RupertofOZ

Male

Gerringong, NSW

Australia

Profile Information:

Are you an aquaponic gardener already?
Yes
If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)
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I run multiple systems here at home...

A 6000L trout system... operated on a purely aquaculture basis... holding between 100-300+ rainbow trout... up to about 800gms

A 1000L aquaponics system.... holding about 60 Silver Perch ... to about 1kg...

A 800L aquaponics system... primarily run by yabbies... & holding about 10 Catfish...

A new, 3000L semi-completed aquaponics system... running about 200+ Barramundi....

And another small 1000L RAS system ... with about 100+ Tandanus Catfish...
Please tell us something else about yourself.
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As Sylvia has already noted, there's no shortage of forums and advice available to us flokes here in Australia... but perhaps a lot of it is to "localised" to translate to people in the US...

So I'll confine my self to primarily posting on subjects regarding general aquaponics principles and fish keeping...

I've been an avid soil gardener all my life... up until this summer... when I abandoned my soil garden...

I now grow everything aquaponically...

I've previously run small scale hydroponics operations... about 8-10,000 holes...

And I'm in my last (diploma) year of a 4 year aquaculture study course...

Comment Wall:

  • Sylvia Bernstein

    WOW! I am so excited to have you join our little forum! I have seen your prodigious posts in the Backyard forum, and am thrilled that you decided to come spend some time with us here. Your video was outstanding - I pulled my 15 year old son it to have him see what a yabbie is.

    Our membership at this point is made up mostly of people who have just heard of aquaponics in the past few weeks (the NY Times article helped things out a wee bit) and are just considering getting their feet wet. i started a forum topic last week for newbies. You would be such a great resource to this group that I'd like to put out a general announcement that you have joined us, that they should take a look at your video, and that you (hopefully...;-) will take a peek in the Newbie forum once and a while to see if you can answer some questions here. We have a great resource in raft systems with Rebecca Nelson, but myself, Afnan, and a few others are the most experienced in media based...and we don't have a fraction of your experience. Would you be ok with my hanging a sign out for your consulting services?

    Yippee!

    Sylvia

    Feb 26, 2010

  • TCLynx

    Wow Rupe,
    I never realized you had Tandanus Catfish too, I only knew about the Trout, silvers, Barra, and Yabbies. I've been very curious about how your catfish over there differ from our Channel Catfish and other similar species here.

    Cool, always good to have you around, perhaps I'll go watch your video now as it is raining here and I can't spend too much time out there.

    Feb 27, 2010

  • RupertofOZ

    Hi TCL, yeah the Tandanus Catfish is a recent addition. Got two batches in for people, so my tank is a bit of a mix of sizes. Surprised how quickly they grow.

    Yesterday I took some Barramundi up to a bloke I supplied some Tandanus to about a month ago.... and his have tripled in size.... I'm going to have to up my feed rate....

    Feb 27, 2010

  • TCLynx

    Hay Rupe, I tried to respond to the message you sent me but I can't tell if it actually sent. Seems that some functions of this site don't work for me and I don't know why.

    Anyway, I am pleased to hear about the growth rate of the Tandanus Catfish. Please keep me updated about their growth rates and if you eat any, what you think of them. I know my Channel Catfish in my climate and system totally beat out the mixed gender blue tilapia for growth rates.

    Mar 2, 2010

  • JohnNZ

    Hi RupertofOz,

    Hope you are well and that the weather has been kind to you..

    Not sure if you have been blown away by the last few weeks of bad weather.. It looks very bad from Auckland.. Let us know how your and what has happening in your world of Aquaponics

    I am just about ready to go to my first cycle and as you may already know we are limited to Gold Fish ..  I have recently purchased Murray's DVD and it has been a real eye opener.

    We are very much behind hind in NZ so I feel your wisdom and that of others in the community be valued..  My experience in other forms of horticulture particularly Deep Flow Technology and NFT will stand good as I am used to cutting up PVC and getting my hands dirty..   I hear my gold fish calling. Goto Go

     

    Ps Thanks for being a friend..

     

    Regards JohnNZ

    Feb 13, 2011

  • Nate Storey

    Thanks for the encouragement Rupert,

    I've been getting a kick out of them lately.  I converted my system to commercial recently.  things are going great but it takes a lot of time.  I think I have the smallest commercial greenhouse ever now.  Go vertical!

     

    Hope you're doing well. . . It's been a while.

     

    Nate

    Feb 17, 2011