Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The black ones have definitely grown as the smallest of the black ones was about 3cm a few months ago an now it's bout 5 cm

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I'm hoping in the nxt 4 months I'm gonna have different grow beds a much larger fish tank and a better filter. But I still need this system to be working by that time so I can use the water and biofilter material in the larger system.

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oops - got caught in the cross-over...

the reason for doing the media + DWC recommended in previous post is that you will get better mineralisation and the ability to supplement by having a relatively large media bed. That would offset the limited amount of nutrient from the fish. And you can then have a relatively productive little system.

Only real concern as you go in to summer is the high pH.
This was an issue before - is it something to do with your source water ?

Fish look fine - as above I suspect the big issue is that you are reaching the limits of your fish tank.
And as fish get bigger it is not so fair on them, particularly if you get any nutrient spikes because there is very little buffer in a small fish tank.

What do you mean reaching the limits of my fish tank, sorry for the stupid question.

The pH I have a feeling I'm going to struggle with as it's from a borehole an our water has alot of limestone in it naturally

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What do you mean reaching the limits of my fish tank, sorry for the stupid question.

Not stupid at all. Basically the fish can only grow so big. You need bigger fish (rather than more of them).
The number you have is probably at the limit for the tank size. You really want to have about 20-25 litres per fish for them to get to optimal levels. So really 15-20 fish would suit a 500-600L fish tank system for example.
The fish wont really grow much larger in the limited space - if they have space you can feed them more, they grow and crap more and everything moves along at a better rate.

The pH I have a feeling I'm going to struggle with as it's from a borehole an our water has a lot of limestone in it naturally

I read that in your other thread. Your main issue will be excess calcium (nutrient lockout). Which will make it hard for some minerals to be available for the plants. Hence mentioning foliar feeding before.

Did you try getting some rainwater (I saw it mentioned in the other thread posts).

The trick with high limestone water is to try and pre-treat it.
Don't treat the water in the fish tank.
Get another blue barrel and then use hydrochloric acid to try and neutralise it a bit.
You may even be able to get some Calcium precipitating as well.
[edit] eg. take it to next step with phosphate (see Wikipedia entry on Calcium Chloride)

Here is my system from a distance so u get the whole picture, nxt is the roots of my chives and then my tomato plant that is about a week old in my system it's roots are coming along nicely


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thats good - photo gives a better overall perspective. Are you ultimately looking to expanding to use the greenhouse ?

Previous posts applicable - consider making one half barrel a media bed. This will expand your options and make sure you are getting effective bio-filtering & mineralisation. It will also ensure a better volume of media when you go to a larger setup. If you don't want to go all hydroton then put gravel in the bottom and hydroton on top.

System will need to settle but you should have enough bacteria in the system to make it happen pretty easily, particularly with warm weather. It wont affect the fish too much.

Definitely a larger fish tank - you want to get 500 Litres plus. Then you can look at the food you feed the fish.

And at same time look at sorting some water out on the side with hydrochloric acid initially.
(assuming it is limestone dominated then CaCl will be the byproduct). You will need at least 200L (ie. a blue drum etc).

Once you have a media bed you don't need the bucket and stand - just go direct in to the bed at one end.
Then plumb the overflow into the DWC barrel, with its overflow going back to the fish tank.

the veg growth is positive. But you need to get a setup which is effective for foliar feeding.
no reason you cant ultimately have 2 tubs full of veg with the number of fish you have.