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Aquaponics pond


maxim_nz

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Here's my "aquaponics" pond..

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2M x .75M x .5M (approx 600litres filled at moment)

After 30 years of tropicals, this is first time I've ever kept goldfish

If your not sure what aquaponics is, well google or youtube "aquaponics" warning you could get lost for hours doing so...

Here is my grow bed 24hrs after planting basil, lettuces (2 types) and peppermint

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and here is same growbed 6 days later

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Seems to be working fine, goldfish going well as are the 4 odd ball platties I threw in there as an experiment..

Thanks to Traceytrout for the duckweed (duckweed is an amazing nitrate absorber, it is a very underestimated plant)

Growbed is filled with gravel and also expanded clay balls. It floods and drains via siphon every 8mins.

I made use of the old clay pot man we had lying around.. he's now aerating the pond and growing algae rocks for the bristlenoses (hope this does not cause offense)

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Haha! I love your clay man! :lol:

Really cool, i looked at a setup kinda like this awhile ago. Wooden stand with a pond on bottom and plants on the top. I've turned into a crazy wannabe vege gardener, and now you've started something again! I'm jealous. :happy2:

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  • 2 weeks later...
does the water flow straight into the planted area then back into the pond? looks like fun

YES. It pumps into the grow bed from the filter/pump past the wee/clay pot man (who is aerating the pond) to the growbed using standard 13mm irrigation tubing and a flow valve to control output. (less output to plants makes clay pot man wee further) it flows thru the grow bed and exits via the same sized irrigation tubing that is curved over and so creates it's own siphon when water level gets to top of tube. Really simple, not rocket science. A little bit of fiddling to get intake flow just enough to start siphon at other end, but slow enough to not stop siphon easily draining grow bed.. Draining the grow bed gives oxygen to roots and stops them rotting apparently.

Adding worms to the grow bed is also a good thing apparently.. have to go raid the compost bin!

FUN = yes, you just want to keep adding more & more..

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Wow awesome setup!

Where abouts did you get the actual "pond" from. I was looking for something similar for ages. is it a trough?

yep, it was a hydroponics trough, which came as as part of a greenhouse setup. I bought it off a guy on trademe for $40! (wife wanted that huge 2M long behemoth shifted!) I've also got the immersion heater with it.. (not used in this setup)

Originally planned to use large 1.5M spare fish tank (outside growing mozzies for fish food) but could not get a satisfactory stand/base for tank to sit on uneven concrete pad outside in conservatory.. a plastic trough cares not about uneven ground.

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Natives would be fine I would think. Would be a good option. Koura? :wink:

Would be nice to have a setup big enough for trout or some good eating fish so I didn't feel bad about growing out guppies in my wee aquaponics prototype. They were the only "spare" fish I had haha.

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do you know of anyone who has trying to grow eadible fish with aquaponics? just been reading up on it.

And alturnatively would natives do ok? would be cool to get a native set up gowing with veges

Stella may be able to answer here: I'm not sure if it would be possible to stock natives at the ratio required to give the water some real grunt for plants to live off (goldfish are messy and make lots of it, as do Tilapia/Trout which we cannot keep in NZ)

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ok so best just to stick to them good old goldies.

do they do ok in cold outdoor areas? would get quite low?

I lived under Mt Ruapehu for the first 12 years of my life and we always had a pond. It used to freeze over quite often in winter as the temperature would be below zero most mornings. Never lost a fish except when the mountain erupted. The ice would be so thick some days that I could go to school and it would still be melting when I got home. The secret is comets. :roll: You cannot possibly kill them with cold. They are awesome fish. :wink:

I'd be more concerned about your veges feeling the cold. I've just put in my winter garden here, waiting for the first frost to see how well everything goes. Never had a winter in Taupo, but i'm guessing it's not half as bad as Ohakune. :wink:

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I've also stuck with commets for cold tolerance (the 4 platties out there still doing ok as well) and pond has been down to around 10~12C a few times. It is in an outdoor covered area. See how the platties handle this cold snap we are having at moment.. It will never ice over where is currently. Only once or twice a year will you get a frozen/crunchy front lawn.

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Very nice work! You must have had fun making it and enjoy your creation every day. I want to set up a solar system where water is pumped from the river to a duck enclosure. The waste from the ducks feed into a trout run, which then flows into the garden. I have been digging out bananas today to plant around the outlet from the ducks as a type of filter. Not sure what kind of trout I will choose yet. I guess it depends how big I can make the fish run. Probably go for Kokopo, as they are already there and don't require so much space.

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cool setup!!

:bow:

I've been planning my setup of awuaponics for a while not sure which way im gona go

I don't like goldfish and am hoping I can get some trout or salmon to use in mine...

you got any tips for me? :P

Very, very sure MAF will not let you keep trout. You can catch and eat them with a license, but you cannot keep them alive in captivity.

There would be a great opportunity in NZ to utilise the catfish already well established in the Waikato for aquaponics (they grow quickly, ok to eat apparently) but no, you are required by law to kill them if caught. Nothing else permitted. :dunno:

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You will know if what your doing is wrong. People coarse fish for catfish. Catch and release. You are supposed to kill them. Some egg released them into the Waikato river, along with tench, perch, rudd, golfish and koi You are not allowed to keep trout because the govt thinks that it would take away from the trout fishing industry. Totaly crazy. Good luck, whatever fish you choose. :D

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