Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here are a couple of photos of my new system. I put it togeter last weekend and it has been running for a week with just some gold fish and yabbies in the FT to help the system cycle. I intend on leaving it to do its thing, while testing 2 or 3 times a week, until cycled, after which ill stock with some barra(hopefully! if available).

I have been having some problems with even water flow to each grow bed. Sometimes one of the beds will be full to the overflow after just a few minutes of pumping while the other fills very slowly sometimes not even reaching the overflow after the 15mins of my pump cycle. Would this be a result of some problem in my setup?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Will

You should be able to adjust the ball valves for each growbed until both the growbeds fill up and overflow at approximately the same time...

Not sure if BYAP is still supplying the same pump for the two bed system, but the one I had have a MIN - MAX dial at the end of the pump.. Make sure it is at MAX.

yeah, i have been playing with the valves a bit, i was just wondering if everything looks ok in the system. I supose it will just take time to organise it all properly.

Yes the pump is on max

That looks setup fine, just adjust both valves slightly closed so they both get the same flow.

Make your adjustment and wait a few minutes..
Friction loss with bends and joins will vary the flow.
The GB with the most distance and bends will need the valve more open than
a closer one.

To minimize friction, try opening both valves all the way, then just adjusting the one that is getting too much flow. In theory that should work, but reality sometimes has a mind of it's own.

ok,

today
pH - 8
Am - 4ppm
Nitrite - trace
Nitrate - 0
Temp - 23.5 (middle of day about 32deg air temp)

Am i all ok?

I have the same setup. I am too also playing around with the flow rates. 1 is filling quicker and I have adjusted the valve. I do know though that the one that is slower has 2 extra holes in the drain and smaller holes in the fill pipes so I imagine thats why I have that issue. I will be adjusting those soon and then seeing how much different it is.

According to the chart, water temp of 24degC and pH of 8, ammonia is toxic at 0.4ppm .

You have 4ppm.

I know common goldfishes are pretty tough, and can handle high ammonia without much side effects. Unknowingly I have exposed them to 8ppm for a week or so and they are still alive today. Not sure about yabbies though.. I doubt they can handle high ammonia levels... In fact, it might be worth checking if there are any dead yabbies. Dead bodies contribute to an increase in ammonia levels.

Because you are cycling your system with fishes and yabbies, you will need to ensure that you mitigate against ammonia and nitrite poisoning...

For ammonia, stop feeding at 1ppm. If it keeps going up even after you stop feeding, a water change and a search for dead bodies in the tank may be necessary. Remove all dead bodies..

For nitrite poisoning, add salt to your tank to 1ppt (1kg per 1000L of water).

Ok,

tested me system after being away for 10 days

ph 7.6
am 0
nitrite 5
nitrate 5

I think that is looking ok now?

One other question,
How do people normally transport fish home when you buy them?

Not really okay yet, your nitrite is still high... cannot remember if you did add salt into your tank... if not, you should salt to 1ppt...

Depending on the size of the fish, small fishes can stay in a bag filled with air/oxygen for a while, bigger fishes in an esky with aeration all the way... the amount you can safely transport also depends on the size of the esky and obviously how much aeration you have...

i have salted once about 2 weeks ago to 1ppt

should i do it again now?

Nope... should be sufficient for now... if you have not dumped any of the water out after you salted...
Salt is only necessary if you intending on adding fish shortly.

I think you will see your nitrite drop quite soon. Sometimes increasing aeration might help the process... ie.. running your water pump continuously for a few hours...

Just a quick update on my system.

Things seem to be going well now, plants have started to grow, not really fast yet but seem to be mainly happy. The corn is a bit yellow and the tomatoes are taking their time (compare to ones planted in the ground at the same time). Should i add anything to help with plant growth?

Barra seem to be happy, feeding slowly.

Another update,

Plants seem to be struggling atm. Maybe its just the hot weather here in Perth but they dont seem to be growing anywhere near as well as the veges in my dirt garden so im thinking its not just the heat. Maybe lack of Nutrients, Iron or something else? Here are a couple of photos from today.
numbers -
pH 7.4
am 0.25
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 20
temp 26deg
Barra are feeding well though