Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, some of you have probably seen posts by me already

A bit about where I am from and where I am now.....

Moved from Tauranga NZed to Perth WA nearly 3 years ago. Recently relocated to Outback country of WA, small town called Laverton

Climate wise its hard to keep plants going out here the traditional way, cant wait to get it all setup and going.



One of the many retired open pits out here that have filled up. Fish?? Yabbie?




No shortage of gravel either (excess dumped) millions of tonnes out here anyway.

Sooo I got caught onto aquaponics when I moved here, however last few rental agents havent agreed on me having it. Finally in a place where I can do it, and where my family and myself need fresh veges.

This is an old system design I had prepared for when it was all suppose to go up. Im sticking with it, only change will be an inline swirl filter and an extra half blue barrel GB next to the other one ontop of the FT.

Going for Perch in the tank, and yabbies in the 2nd sump.

Testing the gravel pictured before and other available ones. So far so good with the vinegar test.


This is where its all going. The corner bark is a bit higher than the concrete, this is where the FT will be going. Taps and powerpoints close by

So the cutting has begun


Just as a tip, I've seen a lot of people cut the plastic liner after pulling it out, with great difficulty. I keep it in the cage until its cut all the way around. It hardly moves or wobbles about. I had some help too

I told him to put on safety glasses, and this is how he came back


Sump IBC all cut up, grinded, sprayed. I left the back and front steel portions on to stop anyone from sliding the GB off once its in place.


Drawing out and cutting the "Lid" to the fish tank

Everything is all cut up. Just need to get plumbing supplies. The B warehouse is 3 hrs away, not so easy to stop in

Will be running a 5000l/h pump to run the system. Leaving some pressure for expansion. Besides can never have too much.
Still need to get the gravel for the beds. At the moment im cycling through the strawberry towers using a 1000l/h pump. By the time the gravel comes in and the plumbing is up, there should hopefully be a colony of bacteria set.

Went spotlighting for Marron, heaps of it out here

So since the last post a few seeds have shot off to a good start. I have transfered some of the squash to the system. Also purchased a water test kit, portable air pump and some fish food pellets.
On the first tests done I noticed that the pH was really high, the ammonia has kicked off, and the Nitrates are really high too. I'd blame the Seasol for the Nitrates. Surely after a week and a half my system has not cycled??
With the high pH I tried giving the tap water a test, sure enough its a match.
I know its a broad subject, but can anyone share some opinions on bringing that pH down??
I dont have good access to any "local" shops, closest city is nearly 400kms away.
I know theres acids, prefer not to use them.....and Ive seen people talk about using bubbles/airpump/oxygen to bring it down.

Any help would be appreciated. I know its a new system and pH is normally high to start....but seeing as my tap water is high im going to need to look at ways of getting it down before adding topup to the system in time.

Cheers

Test:


System pH:


Tap Water pH:

Looking good Battz!...

In regards to the high pH and adding acid etc, I haven't got time to go into it, got to get a coupla parcels to the PO before 5pm, but go to the "FAQ's" page of the website you ordered the test kit and fish food etc from, there is a link there titled "The pH in my aquaponic system is high, how can I reduce it?"... have read... or you could search "Hydrochloric acid, carbonates, Top-up" in the search bar here, you should get something useful.

Cheers!

Hi BatzNZ, mate Ph appears normal for your stage, i wouldn't worry about it for now. The bacteria you are trying to grow through the cycling process like hi ph anyway. The Nitrates are interesting but that means you can plant away, and the Nitrates are not toxic until around 180 ppm anyway, so the sooner you get plants in the sooner they will lower the nitrates.
If you must buffer down the ph later down the track, use phosphoric acid but as i mentioned, its not an issue at this stage, wait until cycled and re-assess. You will be looking for the nitrite spike and once the nitrites settle again, you will be pretty much cycled.

I wouldn't consider 8.6 to be normal. High 7's through to low 8's are common initially, but 8.6 is higher than most experience... and definitely not conducive to good plant growth.

At 8.6 pH just about all trace elements will be unavailable to your plants, and even some of the major elements will be starting to become unavailable.

If you have no fish or critters in the system Battz I'd be using the opportunity to add HCl acid and bring the system down to (and maintaining) a pH in the mid to high 7's, don't go any lower than 7.5, because as Kitacooch suggested, the bacteria prefer the pH slightly alkaline.

Also, Phosphoric acid is far more expensive than Hydrochloric acid and harder to get your hands on, especially in your situation. I can't recall whether Laverton had one or not, but if there is a local hardware then they should have HCl acid. The by-product of using Hydrochloric acid is Chloride (salt) in the water, which will be beneficial to the fish when you add them. Whereas Phosphoric acid will add Phosphorus to your water, an excess of which can lead to an algal bloom, especially at this stage when there aren't any plants in the system to help absorb it.

I would have made the Ph at 8.2? am I colour blind?

I have measured my tap water higher than that

You're not color blind, don't panic...

Cheers for the items Yabbies, and thanks....its my first setup and Im taking it as it goes
Funny, I went "window" shopping on the site after the post and skimmed across the FAQs.


I dont have any critters yet, on the list though are crustaceans....will the HCL acid be at all harmful to them in time??


Sadly there isn't much out here, and with acid being a form of corrosive im not sure if the trusty postie will bring it in from Kalgoorlie, Ill have to look into it if I cant scrimmage for it out here.

Thanks for your help all

My pH was off the charts when I first set up (not that long ago) but it dropped after about 6 weeks of it's own accord, I didn't add anything to the water. That lake looks inviting.

Yep I think its just another case of being impatient for immediate results haha. All good things take time so I guess its going to be a waiting game. I will test in a few days to see if the system is atleast slowly dropping in pH. Ive transplanted a few squash seedlings into the system to hopefully soak up some of the Nitrates.

I havent had the opportunity to hop into one of the many formed lakes out here, I have been spotlighting at even more and found more Marron.
Might try and setup a hospital/quarantine tank asap to house them before adding to the main.

I got excited when I saw your big lake, and the piles of gravel.

I think you need to go bigger

Hi there, noticed in your pics that it looks like you have used the top of the IBC frame in turned it upside down for you GB frame. I did exactly the same and found there wasn't enough support once full of gravel and water. You may find it will sag somewhat over time. I was able to use some mesh I had to give the base more support