Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

the second growbed hooked up. pebble level is lower and water closer to the surface. this is like a magic bed, i opened up an old tomato i found in the garden, cleaned the seeds out and washed them, and then put them in this bed. 2 days later green leaves from the seedlings. amazing!!

i've also got some dwarf beans in there which seeded super quick in potting mix (2 days) and then i transferred to the growbed where they have continued to flourish.

i put a spinach plant in there too, but i must says it's a bit non chalant and hardly going wild.

i also put some thyme in again from a potted plant from big B's, and it is doing quite well.

here you can see my modified SLO top piece. i'm not sure it's even an SLO anymore with the modifications I've made but it does definitely flow mostly from the bottom now. the other thing i wondered about was whether the air surface is the problem, as my FT only has a small hole cut out for access. I wondered if having the remainder of the top part removed would increase the push down on the water surface and hence through the SLO entry at the bottom of the tank. oh well. this is what's working right now!!

originally my sump feed was just an elbow at the surface. the in flow caused a kind of swirling current which i'm not sure was good or bad, but i became concerned recently that the SLO's top overflow and the sump feed at the top meant that the FT water would not be mixing well. on the other hand I figured the temperature difference between the sump and FT should mean the pumped water should sink to the bottom.

anyway, i changed it and now the sump feed extends half way down the tank. it is capped and there are holes near the end for the water to flow out on the horizontally plane. the syphon breaker breather at the top of this sump feed that prevents flowback (i.e. a t-piece lol) has the additional benefit of sucking in air when the sump feed is running, adding yet more oxygen to the FT, which i am quite pleased about. with the 2 air stones in there already I think the fishies should be happy.

I've been using the API Master test kit to observe levels in the system, after initially getting some water testing done at a place in Gosnells. Since post cycling Ammonia and Nitrites are always showing zero, which i guess is good. Nitrates are also showing zero consistently which i was somewhat disappointed about, although I'm wondering if the yellow is getting more and more like an orange yellow. At any rate, the plants seem happy, but I can't be sure it isn't just because of two caps of seasol I added a week apart, starting a fortnight or so ago.

i've been struggling with what I believe is high pH, but also my ability to judge the pH scales correctly from the test kit.

my pH test shows blue blue blue which seems to indicate off the chart -> high end at around 7.6 or greater. the high pH test is the opposite end of the scale, being a light browny colour that looks like 7.4 or something. It seems like i'm in some vague middle ground.

I did some tests on different solution and I'm confident the pH test liquid is good - expiry dates are also far in future.

i might just be being impatient but after a few weeks of high pH and wondering if iron uptake is being affected by high pH i though i might try some experimenting to bring the pH down.

I needed some top up water anyway so I filled my cleaned wheelbarrow with tap water and left it for a day. I reckon it must hold somewhere between 60 and 100 litres. to this i added around a cup of white vinegar. i gave it a good mix and then tested the pH, it bottomed out the low pH scale and was yellow as... hmm, too far???

in absence of a proper pH determination of the wheelbarrow mix, i started diluting in the test tube until the scale started to change, and eventually found that mixing 1 part wheelbarrow vinegar mix with 4 parts tap water = pH 7.

I decided to run my sump in return mode (i.e. not feeding FT) and add my watering can full (10L) of the wheelbarrow mix, and let it mix for 5 mins, then test the pH. After a couple of watering can fulls, the pH went greenish, probably around 7.2 or something. I decided to mix with the rest of the system and leave it for an our or so and measure again. after mixing with the rest of the system it went back to blue, i.e. > 7.6.

In all I have added approximately 40 or 50L of the vinegar mix to the system, but the pH is still > 7.6, which makes me wonder if something else is raising the pH. I think I will now test my media in vinegar to see if they do the bubble thing.

Whether your access hole is large or small, the pressure will be the same, so don't worry about that any more.
I am enjoying learning about your system, Solopaulo, and like your attention to detail.

A pH of 7.6.. in a new system.. isn't really a problem... and over time the pH will drop once you start feeding the fish.. and nitrification kicks in....

Personally... I'd leave it alone... but if really feel you need to adjust it... forget vinegar, or lemon juice.... you'd need a truck full.... get some Digger's Hydrochloric Acid... (Bunnings).... and add to your top up water.... you'll only need about 1ml/100l... depending on your buffer capacity...

thanks PLJ!

i wonder if i found the culprit for my ph problems:

I'd say that's a definite yes...

@Rupe. Doesn't lemon juice have anti bacterial properties? Wouldn't using it kill your beneficial bacteria in the growbeds?

thanks Rupert, I think you are right. i tried some other river pebbles that are not white and they didn't gas off at all, so I'll go pick some of those up tomorrow instead. just need some stones that will sink when the GB is flooded.

I had some HCl for the pool in the shed but i wasn't sure how i'd dispense it in a suitably small amount.

It would take a lot of FE2 to overdose so don't be concerned about that. A sure fire way to figure out if it is an iron deficiency is to foliar feed by spraying a solution of chelated iron and water on the leaves. The response will be quicker and you will know for sure.

For small amounts go to the local chemist and buy a 5 or 10 ml syringe.

a new system will often have a high Ph. after checking that there is nothing in there causing the high Ph the best thing for it is time. just feed the fish and give the system time to settle.

Blue barrels are grate I can't stop playing with them good thing there only $25

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

True, Nat, especially if your system is anywhere around Claremont where the scheme water coming out of the tap reads 8.2! I know this because the water in 'the Puddle' tested high, even though we twice brought it back to neutral with swimming pool HCl. The source of the alkalinity turned out to be the tap water being used to top up the Puddle after evaporation.
I have been meaning to ring the Water Corporation to see what they have to say about this pH level, so might do it today.
Solopaulo, you may like to test the pH of your water source, just in case.

Growbeds coming along not badly. Got some dwarf beans, 2 zucchini, spinach and dressings for beetroot and cherry tomatoes doing really well. Dwarf beans leaned look a bit dried our on places. Not sure what that is about


This one has basil, 4 zucchini seedlings, thyme, some other seedlings yet to be identified (maybe lettuce, maybe chilli pepper), and a nasturtium.


Leaf trouble. Oh oh?

Otherwise system seems to be running well.fish seem happy and playful and really friendly.enjoy nibbling my fingers!

I did wonder if my 8 goldfish will supply enough nutrients for my 400L system, add the pants continue to grow larger. Was thinking of adding another 10 or so.

Lol, autocorrect fail.

Dressings = seedlings

Add the pants = as the plants