Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Tom,
That looks great. How much you pay for the hydrotron ?

Hi Ao+,

Thanks, it's very simple but the flood and drain cycle works perfectly, I was surprised by how easy it was to balance. Here's a link for the flood and drain fittings I used, very handy bits of kit:-

http://www.ppi.com.au/Portals/0/Reposit ... Outlet.pdf

I got the Popper from one of the links you gave me, Lueng Trang was it from memory? The other company are the manufacturers so i'll go direct next time, but for a few bags here and there these guys were fine.

Price per bag was 800 baht. I ordered size "L" but looking at it I think next time I would go for "XL". The "L" was a bit small for my liking but actually may insulate better and provide more surface area for the bacteria, I need to test that out I think.

I'm going grab some Goldfish tomorrow to get things moving and will get the seedlings started as well.

Just need to get the system cycled now, hoping some people will chime in with some tips on best practice etc.

Cheers,

Tom.

I'm not sure what do you mean by
"So, now I need to cycle the system - what's the easiest way to do this? I don't have access to another system to grab some water from, so I need a practical solution that will be available here in Thailand."
I assume you don't know how to start.
I think before you put fish in your system you need "fishless cycling"
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6809

If you can access running aquarium, take some material from filter then put in to your system, to seed the bacteria.
If you can not, just cycle your system bacteria will come somehow but take longer time.
Use ammonia fertilizer or ,easier, pee in your system urea will change to ammonia.
I think cycle for a month. if you want shorter time maybe you need to test your water and plot graph.

This is how to interpret test result from graph.
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

API fresh water test kit is recommend by people in this forum.
You can buy from here http://seasunaquarium.com/home/index.ph ... t&Itemid=6

I came across that site a while back... and meant to bookmark to refer people to...

Thanks... have done so now...

Hi Ao+,

Many thanks for the links.

You are correct, I didn't know how to start... But I definitely do now.

I'll grab a few goldfish later from the big pet shop on 3rd road in Pattaya, will check top see if they have the test kits in there as well.

Unless you know of somewhere else in Chonburi Province that has them?

Cheers,

Tom.

I think buy from the links is easiest way. When I start AP, I had searched local shop but not found, I found other brand but much more expensive(about 500 per type, the master kit in the link, only 1,100Bht,but has 5 types, ammo nitrite nitrate Hi pH Low pH)

The site you can buy ammo nitrite nitrate test kit separately and buy a pH meter,
but I think buy master test kit cost you less than buy 3 test kit separately.

BTW you should do fishless cycling before buy the fish, put the fish in the system.
And start with tilapia or cat fish is good idea, cheaper and they are very tolerate to bad water quality.
I think tillapia fingerling is available all year cat fish i'm not sure they have breeding season.
Tillapia fingerling cost you about 0.5 Bht each.
The nearest place i know for you to buy tillapia is Bang Pra Fisheries department here
https://maps.google.com/?ll=13.22971,10 ... 6&t=h&z=18

http://bangphra.srirachaoutlook.com/ban ... ter-01.php

They have many species to sell, tillapia catfish water flea etc.

Hi Ao+,

Thank you - just what I needed on the tilapia.

I've tried to order the test kit off the Sea Sun Aquarium site but Paypal have blocked their account so no joy there. I'll hunt around a few of the other aquarium shops, somebody must have an ammonia tester around here.

I picked up 10 smallish Koi at the shop on 3rd today and they are now in the tank (they had sold out of ammonia testers), they seem happy enough in their new home.

Couple of quick general questions to forum members about keeping fish in an IBC:-

1. I have a pump in the FT moving the water around constantly - should I leave this on 24/7 or have it on a timer to turn it off sometimes? Maybe turn it off at night?

2. Do I need to put any features in FT to make it a bit more interesting for them, it must be very boring just looking at the sides of an IBC all day!?

Cheers,

Tom.

For the web Seesun, you can call and manually transfer.

1 I think at starting you should pump 24/7
After started up, turn off at night is good idea for low density system.

2 No fish are not mammal they do not play.

PS
Fish in Thai called Pla ปลา
Tilapia in Thai called Pla Nil ปลานิล
Red Tillapia Pla Tub Thim ปลาทับทิม
Catfish Pla Dook ปลาดุก

Choke Dee krab
+
O

hey Tom , how are we doing ? been following the thread and waiting to see your next move , well done by the way and chok dee !!

Cheers Chris

Wow many people in thailand.
Hi Chris

Hey Chris,

Just sitting waiting for my digital nitrate tester to turn up from the UK, and then off out on a hunt around the Pattaya aquarium shops for a Ammonia testing kit.

So far i've got the IBC up and runnng, my fish hate me and freak out whenever I'm around and the water is going cloudy. Waiting for it to cycle and for the water to clear, but I think I may have made the grow bed a bit on the shallow side for this to happen quickly.

Got some very young tomato, cucumber and basil plants in the GB but I think the placement of the IBC is wrong for the fruiting plants as it's a bit too shaded, this and shallow grow bed probably means I'll start again.

My main focus now is getting my main system up and running. I've got a 12,000 litre fish pond that i'm going to use as the FT and i'm working on the GB designs. I'm in quite a large rented house but actual space which gets direct sunlight is a bit sparse, i'm going to need to be a bit clever to get enough GB growing space for the size of the FT.

But enjoying every moment of it, lot's to learn. Bit frustrating finding the more technical items I need here but getting there on that, as you know with nearly everything but food in Thailand finding things can be a bit tricky. Khun Ao+ has been very helpful with this, my thanks to him.

Rightho, Nitrate tester here now so off to find test kits, catch ya later.

Tom.

Hi Tom.
Great to see another AP'er in TL.
Couple of words of warning about your setup.
That timer _will_ fail, they are shite, I went through 5 of them before buying the (hugely) expensive Panasonic model in Surin, try to find a digital one if you can they are much much better and not much more expensive.
Also Koi.... I had quite a few, but during the summer the water got too hot and they all died.

Chock dee na.

Dui.

Siphon is most reliable flood&drain mechanism.
Constant flow also interesting, see byap trial viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8621