Ice222

I was in Mong Kok, but have since left HK now for my stop over in Taiwan and returning to NZ later today. I didn't really do much touristy stuff, since I go once every 2 years on average. Did see wet markets several times while my friends/relatives went shopping for our hotpot dinner, and also went to Ocean park.

I'm rarely on the forums nowadays, but since I've been in Hong Kong the last few weeks and lived right next to the famous "goldfish street" I've gotten quite curious about some of the things I've seen. Unfortunately I only spent a short time there, and no photos since they don't allow any. First thing I saw and found fascinating was a small trumpet shaped snail with bright yellow skin. Plus some flecked marking on the shell. The second awesome thing I've seen was a stunning aquascape with an underwater (sand) waterfall. While I've seen them on YouTube before, I thought they looked a little fake and tacky, but this one used something like silica sand and looked absolutely amazing in real life. Last thing that I was really curious about are a kind of nano fish I saw. They were tiny, the same size as the tiny shrimps sold in the store. They looked like bumblebee gobies, but black and white instead of yellow, and I think they were some kind of suckerfish or catfish. Anyone have any idea what they could have been?

Hmm I've been working on the design, and since i'm not that familiar with sumps overflows and siphons I thought I've post a rudimentary diagram of the plumbing here and see if there are any obvious flaws or problems I might have missed. I'm particularily concerned with the overflow, would it be able to take from the bottom rather than the top of the tank to remove solid waste? The aquaponics method I'm going for is flood and drain via bell siphon. Red is the water being pumped into growbed, yellow is the path of the water out. Any pointers would really be appreciated.

Thanks guys! Haha even without names, I can kinda tell which are from the fish-keepers. They leave nice detailed responses :lol:

Cheers :happy2:

Just had a quick check to make sure I'm not breaking any forum rules, but I've made a little survey for my project so if anyone has a few minutes to spare, I'd be interested in hearing your views: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N33GQLJ It's basically to get an overview of what people's opinions are on fish-keeping and gardening, and also to see if there are any overlaps (eg. whether people who keep fish are more likely to like plants too and vice versa) and whether there are any trends.

I like it :cophot: ! Interesting that you have aquatic plants as week as the plants up the top. Guess it's still an option to have submerged plants if not purely after rapid growth of the non-aquatic plants?

Neat! Sounds like a relatively simple fix then. Seems aquaponics is very much like fish keeping, can make it as simple (raft method) or as complex as you like.

How do you guys prevent root rot? Is it not an issue as long as there's enough dissolved oxygen/aeration?

Wow! That's more than I expected from a 30L tank !

Did you have any aquatic plants in your system? That more or less the kind of small in-home system I'm thinking of designing, more to add some nutrients to aid the growth of a few herbs and get something back from the system rather than trying to get lush rapid harvests. I think one of the main reason aquaponics really appeals to me is that I'm not good with remembering to water indoor plants, and this is a way to get plants and ornamental fish both with less maintenance.

Yep! I've seen a few examples, but not that one before. Haven't decided how I will do it yet so still open to ideas, but definitely leaning towards something small like that.

Been awhile since I was last on the forum, but I am now doing a uni project on an aquaponics design and I'm really interested in hearing about other people's experiences with it are like. While I know most people run aquaponics in an outdoor setup, I am interested in doing an indoor smaller set-up aimed towards producing/maintaining culinary herbs. I've done a search on the forums, and found maxim_nz's awesome aquaponics pond thread, but are there any others here in NZ that have tried it? Especially keen to know if there are Aucklanders that have done one.

Haha I'm still more of a puppy addict though, only went to fish store cause it's kinda close to the park that Sherlock and I go to. This tank is getting pretty fully. Once I get some cories, it's no more new fish for me since the tank I've been stocking would be fully stocked by then.

Looking good . Heard you were at HFF earlier today (eyeing up potential fish to stock I suppose?) guess Sunday is fish day for both of us now .