubs, the black gardening watering system for the pump and all the PVC piping anyone could want.
I decided to start with one tank and two grow beds and take it from there. Since I already had a large pump left over from my tropical fish tank, it was easy to configure the tubing to the grow beds and the gravity feed return to the tank using the standard pvc piping. I purchased Scoria instead of gravel or clay balls as I'd read that scoria had trace elements and had a huge surface area where the bacteria would flourish. I also found the grill over the top - being one side of a compost bin cage so in all the first step up, excluding tools I needed like drill bits and hacksaw blades, was about $125.00

Initial Set up of my Aquaponics system

I live in a very heavy clay soil region and drainage is a huge problem for a vegie patch, and space is at a premium with chickens and dogs and kids in a small suburban backyard.
After watching a program on Aquaponics, I knew this was the system for me and my limited space.
There's plenty on the net to read and certainly plenty of setups on offer, the cheapest is about $1k and fairly small, which has a negative impact on growing your own.
Knowing that I wanted the continuous flow version, the set up was actually very easy after some thought and particularly after a trip to Bunnings!