oceanarium

More pics from today  Stoked with the trout they grow so fast 3 months and they are good enough to fillet and their aggressive feeding is fueling the plants well. 

Pointless at any rate local rock is limestone based so why go to the effort to illegal collect live rocks at the risk of prosecution only to kill all the life on it 

Just use some limestone from the dry part of the beach for the same effect with much less work and risk 

Copper banded butterfly's will pick at the aptasia, and I'm pretty sure peppermint shrimp will do the job too

These are the best bet   

Bergha I have never seen for sale. Collected a few myself years back, so they are here. Collectors dont know what they are or the use of them for apitasia control so they dont pick them up. 

Well finished my first summer no Barra went in by the time my temps were getting up it was really too late in the season to grow them out. Plants were slow to grow at first with only ten silver perch fingerlings plus marron and yabbies all small. I found strawberries were the only really productive plant with low N in the water, worth considering as a first crop in a new AP system. As the summer warmed up and the perch started to feed well and fatten up so the food volume increased we started getting the green veg to work better. The Perch probably bout 200-250g each now though have really slowed the feeding with cold water at 15C. 

The plan all along was for the trout to be the main crop, I get sufficient white flesh fish from fishing. So now ready to stock much heavier this April with trout fingerlings. The plan to harvest most and to try carry some on through summer at lower stocking density. Hottest we went this year was 26C for short duration's in some pretty extreme hot days. Next year I can shade the AP more and add a air blower on hot days to increase DO. Be interested to hear what people opinions are regarding the trout year round? 

I also added a UV for water clarity after the water turned green early summer. Probably better of with out it as the Perch don't feed as well with clear water, but I like seeing whats going on  Some pics as of today;

Disappointed the Barra not working out I still want to have a play with them started a SW AP build in my aquaculture shed. Its been playing on my mind now for a while how well it will work. I am going to grow some edible seaweeds and samphire for the grow beds. Using a bulka box for the tank and some old shallow glass aquariums for the grow beds. Here is a pic still water-less though have secured the barra while they are available they are in the aquariums for now in the background;

With zoa's and plates ?? (Chalice etc) you can go pretty low tech. You do need to consider; water movement, lighting, temperature control and nutrient control. 

A shallow pond will do fine, no sump required. You can get them around $200

A round tank allows for a single water mover pump the Jeboa are so seriously cheap and effective. Not much more than $100

Temp is the one to consider when expense comes in via power consumption and equipment, depending on how you locate the tank your going to need a heat / cool chiller unless it is in a very stable environment. That is the killer at $1000 but you can pick up second hand units for a few hundred $ if you keep an eye out. 

Skimmer not essential but can make life easier, you can feed the corals more and do less water changes. So you can spend a few more hundred here.

As for lighting personally I like LED for heat and electrical efficy  zoa's and plates can do well on relatively low lighting if fed adequately. on Ebay you can pick up some serious lights for under 200.