Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks guys! yeah, will have to get me some dipel. I found some old Carbaryl in the shed, but it looks like that was banned in Australia several years ago ... !

Rsevs - If anything the IBC system gets less sun, due to the neighbour's trees. I've planted exactly the same seedlings in both systems, and they either die off or just don't grow as fast. Very weird.

Fuzzy,

The catapillars are little green ones, the same colour as your leaves. Not easy to see. Diphel works a treat. Luckily mine haven't been hit this year yet. Crap, They will have been by the time I get home after saying that! Found a small snail in my bed yesterday... Here fishy fishy,.... gone!

You were right revs - the change in seasons means the ibc system gets full afternoon sun whereas the byap one only gets the cold morning sun. Good call!

Too bad, I sprayed some oil onto the outside of the painted IBC which made it slide in a little better... still a few little peels but not as much... doesn't help you much now though

Thanks Tom, I'll remember that for next time.

Been having a lot of trouble with acidity and ammonia over the past week. PH at 6.0 and ammonia at 8. No dead fish, but I did notice a lot of uneaten food on the bottom of the tank. I stopped feeding the trout 7 days ago, but no change to ammonia levels. No nitrites or nitrates now either.

So I've made the following mods:
- 300l emergency water change;
- added 750g of shell grit in a cloth bag to the sump;
- pushed the air balls right to the bottom of the tank. Less air now, but the bottom is clear.

On the upside, the plants are going gangbusters. Even the snow peas are growing, which have never worked for me before.

Lookin good. Lots of nice green. I got my first snow pea flower on the weekend. Crop should be starting soon.

Great growth there Fuzzy. Hope you get the water levels sorted out.

Yea, looks really healthy fuzz.

Nice Fuzzymonkey...

That is fantastic results FM, and those IBC's are finished beautifully.

I wonder what system #4 is going to look like.

Your a green thumb - If I can get my system to look like that then I'll be happy
Is it warm in perth?

Aquaponics can give anyone a green thumb

Ammonia dropped to 0.5 yesterday, so I gave the trout some feed. The starving buggers kept jumping up and hitting their heads on the grate pH is still low though. Might need to add something a bit stronger than shell grit. Any suggestions?

Funny you should mention that BF - I bought another IBC yesterday to expand this system...

ROFL ... Fuzzy, u got tonnes of space for expansion. Congrats on another IBC, same sourcing place?

Just make sure you got the power distribution setup right. My double GPOs already cramped.

I'm gonna throw in a sockful of grit too. Like you, just did a recent test, and noted that ph is in the 6.0 or under *test kit doesn't read lower than 6*.

Yep same place. Different MSDS, but still non toxic.

I'm planning on plumbing the sumps together, so no need for more power. However I'm getting an electrician in to install a mains socket for my wine barrel system, so will also get him to quote me on wiring up the verandah properly too.

Now just waiting for the nights to warm up a bit so I can work outside without freezing my hydrotons off.