Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks guys.
Yes, its nice and green and relaxing. Having water running makes it seem cooler somehow.

I think I might up my order of fish, but I'm not sure I have enough growbeds.
I guess the ratio of fish to gravel) is the important one from the fish perspective. I will have half a metre of gravel to maybe 150 Jades.
What kind of ratio of fish to gravel do you guys run with?

I currently have approx 14 kg's of fish in approx 3500 litres of water supported by 2000 litres of gravel. Soon to add another 700 litres of gravel, then I will be happy to take these fish to the end.

Hmmm - 2000litres - 2 cubic metres? My half metre is looking way too small.
This stuff is definitely Art and not Science. My beds drain in 4.5 minutes and yours in 1 hour! So comparisons are difficult.
Can't wait to get my fish!

Very nice J.

Well, my system is now up and running!

This morning I picked up 200 Jade perch from SEQ fisheries - very active and attractive little buggers.
Only 30mm instead of the usual 50mm 'cos I got them early, 200 + 2 kilos food for $200. (food normally $5 a kilo)

The fish weigh about 1.8gms average (I'm told). So 200 is 360gms.
The guy said feed them 1% body weight a day - 3.6gms!
So the 2 kilo feed will last a long time.

So far no deaths - 3 hours
I was concerned about my pump sucking these littlies up, so I did my best to surround it with mesh. The guy at the fishery said this could be an issue because they school near any structures in the water. The only major structure is the pump/cage. If one gets sucked in, they'll all follow.

My only other concern is I put osmocote granules on the GB veggies a few days ago (lack of nutrients) - I'm hoping that in a 10,000 litre tank it won't have any toxic effects.
My solar system will be up and running next tuesday so I've guaranteed uninterruptable power as best as I can.

Just got to start monitoring the Ph, ammonia and nitrates now.
I figure nitrite levels can be extrapolated (guesstimated) from the other levels?
With just the 100's of guppies and 7 comets the ammonia/nitrate levels were zero.
I can't wait for it to cycle and the water to clear - looks like the Brisbane river at the moment (Khaki).

jealousy! I WANT MY FISH!!!!!!

well done Jamie, have fun with them!

A couple of comments that might help Jamie:

1. I'd be a bit concerned about the osmocote, but I guess it is too late now - so why worry. Murray accidentally killed most of his fish doing something similar - but his concentration would have been substantially higher I expect.

2. Fish bought from the place you got them (and probably everywhere else for that matter) have been found to be infected with Ich. The best way to treat this is with a 4ppt salt solution for about 2 weeks. I would have done this before putting them into the 10,000 litre tank (ie do it in a nursery/hospital tank). The tell tale sign of ich is flashing and I would put $100 on the fact that your fish will have it.

Osmocote is a slow release fertilizer... so if you have enough plants it should be used up by the plants before it gets to lethal concentrations. You may get an algal bloom because of it. Worst case scenario is a large water change.

Lets hope you are ICH free... A 4 ppt salt solution in 10,000 L would be about 40 kilos of salt (4g per Litre) ? That is alot of salt...

This is why I would have done it in a hospital tank. Evenso - 40kg would not be all that expensive if buying the pure pool salt. Also - given the size of the fish if you could easilly drop the level of the tank to bugger all for the 2 weeks.

Lovely!!! Pictures required.

If you can keep the fish un-stressed and warm, they'll shake Ich more easily, too.

Geez!
ICH? I better do a Google on that. The fish looked really healthy?
Is it lethal - what are the symptoms?
Thanks for the salt tips VB.

Unfortunately I haven't seen the fish since I put them in - they must have gone straight to the bottom and are staying there (so no pics) - the water is a khaki colour.

Janet - its high summer in Queensland at the moment so the water is as warm as it gets, and the fish should be unstressed - plenty of dark water to hide in, ph around 6.6, zero ammonia.

Jaymie - sorry I beat you to it But then you can learn from my mistakes

Gotta go and Google ICH.

Ich appears as white spots on the fish. It is itchy, so the fish "flash" -- dart suddenly and brush against objects in the tank. It's like the common cold for fish. In its extreme it can be lethal, but is easily treated with a little salt and a boost in temperature. The warmer temperature makes the ich life cycle shorter.

Here is some help for ya Jamie *Ich*

mainly to do with remedies

Thanks Janet and Ell

I am not really sure what to do at this stage, since I don't even know if they have Ich or anything else.
My 10,000 litres is chock full of guppies, some comets and the 200 Jades that have just disappeared from view. The pool is just too big to even attempt to try and catch any Jades, so I can't check them out visually.
No signs of anything bad - no dead fish.

What I think I'll do at this stage is just monitor - check for bad smells, dead fish and apply the salt remedy at the first signs of anything untoward.

btw I read that Ich in its later stages causes a red rash on the fish - Could this be what killed Murrays Silver Perch - the one in the photo with the red tail?

Also - what happens in the wild with things like Ich? There must be some kind of predator that eats the Ich larvae?

I reckon you are right Jamie re the dead fish of mine as I had a bad load of itch in my fish which I treated 3 weeks ago by adding a large dose of salt to my system. I reckon the little bloke was one that did not get the cure in time.
I reckon the itch came with the 50 Jades from the same place as yours about 6 weeks ago. In future I will not add any fish to my system unless they have spent 3 or 4 weeks in my soon to be commissioned hospital tank loaded up with salt.