Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

You are right to not push things too quickly. A slow ramp up is prudent.

Tank 1 is coming along well, I think it's settling in now. The only problem was as I was expecting; the pH is causing iron lockout in the plants (both GB's), but nothing a foliar feed wont help.

I tested Tank 2 yesterday, there is an obvious Nitrite spike now so hopefully it won't be long before it settles down too (they aren't as dark as the photo indicates though). It's kind of funny watching it do it's thing without any real effort on my part, lol. I suppose I should thank my generous pee phantom. It's good not to worry about killing any fish too.



Speaking of fish, I thought I'd try to take some photos of the goldfish in Tank 1, given it's been impossible with my camera. I used my daughters dinky little underwater cam, not great quality photos but I managed to get a few pics.

This is the biggest fish my girls named 'Skunky'. *eta* Lol, my youngest just asked if the thing behind the fish was a big poo...I'd be hoping not!


These two are 'Flavourings' and 'Goldilocks'


Fingers crossed they'll be going home soon when I go and get some trout!

And one more of the three of them together. The two black and white ones look beat up in this pic, but it's just because you can't see the white in their fins (the red spots are part of them too, not sores, lol).

I gave the plants a bit of iron today, hopefully they can take up some of it and start looking a bit happier. Growth isn't too bad considering though. It wasn't an overly strong mix of edta as foliar feed, better than nothing but not ideal either.

Tested both tanks, Tank 1 is sitting nicely at zero across the board (excluding pH), Tank 2 still has high Nitrites but the Ammonia has gone down to around 0.5ppm, who knows where the Nitrates are sitting at given the colour chart is so samey, lol. I'm guessing about 10ppm or so, although the photo makes it look well over that.

A few photos before I skedaddle.






A question before I go, is it a silly idea to go and get the trout fingerling's for each system this weekend, stick both lots in Tank 1 until Tank 2 is ready, and then split them up? It'd be 20 fingerling's in Tank 1 until Tank 2 has finished cycling, which can't be too much longer I'm guessing?

I'm thinking it's not overly a good idea, but I've got the chance to get over to get the trout without too much hassle this weekend and it'd be handy if I could take advantage while I can.

I hope all is well, toodle pip!

I was going to give it another day until I tested but got bored and decided to today, I was quite surprised to see just how many more Nitrates there was. I don't think the Ammonia or Nitrites have dropped, the pH almost looked a tad lower though. Interesting to see such dramatic changes so quickly.

The ammonia definitely has more yellow, meaning lower, and the nitrites look a tad lower too, though it is off the chart, so hard to really tell without controlled dilution.

I pondered diluting to get an accurate reading but figured I couldn't be bothered (I'm lazy like that, lol). Hopefully it will drop to an obvious level soon. Hopefully!

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

Small update for my own benefit, Tank 2's test today showed the Ammonia down to 0.25ppm, not sure on the others, except the pH in person definitely looks like it's dropping which is interesting to see.



And in other news I cleaned the chainsaw and despite washing I still feel like I'm covered in bar lube and sawdust, woo! lol.

Without the addition of any more TAN your nitrite reading should start dropping soon. ALthough maybe not soon enough for Saturday

Yeah I'd be very surprised if it was ready in time, not that it doesn't stop me looking at it willing it to cycle quicker, lol.

What size fingerlings are you getting? if your really keen to get all 20 fish this weekend i cant see it being a huge problem, if there small the bio load will be nowhere near close to what one of your systems can handle at full capacity, and on top of that you can feed them lightly for the time you have them all in one tank whilst watching you water perameters.

Tank 2 seems to have only a trace amount of Ammonia now, hopefully I'll start seeing the Nitrites drop in the coming days/week or so.




I'm not sure on the size...fingerling size? lol. Not big anyway. If I do decide to get all 20 tomorrow I was planning on feeding lightly/holding off the food for a few days then slowly increasing their feeds just so I don't make things go crazy. Still not entirely sure, I think I'll see tomorrow what happens!

What is you nitrite reading tonight?

Tested just before, still super high/off the chart from what I can tell. Nothing noticeably different from this morning anyway.

No fish for that system then.