Story: Aquaponics
Episode: 17
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
Air Date: 12th December 2020

Trevor chats to Calinda Anderson from Woodvale Fish and Lily Farm to learn about aquaponics and what to do with them as you move into summer.

• Winter is finished, the rainbow trout are gone and now is the time to start thinking about fish like barramundi and silver perch.
• When you’re changing fish and your system is empty, it’s the perfect time to do any maintenance that might be needed.
• Get in there, do a really good clean, check your pump, your air pump and airlines and plant any vegetables that you want to grow during the season.
• In an aquaponics system, the water is pumped to the plants, the plants take up any excess nutrients and use it to grow, returning clean water to the fish.
• Your seedlings are probably going to droop a little bit at first, but they’ll come back within a week or two.
• Trout and barramundi don’t eat algae, so adding koi into the system can help keep it clean.
• If you’ve got a grow bed that’s quite mature, it will act like a nutrient bank. There’ll be enough nutrients in there for your plants for at least 6-8 weeks.
• If your plants are suffering, you can add PowerFeed and Seasol at any time. Add the normal amount to a watering can and give them a foliage feed.