Utilizing nature to create a zero impact, zero waste, carbon positive, completely self sustainable eco system,
... producing fresh organic fruits , vegetables, fish, crayfish & energy - In our backyard.

Welcome to our adventure ...

Aquaponics is a natural eco-system, which organically produces vegetables, fish & crayfish. It is the integration of fish cultivation, aquaculture, with hydroponic plant production.

Fish wastes are 'filtered' by natural bacteria producing a rich nutrient source for the plants. The plants utilize these nutrients for growth, thus purifying the water to then be returned to the fish. This continuous cycle is what happens in a nature.

Aquaponics has many advantages including, requiring much less space than traditional farming methods, highly efficient food productive method - potentially higher than hydoponics, with zero environmental impact.

- No chemical fertiliser's, pesticides, insecticides or soil conditioners are used.

- Zero water waste. All water is constantly purified by the plants and recirculated back to the fish.

- 100% of all nutrients are used, creating two crops from one nutrient source - the fish food.

- 100% of wastes generated are utilized on site through filters that feed the plants. Worm composts & Black Soldier Fly's are utilized for all vegetable off cuts and house hold waste's, creating natural healthy fish food source's. Worm & BSF castings being used for enhancing soil condition.

- As a source of protein, fish are the most efficient convertors out of all our farmed animals, achieving feed to flesh conversion efficiency close to 100%.

Aquaponics is a 100% natural eco-system.

PVA has also incorporated a totally off grid solar power installation, supplying power for the system, work shed and computers.

1st Livestock Harvest

Today I tackled the biggest of my foreseen problems with my system layout, harvesting the livestock.

My grow out tanks are long & narrow (5mtrs x 1mtr x 1mtr) with 4mtr grow beds setting on top. This meant that access was limited to a 70cm gap at one end with a 30cm gap at the other end for feeding.

The idea was to fill an empty IBC to hold the fish for purging. So I pumped water from the grow out tank into it and a spare kiddies swimming pool as not to waste water. When the water was down to 30cm deep it was time to jump in, crawl around and hand select the largest silver perch for our upcoming Aquaponics Seafood Feast to be cooked on the Rocket BBQ.





A total of approx 20-25 fish averaging 450 grams (the largest being 650g) were selected and placed into the IBC for purging & easy 'final harvest' over the festive season. Estimated total harvest is 12-15kgs.

A couple weeks ago the decision was made to harvest all of they Red Claw Crayfish that were in the 2nd grow out tank. Growth was slow & unimpressive in my mind. From a starting qty of 1 mature pair & 200 juvinille crays, a total of 80 crayfish were harvested with a total weight of just under 7kgs.




300 asst fingerlings of Silver, Gold  & Jade Perch along with 50 Murray Cod are on order to fill the created void.

Delivery is expected mid January.

DIY Rocket BBQ

During winter I indulged another interest and did a bit of research about Rockets Mass Heaters & Stoves. I had a great idea and blended all that info together to come up with my DIY Rocket BBQ.

Firstly I had taken an old gas bbq and stripped off the old & rusted gas fittings, rebated an internal edge and added support bars under the shelf.

  
 I worked out the components required then set about making them from an old battered fireplace box, chimney & flu. 

The outer insulation box -
 

The main fire burn chamber & heat riser -
 

The original drip tray with large cut out for the heat riser -
 

All the bits. *Notice also a piece of 100mm box pipe, this will be the wood feed shoot -

 Position the insulation box through rebates in frame and lower onto bottom shelf -

 Lower the main burn chamber / heat riser through the top of the outer insulation box, aligning with the pre cut positioning slots in the base.
I have also cut two small holes through the bottom for ash drainage -
 

Continue assembly with tapping the wood feed shoot through front and into the main burn chamber then adding the drip tray and bbq plates -
 
 

 Finish it off and christen it with half a milk create of fine twigs, great food & good friends -

Umm... did I mention, some Fine Food -
 

.... and some good friends !

After dinner we removed the bbq plates then enjoyed an open fire.
My next bright thought & project will be to make a heat box to go on top to act as a large radiant heater.



Winter 2012 Strawberry Update


We estimate nearly 60 kilos of strawberries have been harvested from these 100 plants over the 3 month winter period.
Many of our friends enjoyed a bountiful crop along with us.







Spring duties included a comprehensive tidy up of strawberry roots as the tubes were now becoming somewhat restricted in free water flow. Any dead leaves were also removed making way for new season runners to start.
We look forward to more strawberries very soon .

Spring Growth

Well spring is well and truly here with several days nudging 37 degrees celsius... more closely resembling what is to come in summer.

The new grow bed has been fully planted and growth is going totally ballistic.... thats not to say the first grow bed is going poorly either...







New Growbed, Modified Filter & Shade house Construction

It has been a long wait but the 2nd grow bed is now online.
I encountered some water flow problems which meant I had to modify the filter before I could use the new grow bed.
Ive also made a start on the shade house construction....








Aquaponics Abundance

Winter and spring have been very bountiful with a large variety of vegies produced, both in the AP grow beds and in the natural earthern beds. Most things are being done in small quanity, it leaves some room for variety.

Varieties include;
Strawberries, radish, beetroot, celery, 4 varieties of tomatoes, chinese cabbage, bok choy, silverbeet, rainbow chard, spinach, 4 varieties of capsicum, 3 varieties of chilli, snow peas, red beans, green beans, spring onions, echalottes, leeks, ginger, turmeric, galangal, spearmint, peppermint, lemon grass, oregano, thyme, sage, dill, corriander, kafar lime, lemons, grapefruit, jaboticaba, lettuces- red & green oak leaf, butternut, imperial, red coral, cos, butternut & queensland blue pumpkin, lebanese eggplant, swede, turnip, corn ... im sure to have missed a couple :)

A couple of pics -














Off Grid Solar Panel System - DIY

Progress happens slowly here... and so do the updates, sorry.

We have encountered some problems along the way and have had to adjust some things, I will mention them as I go.

All 6 x 180w solar panels are now in place on the tracking frame. The purchased drive motor isn't strong enough and I rather like the DIY drill motor / driver, though it's clutch mechanism needs improvement & we havn't installed the sun tracking board yet, so tracking is still manual.
The front of the electrical housing shows the top unit is a 2kw Photovoltaic Charger, the solar panels wire into here. This unit regulates the charge to the batteries and is the brains of the system.
The next unit down is a 600w 12/240v Inverter.
Bottom row right is the main isolator switch.
Bottom left & centre show the 20amp & 50amp circuit breakers that service the 600w & 1500w Inverters.
These are an Absolute Must !!!
 The rear of the unit houses the 1500w inverter.
On the timber post is the tracker motor on/off switch, below is the DIY drive motor.
The last drama encountered forced a bit of major re-think resulting in the above configuration...
Batteries !
Several of the ex-train batteries we got at a 'cheap' price would not take a full charge, that left only 2 x 2kw batteries for storage. In hind sight, that is still 3 days & nights worth of power running our system.
Originally was planned & purchased a 6kw inverter but with only 25% of planned battery capacity it seemed a waste. The 600w inverter was wired up from day 1 and then added the 1500w inverter when the final 3 solar panels were finished.

The final config alteration is underway.
Underground wiring is being dug & laid directly from solar system to the shed. Separate underground wiring is done, from the shed to the aquaponics system. When complete, a separate power board in the shed will auto detect week/drained/failed battery power supply and switch to mains power from the house. Also wired in will be a mains charging system for the solar batteries. Mains power is virtually free due to a 10kw solar system on the house.

Finally, a rare sunny winters day - July 2012

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