Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Generally speaking if there is conflicting advice on a water science point of view, I'd go with whatever rup says, no matter who's involved.

I didn't realise there was input from another thread.

Sorry Blythe, losing fish is really stressful, and is only made more so when you get conflicting input.

I'd ignore me if I were you.

But I'd still like to see the survival difference if some were moved .

But really I'd just do whatever rup says.

Thanks, Bull. Your advice is always really appreciated, keep it coming!!

OK, so I salted the fish last night (yum yum, hope it makes them tastier) and this morning...

NO NEW DEAD FISH!!!!!!

Yet.

I tested levels and they are as follows:

ammonia- 0.25ppm
nitrites- off the chart, a real purple rather than lavender
nitrates- 5ppm
water temperature- 12degC


Now here is something interesting (and embarassing).

Back in March, when I was testing System 1 everyday, the pH kept going off the chart for the low levels of pH testing, so I used the 'high levels of pH' vial and came up with 7.8. I never went back to using the low pH bottle, and results always came back at 7.8. I was disappointed and spent some time reading other people's posts about high pH. I wondered if it was the gravel we used or some such thing. (Stupidly, I never did a test on the actual creek water we used).

This morning, I did a pH test and got the following results:
creek water using high pH tester- 7.8
rainwater using low pH tester- 6.0

I was shocked at the difference and thought something had to be wrong. So I went BACK to using the low pH test, and got the following results:
creek water- 6.8
System 1 (which has was refilled yesterday with creek water)- 6.8
System 2 (running since March, fully cycled)- 6.6

SO!!! I seem to have been getting incorrect results with the high pH test!!!!

The good news is that this means nutrients aren't locked to the plants as I thought they were. The bad news...there is none. Not that I can think of. Except the time spent worrying. And that I guess it would be better if the fully cycled system was 6.8, not 6.6. I guess.

I wonder about the 6.0 test result for our rainwater. If it is correct, I think I would top up our systems with creek water, though I suppose it allworks out eventually.

So, we will keep waiting and seeing with the fish. We are lucky that the temperatures are staying low, especially nighttime.

Rain water is usually a bit acidic so a 6.0 or lower result on the rain water isn't a shock to me. Just means you may get to buffer the water a bit if you are using much rain water (just hope you are not getting the rain water off a galv-alum roof or storing it in a galvanized tank.)

Nope, storing it in a poly tank. Thanks for the advice.

Good news on the fish front. Except for the little one which died, all fish in System 2 are fine!! And the levels are:

ammonia- 0.25ppm
nitrites- 0.25ppm, hurrah!!!!!!
nitrates- look like they have gone down again, between 0 and 5ppm. Not sure what the story is there.

Yesterday morning, the nitrate levels were 2.0ppm, so they really come down fast!!

Out of interest, how long can fish go without food if the water is around 12degC?

From memory, System 1's ammonia stayed at 0.25ppm for a loooong time. Do I have to wait until it is zero before feeding again, or can I throw a tablespoon of feed in?

I'm trying to upload some photos of the new lush vegetation in the growbeds, but for some reason, my laptop has stopped recognising my htc phone. Grrrrrrr....it will have to wait until I can figure it out.

System 2 ammonia levels are still 0.25ppm, nitrites still 0.25ppm. The fish in System 2 are SO much hungrier than system 1. They attack food like it might escape. Plant growth is excellent, and we have started harvesting greens from our systems regularly. The greens from aquaponics are much higher in water content than those grown in the ground; they snap wetly when I pick them. I am not sure if that means they are not as high in nutrients, being watered down a bit...doesn't matter. The lack of effort involved in reliably growing good-tasting greens makes this whole venture worthwhile, even if we never eat a fish. Speaking of which, I can't imagine the trout being plate size by Christmas; they are growing fast, but Christmas is only a few weeks away!!!

We are planning a much bigger system now. We need a lot more grow space to be able to use the greens and other produce as freely as we want to. And we still plan to do the duckponics. 5 ducklings born yesterday, so we really need to get onto the pond situation.

