Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

EB, can you kindly let me know where that switch is located please? I'm concerned about putting high milage on mine.

mmm, good excercise for the brain...

I have read about organic methods when lowering ph, I'll have to go searching....

Pine bark also does it

Glad you mentioned lemons. My water has a high pH like over 8, and I ran out of vinegar to bring it down when I bought my goldfish. I tried some peat moss in a bag but I didn't have much and it didn't seem to do much. (the fish were in the store bag and I couldn't mess around for long) I found a jug of lemon juice in the kitchen cabinet and used that to bring it down before putting the fish in. I was a little worried about it, but we always used lemon juice in science class back in the day as the acid...

So it worked ok then Dave, your fish are good? Bit hard to tell if bacteria are effected straight away..

Hi EB:

This was when I initially added the fish. I have since gotten some pH down and other stuff, but I have since stopped worrying about it.

The pH went right from over 8 to 7 after I added the lemon juice (like two cups?) but was back up to 8 the next day.

I also added some sea salt and I have added some chelated minerals (iron, etc.) because I read on the S&S aquaponics list that the plants will need some.

I had 12 goldfish initially. One ("Spot") had a big red ulcer on his side so I threw him out into the yard. "Twitchy" lives all alone in the 10 gallon aquarium in the garage, and he's getting fat. One went belly up about a week later. And another had been sucked into the pump because I found its bones sticking out of one of the holes in the trickler pipes. I also bought a pleco because the water was getting very green when the sun was out all day. We have had record-setting rainfall for three days this week (couldn't get to my house last night for awhile because all the roads were flooded) and Mother Nature has been changing the water for me (that's why I'm no longer worried about the pH being too high). I have a spare tub filled by the rain gutter and it has been overflowing many times over. Now the water is clear enough that I can actually see the bottom and it looks like about 5 gold fish are left, and I don't see the pleco. I'm going to get more fish from the pet store tonight! 5 goldfish in 100 gallons isn't going to grow much!

Version 2 next year will probably have some sort of covering or awning so I can better control the sun/shade and rainfall that affects my system.

Nice on DD.... Hey, your lucky getting rain. Here we have had our driest winter on record so far. Hey I thought you guys would be in the middle of summer up there on the northern side of the world, and your getting record setting rainfall? The weather really is starting to get all messed up....

Yes, we didn't see any rain like this all through Spring, when it should have been raining. Global warming, sure. I'm expecting our weather to be like Georgia's from now on. Winter wasn't very cold this year either.

Got 12 more goldfish yesterday. I splurged and bought the bigger 26 cent ones instead of the 12 cent ones! Had to open the bag twice on the way home so they could get some air. They were all at the tio of the water looking at me with their mouths open like little birds. One had a deformed mouth, that was small like a beak and almost no lips. "Twitchy" is like that - he doesn't have an upper lip.

Much more fun to watch now that the water is clearer and there are more fish in there.

Nitrites have been 2ppm forever now - I am starting to wonder if my test kit works or not. Ammonia has been zero for almost a week. (System has been running continuosly with this water for about a month, probably close to three weeks with the initial fish in it).

Dave, nitrites will should start to come down really soon.

First the ammonia peaks
As the ammonia starts to go down the nitrite will start to go up
when the nitrite peaks and starts to go down then the nitrates will start to rise and cycle is complete

Can be upto a month even in ideal circumstances. and the nitrite part of the cycle can be slower as the bacteria is more sensitive to both ph and temp.

Steve

(fingers crossed)

Have you planted any plants into your beds Dave?

You get very cheap goldfish, here I have to pay $1 each, and they are small bronze comets, not very fancy looking, and very small..

I have mesclun mix in there, but the rain pounded them down a bit. I expect them to shoot up soon now that it is sunny again. I tried planting a green bean (twice), but it got slimy and didn't seem to sprout. I also put some pepper seeds in there, but nothing so far. I bought some basil seeds if I can find them, and I'll try those. I will sprout them in the peat disk-things that I haven't tried yet and then transplant them from now on...

I often buy seedling in punnets, and wash the soil away from the seedling roots before sticking them in the gravel. It feels good to stand back and get the instant gratification of seeing plants there straight away.. And it works well in conjunction with seeds, the seedlings taking off and growing while all the new seeds are just sprouting up.

I hated removing dirt from seedlings a plant never fully recovers from such treatment though in Aqua it grows so well it's very hard to tell.

Recommended best season for cycling a system up? I'm thinking spring thoug it'd only be 3 months when Summer hits however winter cold here I've had 57 degrees which is almost no bacterial activity temps from what I know.

Tiny seeds that may vanish through layers of hydroton can be germinated on a saucer inbetween wet tissues (or loo paper i won't tell) with glad wrap (cling wrap you know Bad Boy Bubby) then into the hot water cupboard. Check daily, fast sprouts, plant em!

Quote from EB

"So far as obtaining organic certification. I did look into the processes required to gain certification and I think that aquaponics could possibly be one of the quickest and easiest was to become an organic producer... But only once the certifying body understands exactly how it all works, and assuming they can mould their procedures to suit aquaponics...only thing is ensuring your fish food is organic. Once your fish food is organic then everything going into your system is organic... "

Joel, I picked this up from an earlier post, and was looking at the Auaponics Australia website when I noticed this:

"IS AQUAPONICS ORGANIC?
Aquaponics is currently unable to be certified in Australia as organic, although the process of Aquaponics is a natural interaction between fish and the plants that produces no toxic waste, and does not use any chemical fertilisers or nutrients. Both the plants and the fish contribute to the cycling process of Aquaponics, with the grower using this interaction to their benefit – the fish provide the nutrients for the plants and the plants filter the water so that the fish are able to live. The fish food is the only additive to the Aquaponics system, and if this fish food has been produced organically, the whole Aquaponics system is completely organic."

Just thought this was interesting, seems like both of you have picked up on the same idea, that although it is organic in its nature, getting certification may not be as easy as it should...