maxim_nz

I've had in mind something like this as my next project.. http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Little-Tokyo-Without-Fish/dp/B004O44XE2 Tropical fish (inside) tank being rebuilt at moment, fish (clown loaches) outside in a plastic tub at moment near the aquaponics pond.. I pulled out a bogwood log that had 2 years of uncontrolled java fern on it, I was shocked how much plant matter was on it.. (maybe I should post a picture?) I digress, but I'm considering building an indoor aquaponics setup and have year round cherry tomatoes/parsley etc while keeping my nitrate levels low. I like the above small education project, but bigger is usually better :cr9:

If you go to orakei korako on the waikato, go approx 400m north on the river in a small kayak/canoe you can basically go help yourself to some livebearers like these with a decent net.. pretty sure these are the same livebearer as the ones living in the wild... Anyone else verify?

Google knows where in NZ they are.. http://www.issg.org/database/species/reference_files/perflu/perflu.pdf New Zealand distribution of Perca fluviatilis Source: Freshwater Biodata Information System (FBIS) 2006 Strictly speaking: fish for farming have to be obtained from another fish farm and not from the wild.. Shame you can't make good use of all those catfish up in the Waikato :-(

http://www.aquaculture.govt.nz/species_list.php The following is a list of fish that can be farmed under the Freshwater Fish Farming Regulations 1983. These were gazetted in July 2006. I"ve abreviated somewhat.. (trout not mentioned) there are not many options really.. ------------------------------------------------- (1.7) Carp, being: (i) Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) (ii) Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) (1.51) Whitebait, being: (i) Banded kokopu (Galaxias fasciatus) (ii) Giant kokopu (Galaxias argenteus) (iii) Inanga (Galaxias maculatus) (iv) Koaro (Galaxias brevipinnis) (v) Shortjaw kokopu (Galaxias postvectis)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-gEFty4LheM4/TxPjcMfu9-I/AAAAAAAAb_c/j3CVlOc11K8/s694/DSC03834.JPG This photo shows some of the growth when I had a cucumber vine go crazy. It was also providing for some nice yellow cherry tomatoes which the kids ate almost daily like lollies.. I did have to add some potassium as suggested during that period. Some of the rules I have found which I would recommend for fellow experimenters are: *If you have 500 liters of pond/fish in water, you can have 500 liters of grow beds. 1:1 ratio *It will take 6 months to balance bacteria and built up fish levels, so don't expect instant results (those of us with fish tank filters loaded with bacteria can cheat and add these dirty sponges to the tanks, works well in my experience) *Grow bed should be 30cm (DEEP) and not less (like my initial efforts) *Keep top of grow bed dry so bugs find it dry and not wet (ie: keep water level just below top of grow media) *Flood and drain the grow bed (ie: use a auto siphon of some sort) roots will rot if constantly wet and not exposed to oxygen *1000 liter IBC bulk containers make easy aquaponic setups. Approx $150 bought off trademe *Duckweed is underestimated and can be a key part of an aquaponics setup. (food for goldfish!) All this I've come to learn and only cause I was looking for a more natural way to filter my aquariums.. Appreciate the replies and if anyone in and around Wellington wants to come view, drop me a PM over the summer break

It's all about balance, if you get yellow and poor health leaves you may need to add some Iron supplement.. (fish don't give off iron via the nitrate cycle) But other then that, the fish is what provides the fertilizer (actually it's the CO2 they breath out and the Urea/urine they excrete, the poo is not really part of the cycle much) I basically just feed the fish and top up evaporated water, that's about it.. this system is far easier to manage than my tropical tank. Adding worms to also break down the physical waste in the grow beds is another way to turbocharge your plant growth. It's just great fun seeing daily growth

The little (wee) clay pot man that originally looked like this.. -- Well he has turned into a moss/afro man and you can hardly work out his form anymore, such is the power of fish enhanced water for growing plants -- I did this by just grabbing some moss off the concrete and putting it on his head, after a while it took off, so added a water dripper feed to it and it the moss just went crazy (it's kindoff a moss filter in my view and makes for really nice close up photos of moss and water droplets

Sometimes I remind my wife that it's a good thing your hubbie is into fish/aquaponics rather that drag racing, or other dangerous extreme sport of your choosing. I think a key to it is to keep some form of asthetics rather than the tubs and pipes everywhere. Mine get's fresh parsly all the time, and also mint is good at reducing stomach gas (what wife is going to say that is not a bad thing?)

Tomatoes.. -- and Celery -- also doing well (celery is doing REALLY well)

Even an avodaco stone sprouted over the winter and is now growing nicely (given it's growing at 185M in altitude in Wellington, I'm impressed it seems to be doing ok) --

Strawberry plants growing a upside down milk bottle (with a dripper) strawberries don't like too much water or getting the crown wet.. --

Fish are also doing real well, and I've boosted my biggies (around 20cm long) to 7 in number + around 35 middle size and 1 x yearling from a surprise batch of eggs last year -- We obviously can't have koi, so getting some big goldfish is best I can do.. --

Here's an updated photo

Update December 2011 (ok lets get to the photos) Warmth and summer growth going ok with fish powered water.. These tomatoes were grown from seed and only ever been fed goldfish waste water... Goldfish doing ok as well. This guy was trying to beach himself onto a floating mint leaf to get lunch.. he tried hard! Plant bio filter really absorbing lots of nitrite from fish right now.. Cucumbers growing at rapid rate right now Cucumber leaves feel like velvet and about size of a sandwich plate.. idealy the grow bed should be twice this deep.. (next year) The plant growers..happy goldfish My pond filter consists of chives, cucumbers, strawberries, parsley, coriander, tomatoes, and MINT! - we have fresh parsley and mint and chives added to salads every day with this setup at moment and it keeps the pond clean too!

