Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I started a new system approximately 2 months ago in Perth Western Australia. System is operating incredibly well and am now considering adding more fish to system.
I have two 1000L IBC fish tanks and one buried IBC sump tank. I have 5 bath tubs and two 200L blue drums as grow beds. Water is pumped form sump up to top FT then as it overflows water is drained to 5 bath tubs. Tubs overflow into bottom FT which overflows into 2 blue drums.
Having run the system for two months i am already seeing fast growth of plants and very steady and almost non existent readings of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. I would like now to add more fingerlings to add to the 50 fish already part of the system. The 80w pump runs constantly with a air pump additionally supplying air to both tanks.
Some observations are that the covered fish in the top FT are much more timid, slow eating and slow growing perhaps due to the constant darkness. Two fish were dropped into sump tank and have survived 2 weeks without food. These fish remain and seem to cope with the changing water levels. Buried sump tank is losing volume slowly due to the surrounding soil pressure. Water flow is not quite ideal as some bath tubs seem to receive more water than others. Blue drums dont allow for roots to make use of depth as the water never drains (design flaw).
I look forward to comments and suggestions.

Hi Coogan, and um wow! Is that IBC on top full of water? And are your growbeds only accessable by the ladder. That is probably a dumb question, maybe I'm not seeing straight.
Welcome to the forum Sorry for the rush, in the middle of cooking up all the veges we picked today, I'll be back.

Hi and welcome.

You have about 2400 litres of filtration (approx 400 per bath and 200 per blue barrel).

You won't want more than 3kgs of fish at harvest size per 100 litres of filtration. Assume harvest size is 500 grams that means you have enough filtration for approx. 140 fish, however I don't think you have the room with 2 x 1000 litre fish tanks.

Hi coogan and welcome to the best forum on earth!!!!

Yes the top IBC is full of water amd the GB's are only accessible by ladder.
Not the most convenient way to harvest but I want to make the most of my space.
On the weekend I purchased 80 more fish (SP) and pit in some more plants. I will watch closely to see how things progress.
Currently I am working on getting a timer set up for the pump but until then I am leaving the GB's constantly full. That is up to about 20mm below surface. I have completely drained each bath tub a couple of times in order to make sure there isnt a creation of anerobic areas. i have noticed that although nitrate, nitrite and ammonia readings are almost nonexistent from the test kits the Ph is rather high. It looks to be around 8. I was told by the SP guru in gidgegannup that the SP like it alkaline but i suspect that is too high. Any comments? Will it fall naturally as the system matures?
I have to also test the system when i get the timer going. I suspect that the 15min on 45 min off flood and drain method might not work in my case as dividing the flow into 5 bath tubs might mean that there isnt enough flow rate to fill each tank. i will see.

Also I would like to know if anyone had any suggestions for how I could build / buy a large aquarium with at least one transparent viewing window. I had thought of cutting a piece out of a tank and using perspex sealed with O-rings to create a window. Anyone else have a better idea? I'd be prepared to possibly buy an aquarium if it wasn't too dear but i haven't had any luck finding one around the 2000-3000L size.
Thanks in advance