Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Filed for future refe7ence

Really?! You're saying my pipes will clog up with algae? Is that because of the diameter or the material?

As for what the seedlings are, I'm not 100%. Possibly Cauliflower.

Once the weather warms up, 13mm pipe wil clog up. Been there done that.

The algae and biofilm lines the inside of the small pipe, blocking it. This is accelerated in summer heat. Bigger pipe does not suffer from total blockage.

You'll be right for about 6 months though

Well, things are moving along smoothly, albeit a little slowly. Plants are starting to show a bit faster growth.

Still got high levels of Nitrites, but at least there's some Nitrates now, so I'm hoping that in a few more weeks we'll be sorted.

Although I'm about to move in with the missus, so will be planning a new system on her balcony. A little smaller, but planning on using a length of pvc pipe or guttering along the edge of a balcony as a grow bed.

Which raises my next question - how robust are the bacteria? If I transported the hydroton, how wet/warm would I need to keep it to avoid killing the bacteria and having to start from scratch in the new system?

curly, what type of plants do you have?

Those tests are looking real good Curly, a bit more patience and that nitrite will be under control

There's about 5 chilli seedlings, a few bean sprouts, 3 lettuces and 2 broccoli seedlings.

those leafs would be the lettuce i would think.
Great choice of seeds.
Did you think of adding some basil seeds, because they grow really quick and you would be able to eat them real quick .
i am looking forward to seeing those chilies.

-df

Curly,
I'm sure if you tossed a handful of dirty gravel into a bucket and got it into a new system within 24 hours you would have a huge head start. I don't know if it is better to keep it covered in water or just damp, but am sure that excess heat is far more problematic than cold: probably anything from freezing to body temperature. If I were tearing down my old system and building new I would toss the old gravel into buckets or carry it in the existing containers (if one can pick them up) and use it for the new system. Let's see: it is winter there, so just keep it from drying out badly and you should have really, really fast cycling compared to a new clean system....maybe a week at most.

Disclaimer: I don't know any of this for sure and there are people here who know far more about the bacteria than I do.

Disclaimer disclaimer : On the other hand, I know bacteria are tougher than any fish (well, other than lungfish) and I've read/heard of some types of fish living for days out of water as long as they are kept damp. It should work; even if 99% of the bacteria die and bacterial doubling rate is 24hrs (some of these guys are really slow) you are back to 100% in a week.

Keep the gravel damp, not wet. If it's too wet without any water moevement, the bacteria will run out of oxygen.

A few buckets (I used 200 liters of old gravel in the new system) cuts your cycling time by 2/3 at 28 deg c.

Awesome, that's pretty much what I figured.

New place is only a 15m drive away, so I don't think it'll be a problem.

Cheers.

But it looks like my current system has finished cycling.

Just need to up the feeding now to provide more nutrients. All good!

so how's it all going Curly ???

Well, living in the new house is working out great, however space on the balcony is very limited. I suppose that's the downside to living in the CBD.

Having said that, Wavey and I set up a system at Mum's place a few weeks ago. Have been trying to get Mum to start her own thread, but I'll add the few photos that I have of her system.