Aquaponic update some lost fish plans for the pipes

A few Goldfish deaths :(

Lost a goldfish a few weeks ago & found 2 more laying on the bottom of the tank on Monday..
I had no idea at the start as to what could of caused the deaths so went looking online for some idea of what it could of been.. I came across a few sites with the one listed bellow being fairly comprehensive in its listing of different diseases & their symptoms..
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~tonyl/goldfish/testarea/symptoms.htm


I had no idea what might have caused the deaths at the time but am now fairly certain it was a sudden drop in water temp that may have caused them to perish..  Another theory put forward by a viewer is that it could of just been tired after mating... Apparently, as the gills & eyes looked so healthy this could of been a possibility.. Have never read of this happening before & really hope I didnt bury a few fish alive..  The goldfish are destined to go to a new home soon I dont know if I will get to test this theory.. 

Update walk through..
Bit late I know but here is the latest update clip for the aquaponic set up..


I found sometime this week to finely sort out how I will be altering the pipe work on the system so that all the water will run through a filter to remove solid fish waste & un eaten food..
One of the first things to make up was the 90° elbow units..

At the moment I am using normal 90° fittings on the pipes to redirect the water but it was pointed out to me that making up these nifty little units out of 2 x 45° elbows will let the water flow a lot more efficiently increasing flow rates throughout the whole system.. An upside to that is I think I can now down size the pump to one that should be slightly cheaper to run..


 As the system can’t be left off line for any length of time I have been making up these elbows & pre fabricating the other pieces needed so they can be added on all in one go..  I really want a whole day set aside for this just in case any unforeseen events arise needing extra parts & time to finish the job.. 


Thats about it for now as I really should be out there harvesting the Yacon..For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Face book page..
Thanks & take it easy all..
Rob..

Read More..

Aquaponic update Think we have a change of plans

Picked up a commercial aquaponic system last week & now need to work out how to fit it into the yard :/ Am fairly sure that our existing system will be off to my parents & then we can get into setting up the new system here..

Am really looking forward to planing & building this system.. Am hoping to still include some Dutch buckets & DWC beds too :)

Decided to harvest the sweet potato from the aquaponics this week.. Also had a bit of a surprise when I was following the vine
that had grown over the side of the system :)


Cheers all & have a great one..
Rob :)

Read More..

Backyard Farm garden update Air Pruning Compost plans for the patch 18th Dec 2014

Time for a bit of an update on the veggie patch in our little Backyard Farm now that Summer has well & truly hit SE Queensland..  
Was working on a few clips but they unfortunately got lost when the hard drive crashed so I thought Id give you a quick look at a few of them all in one clip.. 

Will have a follow up post on the wicking beds & how they fare during the high temperatures we had during Spring posted in the next day or so ;-)

If anyone in Australia is interested in purchasing the Root Pouches you can find a tab to our small store under our banner above..

Cheers all & have a great one.. 

Read More..

Change of plans

Had a bit of a think about the Plan we had for the garden & have decided to make a few changes....

The 2 lime trees are going to stay put for now...  On Saturday they both got a bit of TLC in the form of citrus food, a top up of a soil blend made with our own Chook compost & a good pruning... The Kaffir had some infected branches clipped off & the Tahitian bed had the Lemongrass clump removed....We will give them another season & shall see how they go....



As a result of keeping the limes where they are, we now need to find new homes for the Turmeric, Ginger & Galangal.... As these plants have nice looking foliage, we have decided to put them in barrels at the base of the back stairs or somewhere in the yard !!

Spice Bed.

As the spice plants no longer need a wicking bed their old one shall be dismantled, moved to the left 6 feet & reassembled..... I really want to get stuck into pulling this bed down just to see what sort of damage the roots from the surrounding trees have done.... It was the first Wicking bed I had built so a few mistakes were made & I was never really happy with it from the start.... The Puppy loo will have to be moved but thats easy enough....






While we were having a look at our options for moving the bed, we also came up with an idea for the Chooks yard..... We shall be leaving them with their little Mango yard & fencing off another section around to where the Galangal bed was.... These areas will be used alternately with one being planted out with green Chook food while they demolish the other.... They will only be let out in the whole yard again once all the holes they have dug for dust baths get covered with grass....

Bed #1

A few other little jobbies were done yesterday as well....  The Strawberries from Bed #1 were potted up ready to be offered to who ever wants them.... We also got a nice little Mignonette lettuce form this bed....It is sitting with its roots in a jar on the kitchen bed ready for dinner tonight.... A few couple of old Broccoli & cabbage plants that were only growing as foliage plants for the Chooks were removed, then bits of the bed were turned & then topped up with some soil/Compost mix......
Into this bed B? planted 3 Black Jack Zucchinis...

Pumpkin Bed

The Pumpkin Bed was finished on Saturday & planted out with 2 x Butternut seedlings & 2 lots of Golden Nugget Pumpkin Seeds....

