Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well...the glue has dried and my small system is flowing...and NO LEAKS

Thinking of putting a few seedlings in today - nothing too hungry though.

Thanks everyone for your indirect help through the amazing info on this forum!!!

Cheers
A

Yaaay! Amanda! Now for followed by followed by

Nice. What fish you going to be running?

SP...all 12 of them - going to cycle with some feeder fish. Hoping to get them in next weekend if I can get the pH right, its 7.6 atm

On the stocking density....I have read very conflicting information. Somewhere said 1 fish per 20 l grow bed (10 fish) and somewhere else says 6kg per 100 l fish tank provided you have a 2:1 gb to ft ratio (48 × 500gm fish). So I was thinking of stocking say 25 SP...thoughts because that is a big big difference?

My ft is 425 l and gb is 200 l.

Cheers
A

Unless the fish are cheek to tail, size of FT isn't all that important - what matters is how much fish waste can be processed. So the important measure is how much GB you have. It is the volume of the GB that counts, not just the area. Bacteria grow all through the media. And for the media it is the surface area that counts - smooth pebbles have much less surface than (say) scoria.

Note you can supplement GB's with filters. There's a very simple solids filter (either swirl or radial) and a moving bed biofilter you could use. The solids does what it says - filters solids. The biofilter creates a whole lot more colony space for the bacteria - they mostly use bioballs which provide a very good surface area-to-volume ratio.

Sweet, thanks Journeyman.

Moving beds MUST use K1 or other such light media - bottle caps maybe.
Bioballs wont be floaty enough for a proper moving bed.
That isnt to say you cant simply fill barrels and make filters that arent "moving bed".

Some types of bioballs float, but if the bioballs are in a container with air flowing through it as well as the water, the effect is still that of a moving bed. It's not the floating that makes it work, it's the constant movement along with large surface to volume ratio.

In a design with the bioballs in a smaller container there are a couple of advantages - one is the balls move throughout the entire container rather than just a convection involving the top few cms. Another factor is, if positioned right, the smaller container top also acts as a weir and can do further filtering into the bottom of the container.

Thinking back, I think I recall Paul saying kaldness is neutral buoyancy or even slightly negative until it is colonised - I could easily have that wrong way round, it was many months back.

Hiya Amanda, your set up looks great. couple of small things, you will need a cover for the ft to keep the fish in and the light out. IMO feeder fish like goldfish from pet shops and the like can carry unwanted pests and diseases so cycling with an ammonia source is a good idea until you get your perch. In regards to the fish quantity, it doesn't hurt to under stock to begin with to get a feel for your new system ie oxygen levels and water parameters etc. You can always add more fish later if you like just as it's pretty much guaranteed you will be adding gb's. Having less fish, say 1 per 20l of gb is still going to feed your system and give you a greater buffer zone if something goes wrong. Not a good feeling pulling a dead fish from your system and if you can take measures to avoid this situation you should until you get comfortable with your new and addictive hobby.

Skeggley, youre awesome, thank you!! I am planning on covering the ft before I get fish because the birds up here will grab them, plus the fish like it dark. I was going to use untreated jarrah slats so I can remove some when i put in some floater pots.

Noted re the feeder fish; ammonia cycling may be better for me anyway because I am generally impatient and it will force me to wait and learn about the system hehe

meh, paul said bioballs wont work and i havent seen any that will float forever.
It is that they need to be neutrally bouyant, yes they do float a little and become more neautral as they get colonised.

Hi Amanda. your system looks great. Keep the updates coming as I have subscribed to this one.

Haha okay MarticC, I will post a new pic tomorrow...it has plants now I am having a few pressure issues - even though the pipework is level one arm into my gb isnt putting out as much water. Thinking I might need to reduce my pipe size to 20mm.

Haha okay MarticC, I will post a new pic tomorrow...it has plants now I am having a few pressure issues - even though the pipework is level one arm into my gb isnt putting out as much water. Thinking I might need to reduce my pipe size to 20mm?? Any suggestions? It can vary between the left and right arm that doesnt put out much water.