Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Few more shots i missed

Im not happy with the tank cladding, so i am going to fold up some new cladding insted of wrapping it round and then use the sheet that are on there now to make my Sump Surrounds to insulate my sumps.

Coming along nicely!

Nice choice of beer too.

Just Planted 8 Strawberry Crowns

4 x Torrey
4 x Red Gauntlet

System is Still Plodding along, eyeing off some Baths at the moment, but thinking about another IBC to make another GB and another Sump....... the never ending saga continues.

Worked out the profile for the new IBC cover im going to make also going to make one for the GB.

Also thinking about making a New Stand for my GB's as mine is sagging a little now it has the IBC Top on it.... tad heavy i think.

i'd love a concrete slab to be working on this Ground is tedious.....Hard as a rock then when it rains we have sinkage.... any wonder the house moves so much...... glad i dont own it

Hmm should get to work i guess...

Tests for tonight (Cycling 48h)

PH 7
Amm 0.1
ite Trace
ate 0

Temp is cold will order my Themro tonight with my airpump and stones.

done 100% Water change due too it being dirty as i didnt wash my gravel enough and my water tank was just overflowing with all the rain so i thought i might as well use it up. and its full again now.... loving this rain

plants are looking healthy and also loving the rain, not quite sure why?? but when it rains they seem to look very healthy.

System is running perfectly no leaks or issues with flow, siphons run flawlessly.

Iv also noticed some solids in my GB's under the inlets, grit from the media that it must have been pulling up from the bottom of the FT as it had a fair bit in it when i cleaned it out.

i also filled my tank from the sump at the same flow rate that im running now and it took 63 Mins from start to fill and flow into my GB, so i guess that mean all my water is cycled through my GB's every Hour.

Not sure it was wise to do 100% water change, almost means you will need to re-cycle again! Although there should be a good build up of bacteria in the GB's I suppose as long as they wern't dry for too long and killed off.
Have you done any water tests since doing water change. Also I know with my rain water tank the water is very acidic, 6 or lower! So if your system was running a higher PH than your rainwater tank then it could be a shock to the fish.

Sounds like its working well.

Bndy: no fish mate and as for cycling this is prob the start as my main gb only just went in, tests are the same staying steady. Just need it to warm up a little.

Cheers manto!

Working on battery backup system now, plant health is good, had loads of rain today sump is over flowing a little.

Really need to try get a few more gb's in and cycling just havin trouble with weather, work and busy family life.

Yeah mate, its hard to get stuff done, when you are doing family stuff. Having teenagers that are into sports makes it hard, but just glad they are into sports eh. I need to setup more growbeds too, but will take my time with them

Yeah sport is good my oldest boy (9)plays bball it's great that he loves it, tried footy didn't like it, done cricket last summer now he has chosen to play the bball summer season instead of cricket.

My oldest daughter (7) has mild functioning autism so there's lots of busyness there

I'm now laid up on the couch with a decent bout of the flu.

Sorry mate, thought there was something I was missing! Basically couldnt be bothered going back through your thread to find out.

Again me being lazy but........ What are you using to cycle? Hummonia or just letting it happen? You could be waiting quite awhile if it doesn't warm up till late October IMHO. You should get some GOLDFISH....

No seriously if you get em it will speed up the process, I would just make sure you remove them before getting "real" fish, and salt to make sure there is no left over nasties from the stinking things!

yeah im using Hummonia, don really wana use goldfish if i dont have too...

got the ammo levels up to .4 so we will see how long it takes til it dissapears.

seems that i wont be getting sp til december, but iv been playing with my systems setup so much that this is the first time it has actually been cycling without drastic changes.

got it all the way i want it now the only thing i will be doing is adding a couple more beds, but my sumps and pump will handle a few more so it wont be a matter of changing anything just some adding.

Hmmm plant health is on the decline today... might need to add some seasol.... the rain water may have diluted it right out and plants have prolly sucked it all up....

looking forward to a cpl nice days so will have to duck down and grab some tomorrow... get some nutes and sun into them

ph has spiked up too, also ammo is down to 0.1 and iv got .1 nitrite showing going to add more aged hummonia tomorrow morn

seems i may have some bacteria floating round in there

Worked out i had a sticky siphon, the flow rate seemed to be fluxuating, so iv now removed the 40-20 reducer and am running the straight 40mm piping into my gb's, seems to give a much more stable flow as its not banking up in the reducer.

tweaked my siphon a little and it seems to be doing the trick. havent found it sticking on in the last 24 h.

plenty of fog around today, was thinking about taking the kids fishing hope it clears off and we get a little sun.

Still fighting with a High 7 low 8 PH

Cooler weather atm had 3 days where lows were 5ish

last night had a -1 but no frost gets near my system.

just got my results from a test tonight

Ammo is 0

Nitrite is between 0.1 and 0.25

looks like were up and running now, shall add some more Hummonia tomorrow night if there isnt a spike of ammo.

plants are looking well and peas are podding and going great.

no seasol added for a week now, plants did suffer for a few days however there bouncing back, few sunny days would be ok....

Wouldnt mind a few fish if anyone wants to sell a couple of there trout?? hahahaha fat chance eh