I cant believe this didnt get a reply.

Is that date correct?

I dont thionk that's ever happened before .

The lenght of time the fish can go without food depends a bit on how big they are.

Baby fish dont have a lot of spare fat.

But if they are small there's a fair chance they are getting food anyway due to algae, bugs etc.

I had some guppies that lived in an aquarium and NEVER got fed. Never ever. They grew big and fat and had babies, and lived for years untill all the water fell out onto my carpet one day.

If the fish are bigger, weeks without food wont hurt them.

So either way weeks.

Unless you have hundreds of baby fish you shouldnt have any trouble.

Lot's of people say a little amonia is ok, but I always run my system at zero nitrites and amonia (and also nitrates for that matter)

I wonder if it would be worth connecting the two systems with a no holes bridge siphon thinggy (ie a hose full of water).

It would cycle up a lot faster as long as there was some movement between the two systems.

Hi Blythe,

Any update on all things AP in Tas?

Hello, folks. Not sure if anybody will read this, but that's OK. I seriously dropped off the planet there. Two reasons: we were building OUR AMAZING HOUSE (and now, a shameless plug, http://www.thehousethatworkedout.com for anybody who is interested in seeing it. Which should be EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD!!!), and secondly because...

Our aquaponics system is kaput. Dead. Out of commission.

And it is all my fault. We had 50 or so trout just coming to eating stage. I was topping up the tanks one evening when I did something stupid (and something which I frequently do). I became impatient with the amount of time it was taking to fill the tanks, and I thought, " I'll just go and do such and such a job"...

and I forgot to return.

I succeeded in emptying our only source of water (our household water tank) and I also killed every single one of those trout.

Completely demoralised, we just left the system. Then cyclone winds kind of tore the polytunnel and apart, and we focused our efforts on other things...

But NOW...

I'm ready to start up again.

We're thinking we would like to do another system entirely, with bigger tanks for the the fish, but since we already have systems which are working, we are going to get that running again and just stock it with goldfish. I really feel the small 1000L tank size means that the water temps change too rapidly for trout, especially combined with being in a polytunnel, so the plan is to use less sensitive fish and just get that going again.

I need to buy some new air pumps; the Resuns are all only partially working. I came across Murray Hallam's site mentioning Glenn Martinez's breakthrough in air pumps, and I'm wondering if there is any info on them besides going to a seminar on it. Does anyone know?

I wish fish weren't so EXPENSIVE here. $3 for a rotten goldfish, and we're going to need HEAPS.

dunno about that airlift, it may work, it may not, i havent made one yet, but here is a thread on it:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=22538&hilit=paradigm+shift

well done on the home front

I run a tap timer to squirt a few liters max per topup and it's the best 15$ I ever spent.

I could never trust myself to turn something off, (or on) so I run a stock trough float valve, and a $15 bunnings battery powered tap timer so it can never over fill, and only gets 2 x 5 minutes a day on low (only just open tap) to not overflow within. That same 2 X 5minutes a day also waters the strawberries and spinach I have growing in dirt via one of those recycled car tire soaker hoses.

That way if the timer revolts, I get no topup... no big deal for a week or so.

If the stock trough float valve revolts, I lose 5 minutes of water on low twice a day and some strawberries... no big deal for a week or so.

indeed, remembering to shut off the water is near impossible for me too and we have our system attatched to our livinbgroom!

Hi, everybody!! Thanks for the replies!!
Checked out the thread, thanks very much Yavimaya.
Here are a couple of photos of our trout before the MASSIVE DEATH

Sorry to hear about the fish loss, Blythe. But, you have obviously been busy and I'm glad to hear you'll tackle AP, again.
I just spent my morning devouring the blog and magazine article-"A bridge was on our list of something every house should have. "-my favorite line.
Goldfish are pretty bulletproof for stocking a system and next easiest seems to be channel catfish, here. Is there anything like that you can get over there?