Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice to see you just haven't been sitting aroud Bluefin... very definitely part of the bath tub brigade....

im excited the freight depot opens in about 3 hrs time. Im going to pick up my 150 s perch fingerlings. I have added three new grow beds and bought two existing ss tubs back online . I now have 8 200lt grow beds and 2 50 lt g beds. I have planted out two beds with lime basil tomatoes and dill. The two ss tubs have been planted out with louisianna lilies. I have moved my 25 goldies from the 2250lt sump to a cast iron bath on legs (too heavy to use in system for g bed). I added a small pump to the goldie tank and a couple of native water lilies, to give them some shade. I have upped the pump cycles to run 18 hrs a day from 6 am to 12 pm. The pump is on 15 off 60. I have 30000lts of fresh water ready for change if needed. I have purchased 2 new timers just incase of failure. I am worried that i will get a huge ammonia spike when i intro the 150 silvers to the fishtank/sump, because i may not have enough bacteria to cope with the load. I have a few questions........................
1) How fast do nitrofying bacteria replicate ?
2) Can i speed up the bacteria process?
3) the pump is rated as continuous would it be benificial to run it 24hrs initially?
4) Are the bacteria in the water or only in the grow beds?
5) should i mix some of the old growbed aggregate with the new bed aggregate?
6) How do the nitrosomas /nitrifying bacteria populate the new beds.
7) Should i add salt to the system as i dont have a quaranteen tank for the new silvers?
oh and why is there a hole in the top of the bic pen.

About the only i am qualified to answer is the last one when you are planning an ap system theres so much going through your head you take your frustrations out on the end of the pen and all the dribble runs down the hole mixes with the ink and the pen lasts longer and you can do a lot more drawing and planning [hope this helps]

thanks f and f you have inspired me to continue expanding. How is the tip ratting going, any good finds lately?
Do you have a hole drilled in your standpipes to release any water after syphoning? Does the hole have any effect whilst syphoning?

Re Q2 and 3. Providing you have a food source, ammonia and nitrites, the next consideration would be oxygen as it is an oxydising process so keep the pump running 24/7. Next would be temps and ph but not much you can do about that now.
A small amount of chloride in the system would help the fish cope with any nitrite spike.
Thanks F&F, always wondered about the small hole

A few goodies best is 18 volt de walt 3 speed hammer drill with a new battery
as for the stand pipes i run flood and drain yes a 6 mm hole works for me

the hole in the lid is so that you can still breathe a bit if
you swallow it...not sure about the one in the side

How good is google?

Why is there a hole in the barrel of BIC Classic Stic® Pens?
To equalize the pressure inside the pen with the pressure outside the pen. These vents, or holes in the pen barrels, basically help to prevent ink leakage. Approximately 90 percent of all pens are vented to prevent leakage. The pens that do not have vented barrel contain sealed ink systems and are pressurized.

Why is there a hole in some writing instrument’s cap?
In addition to help prevent the pen from leaking all our BIC® caps comply with international safety standards, that attempt to minimize the risk of children accidentally inhaling pen caps. Some of these vented caps, like that used for the BIC® Cristal®, has a little hole in the top to comply with the existing safety standards.

for most of questions 1-7
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/magaz ... Issue1.pdf

latest readings ammo 0.1 no2 0 no3 0 ph 7.6 h2o temp 22 C amb temp 15C.
Fish dont arrive untill tommorow , i am running the pump 15/60 24hrs. The goldies are all at the surface of the new bath tank gasping for air. I put three enormous water lilies in yesterday arvo, and i asume they are using up the o2. Might take two out and add an air stone. Will pick up an airstone tommorrow when i pick up the fish. I dont think i need air in the main tank as there is 2 90 mm return pipes and a heap off turbulance. I have noticed that since i added the new baths that when the pump stops some of the baths are still filling. Before they just gurgled and the syphon didnt break untill the pump stopped. Now the flow rate is shared between 3 more baths so each bath is filling slower. Any sugestions?

You need a drain hole at the bottom of the siphon. Its pretty much the only way to make sure they all empty.

You need to get that nitrite down before adding the new fish - you can add some salt to reduce the toxicity of it however.

ozzie the nitrite reading is zero now.

how much salt should i add to 2250 lts to bring it up to 3ppm? Three more of my goldies have died since i shiffted them. They were all gasping at the surface, I think it was the lilies that i added so i pissed them off. Put a small pump to airate and 2 hrs later they were frolicing and gamboling. I dont have a quarantee tank so i have my fingers crossed that they will survive. I have 30000 lts fresh water stored for the possible ammonia spike.

oh and steem i thought the hole of the cap was incase one had to preform an emergency trachiotomy.

i feel really responsible for the goldie fish deaths approx five. They have been with me from the start and helped to get my system running. So thats while im freaking about adding the silvers as i feel im in a caretaker role. Which is a paradox as i wont have any qualmes about eating them. I guess it is the dilema of being a carnivore. If the swagman had had a turnip in his tuker bag he probably wouldnt have drowned in a bilabong.

heh lol, I saw no2 0, and thought it was no2 2

Aeration, via pumping or air pumps is the key to healthy fish. Its a better lesson to learn with a couple of gold fish, rather than with 100's of perch.

6kg of salt per 2000 litres = 3ppt. It looks like a lot