Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Managed to get one of the beds lined with plastic and back on line.
Hopefully will find time over the weekend to do the otherone and then see how I go from
there. Definately started planning system 2, looking at using 2 or 3 IBC's for tanks and 2 BYAP grow beds. I will also get some more baths to use for duck weed and maybe some Yabbies.

There's always a bigger and better system being planned =D

Yes I can't wait for the bigger system now.
I beleive I have learnt alot of the past few months on what not to do.
Now I will try and do all those things right and hopefully don't get to many new things wrong.

Anyway enough dreaming for now.
I managed to get the other grow bed done today. So now I have 2 S/S grow beds lined with plastic so no chance of anymore nasties leaching out of that.

I suppose I should do a water change to eliminate any possible poisons.
I will try and change about 25% each day for 2 or 3 days.
I don't really want to change to much because the system has cycled and I don't want to start again. I am only using goldfish but they don't seam to eat, I know the weather is still cool current temp in tank is around 14C. The fish used to come up for food when I first started but now nothing. I only feed them every 4th day and they still don't come looking for it. It is either just the cold weather or maybe some problem with possible poisoning has stopped their appetite.

OH well I think I will just see how this batch of goldies go and hopefully get into something else once the bigger system is online. Trying to get this sorted very shortly before the good weather gets here to stay.

Any suggestions on if I am going down the right path would be appreciated.

14 C is just too cold for goldies to really eat much. I wouldn't really expect them to be really hungry till up close to or over 20 C.

Just got back to reading through your thread. Didn't see mention about where you got the goldfish. If they were the cheapest goldfish (as in feeder fish) they may not have been the healthiest creatures to begin with and most of the deaths could simply have been weak/diseased fish and not necessarily your fault. That is not to say that cheap goldfish can't survive well (we had a batch survive in my mom's ornamental pond for 8 years till this last spring when they got home in the spring and all were dead-particularly hard winter, the pond probably froze clean to the bottom this past winter there.) It can sometimes be the luck of the draw with cheap goldfish.

Anyway, hope things turn up. Like some great IBC's fall into your hands or something for system #2.

Back to your heater question. Yes you probably could heat the tank with some big aquarium heaters though it will run up the electric bill. However to warn you that flood and drain gravel beds make really efficient chillers on cold nights (and in summer they are pretty effective water warmers during the day.) It is just the nature of flood and drain by drawing the air down into the media, it tends to bring the media closer to ambient air temps and thus transfer temperature to the water. I'm even thinking about running constantly flooded for my tilapia over winter (since they won't be eating much in the cold so won't need as good a filtration and the water holds more dissolved oxygen when cool anyway) it might be a way to conserve a little heat. Then switch back to flood and drain as water warms up and fish start eating again. Just an idea.

All good so far with the lined grow beds. All plants back in and no fish deaths.
Hoping to get my first IBC tomorrow, then I will have get to have some fun on the weekend
cutting and plumbing. I will hopefully have the water in the bathtub system diluted well and truly of any possible poisons by then. Do you think it will be OK to plumb the IBC into the existing system or should I keep the IBC separate and wait for the new grow beds. Only problem doing that is the new grow beds wont be available until the new year. I am not sure if I can wait that long. If there was any poisoning in the system could it be possible for the fish to pass this onto the rest of the water or would anything that maybe there just get more diluted.

Good to hear that everything is going alright...

Well I am not sure what connecting a 1000L IBC to your existing system is going to do... You cannot increase your stocking level by too much because you are limited by the filtration of your 2 growbeds... If anything you want to increase the volume of your growbeds so that you can up your stocking level.

Will you be going for fish meant for consumption at some stage??

Yes I will be going for something edible later.
I want to make sure I have everthing sorted out first though.

The only reason I would add the IBC to the existing system is the have more water volume
therefore more stable conditions. I would not be planning on additional stocking just enough to get the nutrient required for current grow bed volume.

I am finding the bath very hard to keep stable with only 200ltr of water.
Unfortunately IBC not comming today. Hopefully by the weekend.

Have you worked out how you intend to connect your IBC to your current setup?? With 1 pump?

Anyway, I do have a suggestion that might be help you make a better use of your current resources.

Find a location (maybe where you intend to put in System 2), bury your IBC to a reasonable depth so that you have the option that it becomes your sump when you expand your system. But in the meantime, use this IBC as the FT. Move your growbeds close to the IBC and gravity drain back to the tank, and maybe this time don't put the growbeds above the IBC FT. Less chances of rusting stuffs dripping into your tank. Oh yes, transfer the water in your existing bathtub into the IBC.

Since you do not want to stun your system, you should probably slowly add water to your IBC FT over a week or two. Once there is enough water, convert your bathtub FT to a bathtub growbed... Ultimately about 1000L FT with 400L growbeds??

Hi all,

I am still having problems with my fish dieing. I have had 2 today and they both had similar injuries like the attached pitcture. Does anyone know what this might be.
Here I am thinking my grow beds may have poisoned the water and now this, do you think this is related or is what is causing this damage what is killing the fish.

Looks similar to what someone else had a while back.... was it Gemmel??

Looks like something had a go at it... Is this new or has it always been like that for the previous deaths before you lined your growbeds?

It seems similar to some pics of unfortunate fish that were "sucked" onto the FT pump inlet holes?
It left similar round marks, didn't it? Can't remember the system. Or, am I mistaking the pic in that; are the marks on this fish due to a bacterial or other type infection rather than something physical?

Cheers IanK

I am not sure if it is related to some sort of poisoning or bacteria.
All I know is this fish had the same mark on both sides.
Also had another one on the same day with the same markings.

OK so no more dead today.
I managed to get hold of an IBC yesterday and have cleaned, cut and filled it up with tap water. I will hopefully have my 4800 ltr pump running tomorrow with a venturi to start to degass the chlorine. I would really love one of the gurus to give me some info on if they think the few remaining goldfish would be OK to transfer into the new tank. I don't want to contaminate the new tank so what do you think.
I am planning on draining the bath and cleaning it out and also draining all the water out of the grow beds before connecting the new tank.
Does this sound like a good idea in your opinion.
I am happy to move the old fish into a smaller tank and start again in new tank if this is the best option. If this is the case I will let it run fishless until I am possitive the new system has cycled up again and then maybe get some Silver Perch.
Once again any advice would be appreciated. I do not want to have the same problems again with this upgraded system. Cheers

So I managed to get the pump running in the IBC today.
I now need to organise a cover so that the kids don't fall in.
I am going to use some charcoal polycarbonate sheeting to stop UV, rain and kids entering. All I need to do then is find a good cheap pump with a float so I can install this in the sump.