Aquaponics

AQUAPONICS UPDATE #2

8 Comments

Well it’s time for another Aquaponics Update and I have been busy taking photos.

The system seems to be working better now and our little fish are growing well, although it is hard to get photos of them (sorry).

OUR BIG BIG NEWS IS…. OUR YABBIES HAVE HAD BABIES

BEFORE

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 AFTER

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If you look really closely you can see the babies, there were some in the bottom of their tank but they are so small.  If you are interested in more information about yabbies click here.

Below is a photo of some of the lettuces and they are growing and staying healthy.  The drum with the small fish in them is feeding directly into this bed which might explain why they look so good.

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Here is a beetroot plant, you can just see the new green leaf just beginning to grow at the bottom.

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We already have about 10 larger fish that friends caught for us and you can see their outlines below. I am sorry the photo isn’t really great as it’s hard to see them.

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In our sump tank we have some yabbies and an eel.  The eel normally lives in the pipe but you can see his tail sticking out near the brick. DSC_0838

Here is a close up of the yabbies in with the eel.
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We planted some larger tomato plants when we first started and they have just been hanging on.  Now the tops have died off but we noticed a new shoot on this one.

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This is the Seasol product that we add to the beds, it is a seaweed based mineral and is meant to help until the fish manure output increases.  My husband isn’t sure whether it works or not.

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Here is my eggplant bravely stuggling on, it is flowering now, but it hasn’t grown much.

DSC_0829[1]The latest addition has been to sow seeds straight into the beds. Below are some squash seeds that have come up and they seem to be growing well.
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Here is another one, I think this is a cucumber.  It is fascinating to watch the seeds come up and I find this quite amazing and very exciting.

DSC_0827[1]I have just finished sewing two beds with more seeds.  I put in a variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, rocket, dwarf beans, coriander, silverbeet and capsicum.  I am looking forward to seeing how many actually come up and then how many keep growing.

Well that’s about it for this post and I will do another update when the seedlings start coming up.

Blessings!!

 

This post is linked up at Old-Fashioned Friday

8 thoughts on “AQUAPONICS UPDATE #2”

  1. I’m learning something new with this. I am curious if this is something you do with your homeschooling or just something common in Australia?
    I followed your link and it says yabbies are like our crayfish. I like the part where it says a common sport in Australia is yabbying. That made me giggle 🙂 .

    Reply

    1. My husband heard about aquaponics somewhere (I can’t remember where) and started talking about it then I got him a couple of books from the library. His interest grew so I bought him a set of DVD’s for Christmas 2013. He has been working on getting going since then. There is a little bit of cost involved especially with the plumbing. We got our tanks quite cheap and a friend of ours started doing it as well (our friend has had cancer and it really gave him something else to think about). There are a few people around that do it but I don’t know if it is especially Australian or not. We just wanted something that grew vegetables at a quicker rate and when we put the lot under plastic we should be able to grow more out of season vegetables, like tomatoes in winter. Our friend is more interested in growing and eating the fish, I’m more interested in the vegetables and my husband is going for both. It has become a real passion for him and he goes out morning and night to feed them and see that they are alright. The kids are enjoying it to especially the yabbies.
      I don’t know about yabbying be a common sport here but there are people who come out of town to roadside dams to do it, and sometimes they even come into your paddocks and do it on private dams (without permission).
      I’m not actually that keen on the taste but Graeme and the kids like it and it is very educational.
      Blessings

      Reply

  2. Wow, you have quite a set up going… that is impressive. I have never gardened that way, but have been interested in it. I saw a big aquaponics garden set up in a terraced rocket launch bay once in an old missile silo…. and that was my introduction to this. I hope your garden does very well. 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thanks Joy, we think it is just starting to get going better. A friend just gave us another 10 bigger fish to put in with the other ones so that will help. My husband and I are really enjoying doing it, he just loves the fish and has been known to be out there at 2 o’clock in the morning when he can’t sleep. My seeds that I planted last week are starting to come up, very exciting. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Blessings

      Reply

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