Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ahhh well, it might be that I did not cut the inner drain pipe before I turned on the pump...

Yep... that'll do it...

Awesome setup Tony. They look incredible when they're that neat!!

The TA must be happy now that she's lost her backyard!!

Chatty

Have you got enough holes in your standpipe surround Tony? Normally we would put in about 4-5 times more holes just to be sure that the water will always flow through clearly. If a few of the holes block up with roots, it means water might flow over the side of the bed rather than down the drain. Though your holes look like they might be bigger than what we normally do.

Hmmmm overflowing beds would be bad.. Well your Vic rep sent me the standpipes pre drilled so all I can assume is that there is enough. I think they are 6mm holes. What suggestions.. Take them out and drill more? Actually I reckon I could drill a few more with an extension bit..? Would be a lot easier than removing the standpipes..
Cheers
T

Mate, the TA is stoked there is very little maintenance in the yard now.. Her catch cry was "not having lawn Tone, that's too much maintenance. Nup, not having it."
It's amazing how excited a pair can get over some neat concreting and paving. No more trudging through weeds and wet dirt in winter..
T

Well the system has been cycling now for 33 days and below is my little chart monitoring pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates..

From a previous suggestion, I began adding 6 capfuls of Seasol to the system every day.

Nothing really happened for awhile until Ammonia and Nitrites began to build at very low levels on Day 9. Then I went away for 2 weeks and the every helpful and lovely TA continued to dutifully add Seasol (nearly) every day.

On my return, expecting huge gains and a stable system, absolutely ZIP had progressed.! All readings were 0.0.

Something had to happen.! So I began to add 4 capfuls of Charlie Carp fish emulsion too.. And whammo, 3 days later Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates just took off.. But all 3 at the same time between Day 27 and Day 28 was a bit of a surprise to me I must admit.

Now at Day 33 (Australia Day), Nitrates are holding steady at 10ppm and ammonia has dropped to 0.25ppm, and Nitrites at 0.0.
I just added another bunch of emulsion and Seasol, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. If all holds the same, I reckon it might be time to begin adding fish..

I've added a post here to the "Fishless Cycling" thread to see if anyone has any suggestions on the nature of timing and 'when to add fish'. viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6809&p=218955#p218955

But first I need to complete all of the battery back up and air pump. And that's the job for this weekend..

Well I've got no idea who suggested that you should add seasol... to cycle your system... .... let alone 6 capfuls a day....

To cycle... you need an ammonia source... something that will generate ammonia.... Seasol wont and never will do that... it's primarily a foliar fertiliser...



Now decaying fish products... like Charlie Carp... will produce ammonia... so no surprise at all...

And it would appear that you are now cycled... although, given the time frame... you may well have anyway without the addition of anything....

But you will have at least boosted your bacteria colony.. and your plants should be doing well...


Probably not, it may, depending how much fish emulsion you added... but most likely will spike the ammonia and nitrites back up for a while... even if temporarily...

If you've cycled... there's no need for further doses of fish emulsion... the seasol will help boost your nitrates for the plants though...

Get over the spike and let the ammo & nitrite levels return to 0,0... then add some fish..

From a previous suggestion, I began adding 6 capfuls of Seasol to the system every day.
Interested where you got that advice!

Well, the Seasol came from Murray Halam's video and many other posts on various forums. He suggested cycling with seasol as a foliage spray at a rate of 1 cup per day.. Can't remember the exact details (it might have been 1 cup diluted 1:9), but as I have 3500lt of water, I started out at just 2 caps a day to go easy for awhile.
But I couldn't see any reason other than feeding the plants, what purpose it was achieving. As there was no ammonia building at all after 3 weeks, some action needed to be taken. Hence, the addition of the Charlie Carp.
I'm also curious if cycling without the addition of anything, how I would have kept the plants so healthy
But anyway, my tests today reveal that ammonia and nitrites have dropped to zero even after the addition of another good dose of Charlie.. So I'm ready to add the fish. But I can't get them for yet another two weeks so we'll have to keep going the way we are for awhile longer.

Well, now that everything is cycling along so nicely and with the addition of a spoonful of chelated iron as some of the plants were going a bit yellow (broccoli, cauliflower, and a chilli), it was time to keep working on the battery backup system.

A trickle charger keeps the 40Ah battery topped up 24 / 7. The battery power then goes to a relay solenoid which is connected to the 240 volt power supply. If the power goes off, the solenoid switches the battery power to turn on the 12 volt bilge pump which will spray water over the surface of tank to provide aeration for up to 7 - 9 hours.

In addition, when the solenoid switches over, a blue strobe light and 90db siren kicks in to alert us (and the neighbours ) that we've lost power. I can then open the cabinet and switch the strobe and siren off until the power returns.

As a safety, I have (or will when I get one) install a 10amp mini circuit breaker to use also as an isolating switch to the whole set up if I ever need to work on it.

Tonight, after spending over 3 hours wiring it all, I kept my fingers crossed as I disconnected the 240 volt active link.. And it all worked first shot.!

Next I have to plumb the bilge pump and 240 volt air pump. But tomorrow, the FISH ARRIVE..

Well, I have to go and get them being a 3 hour drive away (60 rainbow trout 50gm fingerlings). But we're going to go surfing along the way.

More progress

All measures have remained stable since ceasing the Fish Emulsion 4 days ago.
ph Hasn't even looked like moving from Day 1 so it will be interesting to see this change over time.

I love the backup system and the enclosure it is looks great

I wouldnt mind doing something like that as a backup but probably with out the siren. Are you willing to give out any detailed info?

Thanks Embi... I can't take 100% credit for it unfortunately I must admit. The wiring diagram came from Scott (Scozza), another aquaponicist. I modified it somewhat for my needs which you could easily do. You could also simply add to it if you want to have even more things to control.. Say an auto feeder or air-pump.

Scotts links are below and detail the construction.
http://www.goanna.com/post/My-first-aqu ... t-one.aspx
http://www.goanna.com/post/My-first-aqu ... art-2.aspx

The next step will be to create a wireless notification adapter to the whole set up, so if something goes wrong it sends a SMS or email to notify you.. (and e.g. you could add in pH, nitrite, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, and ammonia sensors if you want to get that complicated)

That will take me a little while to sort out, but I believe Scott is already onto it..
Cheers
T