Answer "S'no problem" Yes, I did throw 2 large sheets of polystyrene over the pond to keep the snow out on 17th August 2011 (it was like a Christmas card at our place) and I had a 300W heater in pond on lowest setting to "try' and keep fish alive. Result: no fish deaths, plants got flattened somewhat by snow, but a few days after you couldn't tell. I think pond dropped to about 6C at lowest point. Have you ever tried to kill mint anyway? (apparently seasoned aquaponics nerds never plant mint anyway, or keep it really tightly boxed in..) I've trimmed mine right back now to give strawberries and tomatoes some space and light. Got tons of it anyway, just chucked it out via compost bin..

Aquaponics Pond Update 2/10/2011 ------------------------------------ Things still growing well :-) Still getting mint/fresh parsley and chives for salad additions about 3 times a week, so uncontrolled growth would be a lot more than these photos. Finally getting good daily sun on pond Goldfish grown mint leaves for scale: This is one of the largest I have not eaten yet and holds the weight of a 20 cent coin without bending. This is the new growbed I am building up for tomatoes and tomatoes raised from seed (which germinated well under the fluros of the tropical tank) There is every kind of tomato growing in this, from purple russian to scrap anything seeds off the kids plates Fish (around 50+ goldfish doing well, and water quality and clarity has been superb) cats drink it as well. Strawberries growing in milk bottles (yet to get pump for full height strawberry tower) Bought the "flowering semi aquatic plant" from bunnings.. it's gone flower crazy Lastly: Overall pic of original growbed This still requires almost zero maintainance, a small top up of water once a month or two. You just feed this fish, nitrifying bacteria does the rest.

Nice going Sam!! :digH: Keen to see some more picture progress later in the year :thup:

I can now say I have swum with sharks!! You can at the National Aquarium (Napier) go swimming in the large oceanarium tank with 2.5M sharks and decent sized stingrays (not quite the monster sized stingrays I've seen out coromandel, but decent enough) The day I dunked in recently only one other brave soul tried it with me.. tip: fill your wet suit up with hot water under the shower beforehand as temp in tank was about 14C (brrrrr) according to my gadget watch.. Well the other swimmer piked out after 5mins, and so I had the place all to myself.. felt like a NatGeo diver swimming directly above one of the large sharks as it swam only 30cm under me and I tracked it along. I did give myself a couple of oh-oh moments when the sharks pivoted around up the wall right back at me, but they are very used to people and ignored me totally. I highly recommend it to any fish enthusiast as probably the ultimate in-tank experience you can have in NZ. Of course just visit the aquarium and checking out the tanks is a given! You can swim as long as you can handle the cold (I did about 45mins) and I will do it again anytime I back in Napier. http://www.nationalaquarium.co.nz/swim-with-the-sharks.asp Recommended++ Anyone else done it?

Sam: pond construction sounds great. got any pictures to share of that or your pond goldfish/nznatives? (what does flow of water mean to pond you are digging? - aquaponics should be a complete closed cycle system ie: very water efficient)

How big is the pond going to be sam? - digging :digH: with shovel or front end loader ;-) - I think the key with aquaponics is basically concentrated fish in balance with basically the same amount of grow bed and bacteria as there is water. Aquaponics does not scale as well as basic hydroponics and it seems to work better in smaller (say 4000 gallon) tanks than huge if you are digging it out with your grandads D2 bulldozer..

1 more pic Show you the plant mass (chives, Mint, Lettuce, Parsley) that the goldfish waste builds up. It all tastes good too (plants that is) :slfg:

yeah, ok it never happened.. Some of my new gardeners Goldfish grown MINT leaf with $2 coin for scale It's worth noting again that this is really just an experiment in natural biological filtration, and the edible plants are just a bonus :spop: The is no direct sunlight on the pond at all now, so I'm amazed at what has kept going through these cold months. Anyone else out there doing something similar?

In case anyone cares.. aquaponics pond: mid winter update. - We ate all the lettuces :thup: they were real good, all off them - the basil just didn't mature after a promising early start :dunno: - I added some MINT which has gone haywire with the biggest MINT leaves I've ever seen (my young kids were amazed a plant leaf tastes like toothpaste!) - I added chives, which adds a little zest to those few winter salads, and they have ballooned out heaps. - And parsley going ok too (which amazes my mother-in-law as her parsley is gone for the winter) - and also used a fine day to go to Whitemans Valley Goldfish farm to get 20 x new goldfish to help the others grow my tomatoes. They have some :nfs: for sale, and would recommend it. I figured adding another 20 in the middle of winter to the 15 or so current inhabitants wouldn't suddenly overload the bacteria balance given everything is on go slow.. Just need some warmth and sun now! I'm anticipating a huge crop of summer tomatoes I can post a picture if interested.

true, but usually only 1%~2% nothing to sweat about..

yep, wash it well first. I use it as bio media in my "aquaponics" pond. Goldfish doing well, have now eaten all the goldfish powered lettuces.