Hello from Western Australia

[peter6530]

I live in Western Australia in the southern section of the semi-arid Mid-West region, East of Geraldton. Most of our rainfall is in the winter, between April and July, with a few random thunderstorms in the summer. The town in which I live is in farming country, but very close to the dryer inland pastoral country in which "farmed" sheep and cattle forage.

Other wild animals in the region are rabbits, goats, dogs, pigs, cats, foxes and occasionally horses (brumbys) and camels; which are all feral offspring of introduced animals.

Indigenous fauna include kangaroos, bandicoots, emus, lizards and snakes, and a wide variety of birds; budgerigars, and other colourful parrots, and doves, hawks and eagles, to name just a few.

The indigenous flora and fauna, which exist in a very delicately balanced ecosystem, are constantly under pressure because of competition with introduced animals for scarce food and water. Extensive conservation plans and activity are undertaken to protect and/or re-establish the natural environment.

While the country is extremely harsh and unforgiving, particularly if appropriate precautions are not taken by locals and visitors when travelling in the region, it is also very beautiful in an austere sort of way. North and East of Perth, streams are usually dry except for a few days after rain, and even what we call rivers in this region rarely flow for more than a few weeks in a year. There is very little standing water and even that would not be safe to drink without treatment. Travellers who are lost or broken down in any area that is not farmed are warned to stay with their vehicle, otherwise they risk dying of dehydration before they are found.

I live in a cottage, on a town block of about 1000 sq metres. My interest is in growing fruit trees and vegetables and flowers, so I am setting up an aquaponics system to grow out purchased fish fingerlings to plate size, {probably Trout in winter when the temperatures are between 0 and 15 deg's Centigrade, and in summer, when temps are between 20 and 45 deg's C, Barramundi, Silver Perch, Jade Perch (the latter native to Queensland with very high Omega-3 levels) and/or Murray Cod (native of the Murray-Darling River system of NSW, Vic, & Qld )}.

Vegetables will then be grown in media (expanded clay or crushed rock) filled grow-beds through which the fish tank water is circulated. Bacterial action will convert the fish waste to nutrient forms that feed the plants. The water, 'cleaned' by the plants, will then be pumped back to the fish tank/s. Small amounts of water will be used during flushing of filters and grow beds. This nutrient rich water, taken out of the system, will be used to water/feed soil based vegetables (e.g. potatoes, carrots) and flower gardens and fruit crops.

This type of system, which produces protein and vegetable crops, is said to use only 10% of the water used in a soil based garden with similar production quantities. There is no waste and the inputs to the system are fish food (purchased in pellet form and natural/home produced, e.g. worms etc.) and small amounts of water. It also is considered organic because there are no pesticides or herbicides used in production. Some degree of control over the 'atmosphere' of the system can also be exercised by use of plant based (shade in my area) or 'plastic igloos' for growing crops out of season or extending growing periods.

A benefit for the local flora environment is that concentrated fertiliser material is not leached into the ground, though it is used extensively in broad acre farming in this region, as with many areas throughout Australia, because most soils are very poor in nutrients. Many of the 'native' plants of this region do not tolerate nitrogenous fertilisers, since they have adapted to growing in very poor soils.

As I progress with this project I plan to provide progress reports on accomplishments and setbacks as they occur.

Most of the information and hardware for the project has been obtained from Back Yard AquaPonics (BYAP) which is a few kilometres South of Perth in W.A. (A very good source of information and they would, I'm sure, be happy to hear from interested people on their forum)

I have noticed on the internet that there are significant aquaponics operations in Anglesey. It will be interesting to look at similarities and differences in operation, inputs and outputs.

Looking forward to future contact and shared ideas and inspiration.

Best wishes
Peter

[airconednightmare]

hi and welcome, sounds interesting, look forward to hearing more

we have the opposite problem in scotland, too much water!

[Lesley Jay]

Hi there Peter, welcome to our forum!!

[Husker]

Hi Peter, and welcome. It sounds like you have a great project going. I'll be interested to see the progression and results. Best of luck and glad to have you with us.