Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Even tilapia will not eat tanks completely clean and goldfish will leave a nice dark flat layer. Could you put something on the bottom of the fish tank where you do your viewing? Maybe a piece of white flat polycarbonate? When it gets covered with gunk you can take it out and scrub it.... I realize there may be issues with solids building up underneath it.....

That is not a bad idea hydophilia. I will try it and see what happens. It is such a shame that I can't see the fish at all. I used to really enjoy watching them swim around.

Not a bad idea at all Will give it a go myself... Sometimes I used to resort to waiting till it just got dark and would get a flash light to look at them... Redclaw were okat with this but the other fish dod NOT like it

I put one of these in my system: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loricariid) He is very effective at eating all the algae up without eating any of the fish food. Here in Ohio (http://www.remlingerfishfarm.com/recom.html), for pond management they recommend using a few grass carp (called White Amur). They only stock triploids, to avoid reproduction. You'd have to check there and see what the regs are.

I only have gold fish in my system, and they don't eat much of the algae on the side walls. I could cover it to solve the problem, but like many here, I enjoy watching the fish.
K

These fish sound really good. I'll have to check if we can get them in WA. I wonder if the trout would try to eat them.

Probably. My experience is they try to eat anything smaller or roughly the same size as them!

K

I've got two bushy nosed plecos in my 120 gal and one in my 90 gallon. The one in my 90 gallon keeps the glass fairly clean all on his own. Bushy nosed plecos are the best algae eaters bar none. Some of the other plecos can grow quite large and stop eating algae, and can start attacking your other fish but the bushy nosed never does, they stop growing at I think 5-7 inches and always eat algae. Good worker fish, highly recommend. These catfish are armoured, mine can take a hit from a 1.5+ lb tilapia and keep on ticking no problem. I only have one tilapia in that tank right now, she hounds that pleco but he has hiding places and sits just out of reach, teasing, and when she's distracted the pleco comes out and swipes the glass clean and runs away again. I've got three tilapia in the 120 gallon and they don't seem to care about the plecos.

You have to give them hiding spots, they'll sneak out at night and clean the tank when you're not looking. I'd be interested to know if they can survive in a trout tank, that might be too cold.

oh ya: they have two defensive spikes on the side of the head that they deploy when removed from water so wear gloves if handling and beware that they have a tendency to get stuck in fine mesh nets.

Something is not quite right with my system, I'm not sure what it is...just a feeling. I tested the water on the
20th July ph 7.2 - 7.6, am 0, rite 0, rate 20-40
27th July ph 7.2 - 7.6, am, .25, rite .25, rate 10
13th august ph 6.6, am .5, rite .25, rate 20
16th August ph 6 - 6.4, am 1, rite .25, rate 40

I reduced my feed level to only 1/2 cup each day for the last three days. My nitrite level has dropped to 0 but I am still getting a register of .25 ammonia and nitrates 20-40.
Over the last few days my water temp has been about 14 degrees.

What is going on? I did try to increase the food level on the 14th August, by approximately 1/4 cup per day. The only other thing that changed was that I was away for a week in early August. My Dad looked after the fish and was given strict instructions to only give them one cup a day.

The water seems to have things floating in it. It is impossible to see into the tank due to the algae and the reflection off the water. We checked the yabby tank about a week ago for any deaths. I don't know what is happening to the fish.

The vegies have been powering along. I am ready to harvest a lot of chinese cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. I am worried about removing so much growth....probably a whole grow bed and replacing with seeds. Will this effect the levels?

The other think I query is the pump in the fish tank. We have a second hand pump with a basket attachment. We cleaned out the basket not that long ago. What is the best way to see how much of your tank is turned over in one hour? We are currently pumping for 15 minutes out of each hour. Should I increase that for a few days to see if the water becomes clearer?

I know my levels are not extremely high but something just doesn't seem right. Should I start feeding the fish a cup a day again? When people start to increase their feed level how much do you increase it per day?

Any suggestions anybody????

I see what isn't quite right at one quick glance!!!!!!!

Your pH is dropping!!!!!! This looks like it's causing an Ammonia spike. Need to buffer that system a bit. If the pH gets much lower you may loose most of your bacteria that converts ammonia and have to cycle again.
Most people think a pH of 7 is about perfect. Plants like the lower pH but the Ammonia converting bacterias tend to like a higher pH. In any case, you want to keep your pH fairly stable since bouncing pH causes all lifeforms involved to suffer.
How to buffer the pH, get some shell grit or limestone grit like you would feed to egg laying chickens (you can usually get it at a feed store) and put some where ever the water will be forced through it. This acts as a self regulating buffer that shouldn't go above 7.6. However shell grit can take a long time to work so you might need some other method to get your pH back up to 7 (but go slowly and carefully as you don't really want to over do it or do it too fast.) Moving the pH by .1-.2 a day is probably fast enough. Baking soda can do it but adds sodium so isn't recommended long term, a little goes a long way so don't use much. Potassium Bicarbonate is another option that also provides potassium to your plants so that is a good choice if you can find it, again, you don't need too much.

Just so you know, there are systems out there that function at lower pH long term but those systems were probably cycled up at the lower pH (like close to 6) and the bacteria that colonized them were used to that. When ever you go changing your pH drastically, you have to figure you are loosing much of the bacteria that were used to the old pH and will likely have to back off feed and let the system cycle to the new pH or try to get the pH back to your "normal" My system has been operating in the 7.4-7.8 range for over a year. Now it seems to be trying to creep lower which all AP systems do over time, if they go too low it is hard on the fish and bacteria and may crash completely.

Most of us will tell people to try and keep the pH between 6.5 and 7.5.

thanks TCLynx. I added a stocking full of shell grit under the return water a few weeks ago. What sort of quantity do you think I need to add? I'm guessing a lot more than I have. I'll go to B today and see if I can get some potassium bicarbonate. I guess I will just add a tablespoon a day and see what happens. I am unable to measure accurately my ph. I am using a freshwater master kit.

I've usually found the API freshwater master test kit to be pretty accurate for pH and with fine enough readings for our purposes.

Yep, probably need a bit of bicarbonate of some sort to help get back up above 6.5 at least.

In your grow beds, does the water enter at just one point or is it distributed? If it enters at just one point, it might help to put a small hand full of the shell grit under the inlet in each grow bed as well.

City farmers sell a large bag of shell grit for chooks, I found half a bag of that placed in the drain tank under the water flowing in brought the ph up to about 7.5 in a week. It was a very safe and simple way to do it. The shells stop breaking down at about ph 7.5.

Yup, you had a pH related bacteria crash.