Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Think the add said 40 grams?

For flake... that is a lot... I just though if you need cheap timer circuitry, it would make an Ideal conversion... but then there are probably cheaper ways to do it...

The holding capacity was one of the problems I had when looking for something to use...certainly be adequate for fingerlings and small fish tho

Mine would eat more than that each day atm.

Okay - time to move the barra out of the nursery. It is not so much that they are cramped. Bigger issue is that the amount of crap they are creating is becoming a problem, not having a grow-bed attached. Would hate to think what the nitrate levels are, but 50% water changes every week have become necessary to keep things from going pear shaped - something that is becoming a pain as well as an unecessary wast of water.

Solution - pull my finger out and get them into one of the 1000 litre tanks and attache a grow-bed. So the plan is to have the 1000 litre tank in the shed and the grow-bed on the other side. Because the GB will be quite close to the shed - it will get shade for some of the day - which is a good thing right now. I bought enough hydroton for 1 bed a fair while back - so will set it up as a hydroton bed to make it easy to move (will have to be moved when I want to set up the greenhouse). I'll run this system the same as my current one - single pump (in sump) running continuously, constant level fish tank, autosiphon in grow bed. Although more grow-beds will be needed a bit down the track, one will keep me going for now.

I finished the stand for this grow-bed ages ago and it had got a bit rusty sitting near the nursery in the shed (which was originally running at 5ppt salt). Gave it a brush off with the angle grinder wire brush yesterday and then a coat of kill rust last night. Today I gave it a first coat of cold gal (brush on).

Today I also fashioned up some caps for the T connection that is on the drain from the 1000 litre fish tank and made a 25mm outlet on each side of the T.

Will probably have little time over the next couple of weeks to finish the job - due to other commitments - but there is probably only another day or 2 work in getting it up and going (hydroton is easy to wash :-)).

What, haven't you just been dumping the change out water into the main system?

Nup - too much of a pain getting it there. Was going to do that yesterday - but the main system is overflowing from the rain. Also - have only ever done 3 decent water changes (so not a big deal) and given that the fish will be in seperate systems within a couple of weeks, I didn't feel that any risk of introducing some sort of disease to my perch from the barra (albeit low) was worth it.

Oh yeh - something I forgot to mention is that given the barra will be going into a different system and the existing system is now getting failrly light on fish, I'll probably buy 50 or 100 silvers to go into the existing system (after a bit of grow-out) sometime soon.

HSM with the Barra tonight - they are looking very healthy and eating well, so I have become a bit complacent. Have been doing the water changes as discussed above, which included one yesterday, and am also organising for them to go into the bigger tank - but other than that have been complacent. Have not been doing tests because they look so good. Also the water changes are such that they remove a fair bit of crap - as quite a bit builds up on the bottom of the second tank (connected to the first, but with no fish in it). I vacuum this out fully when doing the waterchange.

Anyway - thought I'd do the full range of tests tonight. HSM Ammonia and nitrite sky high. Did a 50% waterchange there and then and am prepared the fittings and hose I need to swap water from the other system into the Barra nursery nightly if required from here. Will not put the barra water into the big system though (because of the difficulty in doing so, rather than the contamination risk now).

Looks like the biofilter is no longer coping with the load - is probably pretty dirty also, even though I gave it a backflush yesterday.

Problem with Barra is that I can't simply lay off the feed totally to fix the issue - because they do not take kindly to this and start eating each other. Eventhough it is unlikely that I'll have their new system set up in the next couple of weeks - I'll need to act quickly to resolve the situation. The short term solution will be to add an additional biofilter and to clean out the existing one. Will look at taking these actions tomorrow night. Nitrate is not a major issue at this stage as it is not too high (probably 20-40) - further indication that the biofilter is not coping.

Then on the weeked I'll look and see if I have time to set up the 1000 litre tank in the shed and transfer them into that - eventhough the grow-bed will not be ready to install. Increasing the water load - will just help in the stability department. This together with additional biofiltration will keep me away from HSM until I can set up the system fully. I'll also look at seting up a 2 way water transfer system between the barra and the existing system to use if needed.

Bloody hell - just goes to show that you can't always just trust your instincts in these things. I should have known better and kept a closer eye on the readings for this setup given its basic nature.

Hopefully no harm done - as I say the fish seem very happy. Maybe barra have a fairly high ammonia tollerance . They've probably been copping this for weeks

PS - have given myself the deserved uppercut

veebs, whats your PH?

is it possible that nitrification has stalled due to low pH? Would also ecplain why fish are still ok at high ammo..........

Nup - ph is 7.4 (making the ammonia more toxic of course). Tnak has CACO3 in it.

spew, was hoping!

Oh well - as I say, they are loooking extraordinarily healthy. Always waiting for the food and then they smash it like there is no tomorrow. The water change tonight may help things along - then an extra biofilter tomorrow night should keep the wolves at bay. Here's hopign no long term damage. If they continue to grow at the rate they are now - I'll be happy regardless.

seems like barra are the summer trout

they eat like its been months between a feed, huh?