maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 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.. -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Strawberry plants growing a upside down milk bottle (with a dripper) strawberries don't like too much water or getting the crown wet.. -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 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) -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Tomatoes.. -- and Celery -- also doing well (celery is doing REALLY well) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Freaking awesome but alas the wife says no... :facepalm: 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?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamstar99 Posted December 2, 2012 Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 hi, are you relying soley on the fish or are you boosting with ferts? cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted December 2, 2012 Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Has anyone managed to setup an aquaponics system in NZ with an edible "crop" of fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 hi, are you relying soley on the fish or are you boosting with ferts? cheers. 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted December 2, 2012 Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 There was a hydroponics setup in Motueka ( I think ) that ran an aquaponics trial with techical advice from Dr Wilson Lennard. His PhD is in aquaponics. As far as I can glean, they had an issue with winter time ... guess the fish don't feed so not much nutrient for the plants. I haven't seen any official report on their experiment but it seemed that that aquaponic plants did better than the hydroponic ones. Not sure what fish they had a license to try and grow. Apparently for fruiting plants like tomatoes, you need to add some potassium. Chelated iron is a lot cheaper than buying Flourish iron. So, interesting to see you managed to grow tomatoes as the plants are heavy feeders. My aquaponics setup has been a fizzer so far. The lettuce were attacked by aphids and I didn't notice until too late. Also lack of sunlight so even though roots were over a foot long in the DWC, the plant was just an inch tall and going spindly. My zucchini were also attacked by aphids. Nitrate levels were also unmeasurable and I think this is because I have way too much duckweed present. And also I have far fewer goldfish with only 2 10cm fish, and the remaining 8 being babies in my bathtub. It was mentioned above that trout would not survive. How about perch? I believe Zealandia has perch in their waters as well as trout and natives. Dr Lennard doesn't recommend worms. They just create worm casts which is another form of solid in the grow bed. Worms don't break down fish solids anyway, they just consume the bacteria/fungi. Murray Hallam is quite keen on worms .. but we just don't have any comparative data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted December 2, 2012 Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 Perch are counted as a noxious fish therefore cannot be kept legally, the only legal edible fish to keep is trout which require pristine cold water which negates the point of aquaponics. if you ran a heated system i.e. using your heat pump you could run giant gourami which are VERY tasty or one of the larger cichlid species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Perch are counted as a noxious fish therefore cannot be kept legally, the only legal edible fish to keep is trout which require pristine cold water which negates the point of aquaponics. if you ran a heated system i.e. using your heat pump you could run giant gourami which are VERY tasty or one of the larger cichlid species. The Australians keep trout in their home aquaponics setup ... so it's clearly possible. I don't think I'd be into heating a system, cheaper to just get your fish from the DFS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 The Australians keep trout in their home aquaponics setup ... so it's clearly possible. I don't think I'd be into heating a system, cheaper to just get your fish from the DFS. 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 I also see Perca fluviatilis ... wonder if it will ever be possible for home aquaponic users to have access to these fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 ok i may have been wrong :facepalm: seems that perch are allowed (maybe local bio control laws though) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 Maybe I can slip into Zealandia at night ... and grab a few. They want to clear the lake of all non natives anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 I also see Perca fluviatilis ... wonder if it will ever be possible for home aquaponic users to have access to these fish. 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 :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted December 3, 2012 Report Share Posted December 3, 2012 I'd suspect a lot of people in NZ wouldn't want to eat catfish though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 catfish = yummy, just annoying to get the skin off.... perch = VERY VERY yummy (plus if your ponds big enough they are great fun on light tackle =P) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Not about flavour, it's about perception... with the still reasonably accessible stocks of home/ commercially caught saltwater fish and the ease/culture etc of trout (and whitebait) I suspect people probably wouldn't be interested in trying catfish. Not that perceptions could change... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 I always thought that catfish were introduced as a food fish in the first place. they are extremely popular in america. also if you advertise it as saving the environment by eating some nice fish, NZ'rs will pay 10X what its worth from past experience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellydave Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 not shure if any of you guys have seen this but its prety cool check it out! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2142509221/home-aquaponics-kit-self-cleaning-fish-tank-that-g?ref=live Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted December 10, 2012 Report Share Posted December 10, 2012 not shure if any of you guys have seen this but its prety cool check it out! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2142509221/home-aquaponics-kit-self-cleaning-fish-tank-that-g?ref=live That's pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted December 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2012 not shure if any of you guys have seen this but its prety cool check it out! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2142509221/home-aquaponics-kit-self-cleaning-fish-tank-that-g?ref=live 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: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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