Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,

Long time lurker first time poster, actually the first forum I have joined.... So be nice.

What a great site & well of information for the budding aquaponicists of the world. (That a real word ??)

I first heard about aquaponics a couple of years back & at the time thought what a wonderful idea, fresh fish & veg for the family. But knew, I would probably never get around to it, besides i have never had a vegie patch or even a goldfish so it all seemed a bit too hard. Anyway last month I found myself with a week to spare so I frantically trawled this site & others, in particular The IBC Of Aquaponics, for any information I could get my hands on. After much research (in hindsight- not enough) I felt confident enough to have a go .... Well that and the fact I am like a bull at a gate when I get something in my head.

So after gleaning what info I needed I put together an IBC/Barrel system which includes:
1. 800 ltr fish tank (5 x 100mm rainbow trout)
2. 500 ltr sump
3. 300 ltr grow bed (not in use yet).
4. 2 x 100 ltr grow beds (filled with hydroton & herbs, vegies)
5. 2000 ltr p/hr pump running 24/7

It's a constantly flooded system & has been running now for approximately 2.5 weeks Vegies are going ok apart from a few yellow leaves - which I think is from nutrient deprivation. The trout seem to be doing ok as well & have grown since I put them in, I have only been feeding them what they will eat once a day, to prevent an ammonia spike.

Not sure this is the right place to ask questions ... But will give it a crack anyways. In the 2.5 weeks of cycling the only change in the water tests is that the ammonia is slowly rising. In all this time the nitrates and nitrites have remained at zero ???

Here is the results from today 30.04.13 .... The fish & vegies went in 11.04.13.

Ph - 7.0
Ammonia - 1.0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Water Temp - 14 c

I have tried stress Zyme, added about 150ml in the past week & also wrung out an established aquarium filter (from local shop) into a bucket of water & added to system.
I am wondering is the Water Temp too low to establish the bacteria ?

If there is anybody still reading please HELP !!!

Will post in the members systems topic when I work out how to upload photos.

Cheers
SD2

Welcome to the forum.

With low temps like that it can take about 6 weeks to cycle. How long have the trout been in?

agree with Charlie. Im from Adelaide to, will take 6 - 8 weeks to cycle in this type of weather

Hope you are not sick of reading yet D2. Download the first edition of the Backyard Aquaponics magazine which is FREE from here http://www.backyardmagazines.com/shop/b ... edition-1/
You can read the article happy fish are healthy fish as well as the nitrogen cycle, as they wil help you understand as you go through the process.
Forget package products that claim to do magic things as nature is pretty good at doing what is required al by itself, with the disclaimer "it takes time so please have patience".
You are on your way so just wait and watch. We would love to see photos of your system too!

Thanks for your speedy replies, much appreciated. Settles the nerves a bit, it's just a waiting game now.

The trout have been in for over 2 weeks.

Could the fact i only have 5 trout @ 100mm long in a system that contains over 1400ltrs of water, be contributing to the slow cycling ?

Cheers
SD2

Thanks for the link Faye will download & read up tomorrow, and also work on getting some photos uploaded.

No It will take its own time, dont hurry it and dont add stuff to change it. Let it go......

If the trout have only been in for 2 weeks why do you think it is slow cycling? My system was about 4 weeks after the addition of fish, natural cycles take time.

Read the magazine today some great info in there, it's helped to settle my nerves about the cycling.... Will just relax & let it happen.

Posted my system on the members page if you wanna check it out

Will update with some more snaps shortly