Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

You've been learning a bit then...

Beware, there may actually be a second parcel turning up, can't remember if they got it all in the one package or not.....

Yeah, Iv'e already braced myself for the second visit.

Thanks

"thermodynamics is not only an interesting subject, but turns out to have practical applications as well."

After my thermodynamics lectures at Uni I remember looking at the whiteboard and wondering what the next person into the room would think of what was written on the board. It looked like ancient Greek. Thermodynamics taught me all the names and symbols (upper and lower case) of Greek letters. I'm still not convinced that's a necessary piece of knowledge, but some things are easier to forget than others.

Mine is more about a vague understanding of the conservation on energies, and conduction, and less about what's actually happening in terms of a genuine understanding of the maths and physics involved.

There's thermodynamics, and then there's bullwinkle thermodynamics.

Related, but very different disciplines

Bullwinkle thermodynamics is more involved with trimming the coil of 4mm poly pipe heat collector running through the glasshouse because the condensation on it tells me I could be using the last 7 metres for a different project

I gotta say I loved your post on Friday and sure it put a smile on a lot of faces. I hope the deliveryman has forgiven you..

Just had to grab that shot for you, dude.

My boat is also called bullwinkle! Actually mine is called Bullwinkle II because its a rebuild of a Bullwinkle I which started it's life as a Sundance 4.1m sailing cat.

Bullwinkle II is going to be aquaponics powered.

Bulwwinkle II is superior to that boat in the following ways...

Rope, poly pipe fitting, and aluminium pole superstructure



PVC end cap hull access



Cable tie steering mount



It also features a Hybrid powerplant that I'm pretty sure would put that other boat's powerplant to shame.

for anyone that cares...



the dip down is caused by overcast weather, but it seems to be holding to where silvers wake up and eat (around 16c) (graph is in degrees c) by the end of each overcast day, and at 16c + pretty much all the time once the sun hits the glass house at 10:30 am on sunny days.

the water temperatures before the grow house were at lowest, 4c and maxed out at perhaps 14c on a sunny day from memory.

I would guess that I've gained perhaps 8c on my minimum FT temps on average.

There also seems to be a fair degree of stability especially at minimum temperatures.

I'm working on ways to bank the peaks on sunny days and have a few ideas that I'll post as I see data.

Is the L/H column temp bull?

yeah I cropped all the info that might make the chart useful

temp in degrees c

and the readings are taken first thing in the morning and late afternoon

there is also a means, and trendlines for each.

not a lot of data yet, but I think it shows some stability gains

Yea you can easily see the progression. Interesting findings so far, Ill be watching this. Your lucky to see those kinds of temps during the day, my silvers would be in heaven after the living with the ice caps that have been forming in their FT hehe

From the IBCofAquaponics
---------------------------------
The optimum pH range for
Nitrosomonas sp. is 7.8 - 8.0.
The optimum pH range for
Nitrobacter sp. is 7.3 - 7.5
At pH below 7.0, Nitrosomonas
sp. growth will slow and increases
in ammonia may become evident.
Nitrosomonas sp. growth is inhibited
at pH 6.5. All nitrification is inhibited
if the pH drops to 6.0 or less.
---------------------------------------


My system was running for quite a few days at pH 6.0 or below, and my readings were all zeros. (its now pH 6.4)

I still haven't seen any spikes in my test results.

Am I about to have a HSM as my bacteria have all died or does "inhibited" just mean my bacteria got all sleepy for a bit?

I would bring your pH back to about 6.4-6.6... as the bacterial colony can crash below about 5.6...

You'll usually see the first signs of that by a "milkiness" in the water quality... but fairly quickly followed by other levels (ammonia and nitrite) rising...

Much of the above is based on the traditional, accepted view of the nitrification cycle... newer research suggests that it's actually Nitrospira, not Nitrobacter that's responsible for nitrification... and that Nitrospira is much more pH resiliant...

If you are still feeding the fish and your pH is well up within the readable pH range and your ammonia is still 0, I wouldn't worry, sounds like you caught it before the "crash". I have had new systems here (starting out with my 8.2+ well water) go from say 7.6 where I adjusted to before starting the cycling process to suddenly dropping (upon getting cycled up) down to yellow on the pH test and the ammonia started showing again. I believe I was able to catch it before doing any real damage but the bacteria did seem to get slowed down for a few days by the sudden changes in pH.

Once a system settles into a fairly stable pH and is buffered just enough to keep it in that range, and the bacteria get comfortable with it.... Don't argue with what is stable and works.

I have shell grit in a stocking now and the pH is slowly rising.

Previously I had a bit sprinkled through the grow bed, but my topup water was pH 7.6 from a concrete rainwater tank. Now its 6.0 from mains water supply in suburbia. They must be adding a stack of acid, because Adelaide water is known for its hardness.

It took 5 months for it to suddenly drop. I must have dissolved all my shell grit that was in the bed. I also added worms recently and a grow house so I've had some temperature increases and additional feeding that goes with silvers and water temps at 16c+

It looks pretty stable now, and hopefully that will be the end of it.

Thanks again people.

There's always more questions though...