Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It has the diffuser over the top, but I'm not sure about around the inlet.

BTW, I can get this one http://www.ongapumpsales.com.au/VF150%2 ... %20Web.pdf for under $200. Seems like a pretty good pump for the money. Whaddya reckon?

Except I think it's oil lubricated which can cause problems. The search continues...

If I use the 150L tub upstairs, and I pump directly into it via 20mm poly, what sort of overflow will I need to irrigate the GBs? I'm concerned that if I don't get it right, the tub will overflow.

Had another HSM this morning! Normally I feed the fish first thing. This morning I got distracted and went to feed them just before leaving. As Murphy's law would have it, the only morning I'm running late, problems occur...

Basically, I fed the fish and noticed only 2 of the 20 actually came to the surface to feed (albeit very sluggishly). On examiniation, I noticed the the pump was not coming on. This pump has a float switch, and strangely even though the water was above the pump, and the float switch was floating in a horizontal position, the pump was off. I was of the belief that the switch should only turn off once it goes below the horizontal point. After some investigation, it appears the float switch may be faulty. As a temporary fix, I've cable tied the float switch up on the irrigation outlet pipe ensuring it always stays on (at least until I get home tonight).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't float switches work at a horizontal position?

quite often they're a ball bearing, and they can get in limbo at the horizontal position, they normally need to be up or down, limbo would be almost impossible to intend to achieve, but accidentally is a different story.

Well, got home this evening to find 4 dead fish. 3 smaller ones (about 10-15cm) and 1 larger one about (15-20cm). I probably should have measured and weighed them but wasn't really thinking straight)

I changed the cycle from 15 on/45 off to 30 on/30 off this morning before I left for work, to cycle the water more and get some aeration happening. Not sure if this helped or not. Is it correct that adding some salt may have helped?

Also, I think I might also invest in an air pump as a safety net for pump failures - any suggestions?

due to the pump being off, fish stress would be high. ammonia content would be high, oxygen levels would be low.
the fish were in trouble this am, a bubbler would have helped depending on how you system's set up, increasing pump on time would help, as it aerates more and filters more.

Sorry to hear about your losses dude.

Thanks mate. Hopefully no more dramas until harvest time (fingers crossed).

To a drama free harvest!

Very sad to say that I woke this morning to find another 14 floaters

I started with 20, so I think I have 2 left, but I can't see them as the water has a fairly dark tinge. Doing a water test now.

Water test results:

PH: 7
Ammonia: Between 0 and .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

I can only assume it was lack of DO, even though the pump ran fine all day yesterday and last night. I'm a bit confused why there weren't any deaths yesterday afternoon, with the other 14 dying through the night. Any ideas?

As you could imagine, I'm pretty upset about the losses, especially given the stage they were at. Another 3 to 4 months and they would have been ready for harvest. I'm also assuming until I get more fish, I'll have to rely on Seasol and humonia. Is this correct, and any suggestions on how to keep the garden going without the fish would be appreciated.

Despite it all, I'm not giving up yet. It's now down to understanding what went wrong, and taking steps to avoid it happening again.

Also, obviously I'm on the lookout for more SPs. I can go back to the original supplier, but might as well put the call out to see if anyone knows who has SPs in currently in stock (as close as possible to the Redcliffe peninsula).

Well, lost the last 2 fish yesterday, as I expected. Not that many in here seem to care, judging by the lack of replies/advice/sympathy! (You're excused KP) blackeye:

I'm suspecting something other than the original pump fault caused the kills.

One thing I did remember was the food being a little suspicious. Over the last few weeks, some of the pellets started forming mouldy fuzz and turned a grey tinge. I should have erred on the side of caution, and replaced it when I first noticed it. It was being stored in an airtight container, but I think it may not have been totally UV proof.

Anyway, I need to move on. The question is, what to do next? I expect draining the FT and ST is the first thing to do, with a thorough clean out. Is there any particular way to clean the tanks? However, if there's a contaminate in the system, I'm worried it may also be in the GBs, so not sure if the problem will reoccur after cleaning the tanks.

Once the tanks are cleaned, I'll obviously be refilling them, probably with tank water, to which I'll add some seasol and humonia the keep the plants going. Hopefully I'll be able to keep the bacteria going until more fish arrive.

If anyone has any practical advise on recovery options, I'd be most appreciative.

Regards,
Ranga

Sorry Ryan, been busy and in and out... missed your post...

Your suspicions about the food are probably spot on... would indictate that the pellets had been "wet" at some time... possibly even by urine from rodents...

Never use feed that shows obvious signs of mould, infections, rodent droppings etc...

As such... I don't think your growbeds will be contaminated...

I'd definitely dump ALL your system water... tank, sump.... and allow growbeds to drain...

Wipe out your tank/sump with a mild bleach solution.... rinse and allow to dry... rinse again and allow to dry...

Partially fill... and pump through the growbeds... allow them to drain to waste....

Then refill the system and turn it back on...

Add some seasol to keep the plants ticking over until you can get some more fish...

Dump the feed...all of it...


Fish... up your way... don't know if you could run trout, not even sure if you're allowed...

If you can get some late season "advanced" Silver Perch fingerlings... you should be able to over-winter them...

Or perhaps some Murray Cod... and/or Tandanus catfish (ring Naomi Fisheries)

Correction.... the comment about the growbeds should read...

Probably WILL NOT be infected.... think they'll be fine...