Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well yeah, maybe I am past the "thinking" stage of system two and into the planning stage but definitely not finalising yet. I am still figuring how CHIFT PIST can work for me. For example, the delivery to the BYAP growbed.
The delivery pipe is usually at the bottom of the growbed cable tied to the the stands. Like what I have for my existing system now. Which is good, nice and neat. But the actual delivery to the growbed is vertically up through the valve and onto the bed.

For CHIFT PIST method, will the water, which in some way is gravity fed water, be able to "climb" up the vertical delivery pipe into the growbeds? The column of water in the vertical delivery pipe is defying gravity.

Also I believe the main delivery pipe needs to be bigger than 25mm? 40mm (same as drain pipe) or 50mm?



Funny you should say, I have been told that funds are not approved for spending until the 1st system proves itself. I guess now you know why I want the bacteria to grow faster.


I guess what concerns me is that the ammonia levels in my tank is very close to the tipping point. I think by this weekend I might see ammonia levels of 2, since the test seems to show that it is already getting darker than 1.
Then I am in danger, or really the fishes are in the danger. The other thing is that by the time I get back from work, it is dark, so I cannot see much about the fishes behaviour or whether there are floaters or sinkers. I also leave for work when it is dark, just in case someone is thinking I could check before I leave for work.

I suppose according to the table, lowering the pH will help them out slightly. But I suppose I will just hang tight and wait for advice from the experts here and hopefully not find any floaters or sinkers this weekend.

Stop all food Ivan, otherwise you are going to get a huge nitrite spike....which is more dangerous than the ammonia.

Yep... missed your post the other day... probably needed to fed them as they'd been starved for a few days...

But having done so your ammo reading has gone from 0.25 to 1+.... with the nitrite spike due to kick in soon...

As OBO suggests... hold the feed for a day or two... and salt your tank to 1ppt as a pre-emptive measure against the nitrite spike...

Roger that.

Will stop feeding. Salted tank with 3kg of salt (1000L). Might have lost some due to the need to drain some water because the tank was almost overflowing due to rain.

I have amm 1 and Nitrite 1 but can't get down I suspect due to the Cold, water is about 8c and pH 7.4 so I am not stressed at the pH level and Temp, but have gone to half rations and fish are peed off, told them stop crapping and you ca have more

Yes Ivan I too went down that road, but now she wishes we had started a year earlier but in the end I'm glad I went down the trial and error road and had a year of extra reading, need more funding from the treasury for expansion, it wont be as hard as the first installment, must admit Mr Rudd helped a little though.
The big secret is not to fail with the first system and make sure the fish and veggies are A1 export quality and you will win when you submit a grant Make sure before harvest you go to Coles or similar and by the crapiest looking veggies you can find (It's easier to find crap veggies at Coles), then when the war office see's the quality difference she will be impressed, I think it's called minor deceit

Ivan , re CHIFT PIST ,, water flow under gravity in a 25mm pipe is around 1,000 Gallons per hour, I assume they are US Gallons ,, so call it 3,700 litres an hour. Bigger than i would have thought.
I was looking for flow info and found this,....., http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml

Very helpfull when doing the calcs.

According to the new ammonia chart, at 7.4 pH and 8degC, you can have an ammonia level of 5.1 before it becomes bad.
Not sure about the danger level for Nitrite. Is there a similar chart for Nitrite??



I think in my case, all I need is to prove the we can get vege from our own backyard, then it is proven.

Well I am not sure Ruddy did really help at all. It probably helped the economy but did you not notice that most essentials even public transport fares have gone up.

Today results. Just thought that I should post a colour photo instead. In case I am tone blind. Temp was 16degC.

Hi gurus,

As mentioned I start work early and finish work late, hence Mon-Fri I cannot get supplies, so I was thinking about getting pH down solution and more salt (sunray pool salt?) this weekend so that I can combat the upcoming spikes?

Anything else I need to get this weekend?

Hey Iv,
I am not the one to ask for additives.
As I am not a fan
Soz

I'm not a fan of pH down and similar stuff for pH buffering... use shellgrit of EcoRose instead...

Pickup some Chelated Iron and Seasol (or Maxicrop) along with the salt..

Do not be concerned about that pH - just get some salt.

I would not add anything to your water, except for salt, until you get the nitrite down. Coz its gonna rocket up.

Hi guys,
I have got chelated iron, seasol and will pick up the salt tomorrow.

Today's water test results.

Poor guys have not ate anything since Wednesday night. Some maybe even longer since I only feed a small amount and not all of them will get a bite. Hope they don't starve.

Ivan make sure you don't have the uneaten food still in tank as that will be worse for fish, weird my results are higher ATM except pH and temp is about half yours, I have them on half rations and they nearly chew my arm off when I feed them