Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

they will probably get use to it Ivan, but I think fish get use to seeing a body throw in food and relate humans around tank to feed time

Nocky, I think they got used to my hand already... they start hitting the water surface when they see my hand slide in under the tarp... Still cannot feed them with the tarp open otherwise they would not eat...

The koi feeder dumps about 30gms of pellets in one go, so it is a lot of floating pellets to scoop out if they don't feed from the feeder... I think I will keep the feeder for the trout instead... I think the trout would be more willing to feed off the feeder...

Well decided to clean up the yabbie tank today as the water was brownish-green and the duckweed has not exactly covered the whole tank yet.. reading from another thread, the sun/heat kills them... white duckweed noticed...

Anyways, because there were mozzie larvae noticed a few months back, I dropped about 3 bronze comets into the tank to help control mozzies... guess what... today, I found about 5 bronze comet babies while cleaning up the tank... about 2cm in size... I think there is at least 1 smaller one in the tank still that has evaded my net...

Well it is funny how nature tends to find a way... plus with virtually minimum effort since all I did was throw in some food every so often...

The "minimalist" often approach tends to work best in AP...

Just some update on my AP system, I have been slowly putting together my battery backup system for the air pump (or if necessary for the water pump as well)... See photos below... It is finally ready except some minor touch-ups...

Basically the panel houses changeover contacts relays that defaults to battery power via a 300W inverter upon loss of mains power. One of the relays also triggers a 9V DC battery circuit that brings on a buzzer to indicate that there has been a loss of mains power. This buzzer would remain on even if the mains power is returned... buzzer is not too loud and can only be heard in the garden... don't really want to wake up the neighbours if mains failure happens in the night...

The main reason for this is because my battery charger (IP rated, mounted next to the panel) is a smart charger and requires to be initialised into a charging mode upon restoration of mains power. A small led on the panel also provides visual indication that there has been a loss of mains power, but this is powered by mains power, so only lights up upon restoration of mains power... don't want to draw too much energy on the 9V DC battery...

The switch on the front of the panel is a RESET switch (or more like an acknowledge switch) that I have set the charger back into charging mode and all is clear to return back to normal operating... it does not affect the changeover relays for the pump supply in any way... purely acknowledgement purposes... after toggling the switch
the led and the buzzer will turn off...

The flexible conduits running away from the panel provides the 240VAC supply to the panel from a GPO and the 240VAC mains/backup supply line to the pump...

Well I am quite happy with the setup and I even got a thumbs up from the missus...

Wow ivan that looks like it cost more than my system good to see missus gave thumbs up, that is most important, nice set up

That's pretty flash Ivan - hell you could sell 'em - I'd buy one !

Thanks guys... CD well I am afraid it is a one-off. Got the box, terminals and relays free from an electrical contractor who I worked with previously. Bought some stuffs and salvage some. And it took me a few weekends (with interruptions here and there) to complete the project.

I am happy to share the simple circuitry for my panel, and there is also lots of other circuits already available on this forum... but if you need my circuit, just PM me...

Are you a sparky Ivan, that's not bad going...

busted... nope not a sparky, but I do get involved with electrical panel design and liaise with electrical contractors that fit out a panel many times more professional than this... so I have seen enough panel fit-outs to work my way around one... For the clients we service, this would be considered a sub-standard install, but for domestic, I think it is a good install...

I was an electrical draughty for about 12 years working for a company that designed and installed industrial and marine installations and refits..

Hah... I see... well have you considered making such battery backup panels available for purchase to BYAP customers... I believe there would be some that would glady hand over some money for such panel. I know I would if the price was not too much more expensive than me buying the parts and spending weekends to wire them together...

A bit of an update...

pH - 6.4, so I added a bit of lime so that it does not drop off the charts...
Amm & Nitrite - trace
Nitrate - 40+

Harvested a Chinese Cabbage (Wong Bok) today... Looks quite big to me... and also filled a wheelbarrow up...



I believe the barras are going alright... most of them are almost as long as a 30cm ruler...
Wonder how heavy they will be???

Damn that cabbage looks huge Ivan.......

You might have to try one or two of your Barra to see how they taste..

Pull a few out in a net Ivan. You gotta eat them sooner or later and if you take some of the bigger ones out the rest may grow a bit quicker. I reckon they'll be around 400g like mine were seeing as we got them at the same time.