Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think I've cycled (or at least the new system has)!!!!



This is the first time I have had zero nitrites. Ammonia has been low (0.25 or less) for a while, but *finally* the nitrite conversion is complete.

I've only been lightly feeding the trout, but now I plan to ramp it up (but still checking the water regularly).

I wonder if this would have happened anyway (it's just over a month since the trout went in), or if the water transfer between the old and new system worked? Perhaps it was transferring a quarter of the trout from the new system to the old system? Whatever was responsible, I'm glad it worked.

Probably both... and time...

Go easy ramping up the feed... do it incrementally... and in conjunction with testing...

Time for another update!

The trout are feeding well in both systems, but I need more plant growth in the old system because the nitrates are still high. In the new system the plant growth is keeping the nitrates down. I haven't had any nitrites since I last posted, so I've cycled for sure.



New system first bed, with celery, red cabbage and small white cabbage:



view from the other end of the bed:

The second bed has some broccolini that didn't like the winds on Sunday. The basil also leaned over, but I propped them up again. I can't move the broccolini, but they're still growing.



The third bed has broccoli, a few remaining cos lettuce and flat leaf parsley that will be harvested soon. Why would anybody need eight parsley plants, which is what you get when you buy a punnet?

Nice

Today I harvested all the lettuces except one, and all the self-seeded celery in the old system, so I could plant broccoli and English spinach seedlings. Here is the harvest:

Nice. I would have had a haul like that if 7 of my 8 lettuce hadn't got a slimy leaf disease.

I did have problems with some sort of dust (spores?) and a bit of slime. I found out that any leaves in contact with the media would be damaged, so I removed all the lower leaves.

New pictures of the growbeds. First the new 3000L system:

The old (1000L) system is still powering along with 15 trout. The nitrates are high, but I can't make the new plants grow any faster!

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that neither system had mains power (the power was definitely on at the 11am feeding). The RCD for the aquaponics (and spa and possibly some other stuff) circuit had tripped. I reset it, and all seems OK. Fortunately I've got BYAP backup air pumps on both systems, and the power was only off for a maximum of two hours.

Mysteriously, my PVR lost all its channels (except the four digital radio channels) for the first time yesterday as well, so I had to do a new search to find them all. Curiouser and curiouser...

Close call!

And the backup system reins again

Glad to hear all is ok

Looking back at my previous posts, I can see how much the plants have grown. Here is the latest update:







The strawberries in the old system are delicious and juicy, so I'm going to add a row of strawberries on the northern edge of all of the new growbeds. Being low-growing, they won't shade any of the other plants. For the same reason, celery and leeks will be grown on the southern side of the growbeds, so they don't shade out the other plants.

I've sown seeds for cucumber, butternut pumpkin, rockmelon, watermelon and tomatoes in trays, and put them in my mini-greenhouse.

Now for the old system. There are cabbage, brussels sprouts, strawberries, and garlic.



Looks like we'll be eating cabbage for the rest of the year (or longer).

Nice looking foliage Bythebrook