Aquaponics

Here are some photos of the aquaponics system we have only just finished installing. BASICALLY, fish in 1000 to 3000 litre tanks are fed, create waste products which are pumped into beds of growing medium (expanded clay), after a few weeks an extensive bacterial colony is established in the growing medium which converts fish excrement into nutrients for plant growth. The pumps are powered from domestic on grid solar power system.

I have 100 silver perch in the large tank and about 30 goldfish in the small tank. Plants are growing surprisingly well, although this system is currently primed with 30% hydroponic solution until the fish get bigger and the bacterial colonies become well established.

Eventually much of the fish food will be created from worm farms and plants that we grow ourselves. Having the growing beds on stands eliminated a lot of ground crawling insect “pests” and is very user friendly for tired and injured backs, 90% automated food production, just feed the fish, put in the seedlings, top up water ftom rainwater tanks occasionally and harvest the food.

Wide angle shots of system

Growing Beds 2 weeks after planting

There is a cucumber in there about 3 days from harvest, this bed has been operating for about 5 weeks.

These lettuces were put in as seedlings and will be usable as food in about a week, thats only 3 weeks growing time!

Small emergency power supply for the rare and brief power outages. Eventually we will convert to offgrid solar and wind power.

Here is a link to the company we bought the system from, infomercial and practical videos at this page;

https://www.backyardaquaponics.com/component/allvideos