Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The do sell a product that's safe for your bacteria called Ammo Lock it's sold here API makes it only few bucks but helps take your numbers down.

Hiya Bobby, every now and then a build pops up which makes me go 'Wow!'
Wow!
Your prep work, layout and finish is great, well done.
Certainly says something when you stay up half the night caring for your fish.
It's a lot of gbs to get such a spike.
A couple of questions.
How many fish do you have? Is the set up in a shed? And do you have salt in the system?
Once again well done with the build.

Interesting ....I haven't seen that before. How many of those bottles do you think I would need for 1200 gallons? Assuming it's marketed for aquariums, it might take a lot to make a difference I'm thinking? Have you used it yourself?

Hey thanks skeggley!
I started with 120 rainbow trout six weeks ago and have 110 left after this incident. My system is in my work shop which is 48'X32' and is divided in half by a wall. The aquaponics is in one half along with a 12X8 future chicken house and a 12X8 storage/tinkering room. The shop has a 14' ceiling and the two 12X8 rooms were built to 8' which gives me a usable 5'6" high storage area above them. It worked out well to mount my dehumidifier up there too.
I haven't done any research on salting but understand that it can make for healthier fish. With fish dying all around me, I should maybe look into it. Maybe you, or someone else here, can explain it to me?

Nitrite issues - 1ppt = 1KG per 1000L or 1gm per L - Use uniodized salt without caking agents. Also helps the fish with stress.

One of the others beat me to the double post, they're just that quick

Thanks for posting the dosing rate Scotty. Will I find uniodized salt at any grocery store or is it specific to aquariums?

Sorry Scotty, I didn't see a comment explaining removing double posts. What am I missing?

Buy a thing of Reef salt cheaper and cleaner plus I use it in my reef tank.

As for the Ammo Lock I used it years ago in tanks when I ran more fresh water fish but I've been into saltwater aquatics so long I don't need it anymore, but I can tell you it's nice to have.

Hiya Bobby, I just bought a 25kg (55i pounds) bag of swimming pool salt from the hardware store for $6 which will last me the next 3 years for the system.
Work out what volume of water you have in the system and add 1-2 ppt as per Scottys post above.

Everything is cool now except that two of the fish have swim bladder problems, including the biggest one. No more fish have died and water tests are all good. I'm going to pick up some pool salt tomorrow and start a maintenance dosing of 1ppt and see how that goes. Thanks for the help guys I'm worried about the big guy; he's been swimming on his side for two days now. Do you think the problem will work itself out or should I quarantine them and feed peas?

Here's some closeups of some of the system components. I know it looks crazy but everything actually has a purpose
A look inside one of the radial flow filters


The air pump; one airstone in each tank. With the eight auto siphons each draining a grow bed 3 times per hour,
3X8X24=576 total flushes per day. I don't have a DO meter to check this, but I probably didn't need to add the air pump to the system.

The heart of the system
The dehumidifier The two fresh air inlet ductsThe 240V light controller

The avian componentThis is Romeo (African Grey Congo)Maybe I should try to incorporate some Parroponics into the system I was thinking I could pipe his perch base into the system with a continuous flushing action which drains back into one of the filters...hmmm...

Bobby, nice system. I assume the half IBC under each growbed acts as a sump and you have those
drain via the valve on the ibc. (black pipe) Where is your pump located? Does that drain pipe eventually go up and dump to one ibc? Possibly the one below the filters? Thanks

I just noticed the orchid in the grow bed on an earlier post. Hope it did alright, I would have suggested raising it up higher a bit because they are very effective at trapping moisture on the roots and are also susceptible to root rot.