Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Now only a 5 months old, 1500 lt FT, 2 GB on ebb and flow, 12x 4lt/hr on demand drippers, 60x plants NFT on constant flow, 30 rainbow trout. Plants: lemon balm, spearmint, mint, pineapple mint, sage, purple basil,sweet basil, watercress, purple beans, broad beans, plum tomatoes, cuccumber, chard, bok choi, late purple broccoli sprouts, rocket, chicory, red orach, purslane, serifon, koboko, thai sai.

more photos

and more photos

Welcome Tony... everything is looking pretty good there mate...

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Fresh By Nature - Distributor of Aquaponic Systems and Products in NSW
http://www.freshbynature.com.au

Impressive setup you have there.

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ArBe
My Home System
My Country Backyard
My Suburban Backyard

does the watercress like a sunny position, or doesnt mind a shady one?

I know what it says on the packet but anecdotal evidence ftw

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Fabian's System

Hey Tony.... Very nice set up, good to see you trying a variety of growing methods..

How are your water temps over there? I guess you are just coming out of summer, it will be nice for you if you can have trout year round..

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www.backyardaquaponics.com
Bringing Food Production Home

Hi Tony !
Wow that looks good .We only wish we had done all that when we lived in London - we would have been millionaires by now.
Are you selling any of your produce or is it just for home consumption?

You don't muck around when you get going mate.

Great setup there

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Cheers
Rob

Remember. If you have never failed, you have never tried.

@ earthbound: water temp now 18c, whic is still high, trout best feedeing temp range is 5-18c! The idea is to have trout all year round but summer could be too hot for a 1500lt FT, best earthpond for this job, soon we'll move to countryside where I can make a reservoir!
@Fabian: watercress in my garden lies in a position where it gets about 5 hr of full sun light and part shady!
ciao

Still would not give watercress too much direct sunlight here though as our latitude is much lower than London.

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Cheers
Rob

Remember. If you have never failed, you have never tried.

outside temp is 10c daytime and 5c at night, greenhouse temp 16c (small oil radiator with timer and thermostat)cherry tom still ripening nice and more flower setting in! ubelievable it's november and sun light not the best..don't understand! got potassium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide delivered today which made a difference to Ph in a very impressive speed! NFT going very well, fitted valves on each gutter for mintanace and jet flushing for self cleaning, 60 mixed plants(rhubarb,koboko,spinach,rainbow chard, bok choi, tai sai, winter marvel lettuce) all started from seeds as i always do to avoid outside desease and parassites.
2 aquarium heaters by 300w on timer(15 minx hr) just to help the water temp to stay a few degree up, average watert temp is 15c and i'm afraid to let it drop as bacteria activities and reproduction slow down incredibly in cold temperature, 28 trout from 300g to 600g all happy, 7 months old system and only had one gold fish died with a fungus infection and one trout died with same infection when itroduced in to the system, gold fish sold long ago when trout became twice as big, my last water test readings:
Temp 14.7
PH 6.83
EC 1940
TDS 955
Na Cl 1.3%
NO2 0.2 (still high)
NO3 80 mgL
Free Chlorine 0.02 ppm ( got to keep an eye because i'm topping up with tap water)
PO4 +2mgL
NH3 0.0

How on earth did I miss this thread back in September? Awesome stuff.

Incidentally, which part of London are you in? I'm in Wimbledon (SW19) myself.

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Are you part of the Jungle?

West norwood mate, SE27
Well, it looks as UK aquaponics family is expanding rapidly, do you have a system up and running? you are very wellcome to came around any time and check it out.

ok here some pics too!