Bed #4

Bed #4 also got a good turning & top up with some soil mix..... It was planted out with a few rows of Brown Beauty Bush Bean seeds... The Zucchini in this bed is going great guns, giving us 1 fruit every 3 or so days...

Bay, Strawberries & Napoleons Hat..

B?s poor old Bay tree also got some TLC.... It was planted out into a large terracotta pot at the bottom of the stairs... Looks happier already...
I have also been informed that the area under the stairs will be getting a makeover.... Apparently, I shall be removing the pavers & Concreting the area... **Sigh** Must come up with a better idea than that to trump the B? me thinks....




Just an update shot from the Carrot/Lettuce bed.....

 I assure you that if you click on the image it looks a lot more impressive!! Maybe....

Nothing like hundreds of baby sprouts to bring a smile to your face... : )»

Have a great One all !!!!

Read More..

Plans MK Something !!!!

This is the FINAL plans for the Veggie patch..... I hope.... PLEASE !!!.....

   The Herb bed has been removed & there is now 2 beds waiting to be "Wicked" tomorrow or the weekend weather permitting....  **Crosses Fingers**
  
   Been doing little bits in the patch this week as time permits & will do a full update when Pictures have been taken.....

Have a great one all.....

: )»

Read More..

Wednesday walk through future plans

Walkthrough...
Just a quick one as not a lot has happened this week due to the holidays which meant Visitors & Visiting...

On a sad note...
I think we may be pulling out Bed #5...
On a happier note, Wit is going to be replaced with an Aquaponics set up...

**Does happy dance**

Have been reading up on a lot of information on fish farming & Aquaponics as well as watching the multitude of videos available on the net... It will be good to grow some of our own protein... Due to local regulations meat Chickens are out of the questions... We are hoping to include the worms in the system as food as well as active participants within the grow beds... We purchased 3 IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) tanks to turn into Fish tanks & Grow beds... I wont be rushing the project due to upcoming nuptials but will be spending most of the honeymoon building the system... Maybe... If Im allowed... 
I could Rabbit on about it for ages but shant due to the fear of loosing my hairy noggin...

Have a great one all...
: )»

Read More..

Autumn Winter plans

Exclusion bag on Capsicum..

Pests & rain...
Has been quite some time since I last posted... No single reason, the holidays came & went, School started back up for the girls.. I  think I also became complacent about gardening after loosing most fruiting crops to combination of fruit fly, too much rain & a plague of mini grasshoppers... We still have been harvesting a variety of veggies that didnt get targeted my the grasshoppers or fruit fly..  We did manage to save some fruit by covering them with pest exclusion bags so am thankful for that.. I think we have learnt some valuable lessons & are already planing a defensive strategy to deal with them for next summer...

Plants for the coming months...

    We are looking at Autumn & Winter seasons so have put all the pests & deluges behind us.. We sowed a selection of broccoli, cauliflower, as well as some kale, rainbow chard & tatsoi.. The are also a small tray of tansy that will be used to deter  the ants that love colonising the wicking beds & barrels..  Some roma tomatoes have been planted into one of the top IBC beds & we also have a tray of unknown variety of toms needing to be planted out as well..
Barrels have been selected for this years garlic crop as well as the onions sets we grew last year..
 
 Tadpoles/Froglets & Aquaponics...


We have some movement in the tadpole "ponds" with a few metamorphosing into frogs & disappearing into the garden.. So far we have seen ½ a dozen advanced tadpoles with legs & 2 that are wee small frogs with stumpy tails attached like the little feller to the left..
As much as we love watching them grow & change we would really like the trays free to turn into grow beds for the Aquaponic set up..

The 1 grow bed we have is slowly filling up with strawberry runners which is great as we are looking at trying to build "strawberry wall MKII" in the next month or so.. We still only have the 7 large goldfish & a single Pacific blue eye in the fish tank... We have our name down for 30 Jade perch at one place & have another we still need to check out.. Really want at lest one more grow bed before we put any more fish in just to make sure there is enough medium to filter out the waste...

Below are a couple of the latest clips done of the garden & Tadpoles...

Thats about it for now but will be back a lot sooner this time as we have a few little projects on the go...
Just to finish, here is some of the udumalpet, White & Long Asian purple eggplants we have been harvesting over the past few months...

Have a nice Day!!!


: )»

Read More..

Plans MK Something !!!! Part 2

Well, the rain never appeared so I had a chance to finish the 2 new Beds.....

Also had another thought on the layout of the Garden.....

The last bed will be smaller so we will have a bit of space at one end for seats & a small table/box... The bench/box will still be built but placed elsewhere.... This will allow for some extra Wicking barrels to be made & placed around the patch....
We still  have plans in the future to build a few new beds down one side of the patch... We need to build a retaining wall & new fence first so not to worried about not having as much garden space for the time being...

Have a great one all....

: )»

Read More..