Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

And you did a sweet job on the window, I'm thinking of shipping you my tanks

Thanks again Wkinne. Fingers crossed - so far no leaks and the kids love it.

I had to ship my window kit from the USA so you're much better placed than I was.

Today's test results:

pH = 7.4
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrites = 0ppm
Nitrates = 160ppm plus


At what point do you call a system "cycled"??

When you can add an ammonia load equal to what your fish produce in a day, and don't get any ammonia or nitrite spikes. I reckon you are pretty much there now, although I'm surprised your pH is not dropping, but maybe you have a lot of lime in your water. Add a dose of cloudy ammonia (no detergent or other additives!) to 1 or 2ppm if you have some, or else pee, and see what happens.

I had to pour in heaps of alkali well before I was cycled to counter the pH fall, but I only use rainwater, which doesn't have any carbonate buffers in it.

Wouldn't stress too much about the PH. It will come down. Taken almost 2 months for mine to move. Standard town water in Adelaide is high PH and lots of buffering. Sydney water is probably similar.

Agreed... that pH should be OK... I believe that higher levels can cause iron deficiency but I ran for a long time at about 7.4 with good plant growth. As others have said, pH will come down eventually. I spent about 6 months trying to lower my pH... now I'm constantly trying to get it back up.

Nearly time for some fish! You're far more patient than me - I would have had my fingerlings in there well before now. Don't forget that, even if you're not fully cycled, you can feed your fish a bit less for a few days to let the bacteria catch up... you just need to test a bit more frequently in the early days.

But patience is a virtue they say - maybe you won't even see an ammonia spike when you eventually do add your fish.

Thanks everyone! Added 300mL humonia today - we'll see how my levels go for the rest of the week adding as much humonia as the family is willing to donate.

I tried finding fragrance-free, pure ammonia but none of my local hardware stores could assure me that their ammonia was pure.

I have to admit I've contacted my local Silver Perch supplier and I'm picking up 10 fingerlings this weekend.

We'll see how they go and then look into getting more.

WOOT! WOOT!

My one piece of advice to anyone designing a system for the first time?

The last few days have taught me: valves EVERYWHERE.

I am waiting on a pond max y distributor (with valves) for my pond inlet into the FTs because I thought a 3-way barbed t-piece would be enough to split the pumped water between the two tanks.... NOPE. Need a valve so the lower tank doesn't get all the water.

Same issue with my air pump. All the air was going to the closest air stones (in FT#2) but in-line valves have fixed it....

Maybe hold off adding more ammonia after today? You don't want there to be too much unprocessed ammonia already in the water when you add the fingerlings at the weekend. Though you probably already have a good handle on dosage and how long the system takes to process it.

Lol, valves and barrel unions... they add cost, but really handy.

One valve i forgot to install on my system was the one-way valve to stop the tank draining back to the sump when the pump turns off!! Luckily it was a very easy screw on fix after I discovered it.

I'm laughing so hard at this comment because the first few times I turned off my pump the outlet was in the water and I came back to a half empty fish tank!

Totally panicked and was searching frontically for the leak until I realised the pump hose was acting like a siphon!

I really need one of those valves too... Just in case the hose drops below water level for some reason....

rofl... so I am not the only one

I used a pvc one from bunnings.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/holman-25mm- ... e_p4790028

Depending on your pipe configuration this may suit or look in the irrigation fittings section, there is a whole pile there as well.

Confucious say: "Just when you think you're cycled..."

Somewhere... There's a God of Aquaponics having a good old laugh at my expense.

is when someone reminds you of a posting from much earlier in the month ...




Everyone wants fast cycling, but much patience is required, and you can't buy it in a small plastic bottle!

Well we've done a good sight better than 4-6 weeks to be where we are in only TWO weeks.

AND the claim I made that we were cycled after four days was only due to my own lack of understanding of the term "cycled". At the time I thought "cycled" meant getting positive readings on Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates.

My spinach is dying and I can't figure out why.... It's just getting worse and worse.

I've dosed all the plants with seaweed solution via a watering can tonight but I don't hold out much hope of reviving them...

Any ideas on what went wrong?

Lettuce is doing well


Eggplant and late tomato doing well


Cucumbers doing well


Spinach looking very sad though the late tomato I put in is going ok...