Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have not written anything about my latest attempt at aquaponics. I am extremely anxious to get a system up and running but I am going to be very late in getting it put together.

The new growbeds are being made out of some old solar heat collector tanks that I salvaged. They are approximately 110 gallons in volume so much larger beds than what I am used to. Finally got the syphon to work properly on the first prototype. Will alter the design on the remaining three. Then I have some gravel to order. Still looking for some fish tanks. I think I have a line on some IBCs from a concrete construction company from Minnesota who have a contract they are working on here locally.

picture of the collectors
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1734&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=90

If you are going to be in the Topeka area here sometime PM me first and we will see if we can get together. I am north of town near Seaman High.

Nitrite is quite toxic too which is why that spike can be rough and the bacteria that converts from Nitrite to Nitrate is more temp sensative it seems. Luckily, adding some salt to the system can help against Nitrite Toxicity. Between 1-3 ppt (or 1000 and 3000 ppm) of salt in a system seems relatively safe for most plants and beneficial to fish. Info on Ornamental ponds usually say to use 2 ppt for a pond with plants in it and 4 ppt for a pond with only fish.
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3179

Returned home to a nice treat!

pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrites: 0.25
Nitrates: 5.0

We lost about 10 fish while we were out of town, but the others look pretty good and certainly are hungry. The plants are looking better as well. The roots are all growing out of the net pots and the fish seem to be leaving them alone. The lettuce plants all died though. I thought lettuce would be the easiest to grow. Now that the system is getting cycled we will plant more lettuce and try again.

That looks interesting Dan. I will see if I can get some time to get over to Topeka.

Good to know about the salt TC. It looks like I might not need to do it at this point but I will keep that in mind.