Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everybody,
Been browsing for a while and decided to get into it.
I live in the Perth Hills and I'm a keen vegie gardener, still learning all the time but have a bit more success each year.
The heat of summer is the real challenge here. Hopefully some things will do a lot better with aquaponics.
Just setup a new system, 1000 litre tank and one grow bed 14 days ago. I plan to add another bed soon and some cover before summer.
If all goes well with this sytem I will setup up a 3500 litre system with 4 grow beds next using an existing in ground concrete tank.
I put 25 trout in the new system 9 days ago. Was going to leave it a few more weeks but the trout guy rang and said he had someone cancel and could deliver early to me so exitement took over and I said yes.
I used local pea gravel for cost savings, spent 4 hours cleaning it but the water is still cloudy after 2 weeks.
The pump I am using is a bit big for the job but I dont think it matters, it is a 4500 litre/hour fountain pump.
I bought a test kit on the weekend from BYAP and did my first water test. Amonia was at 2.0 - is this a problem?
How high should I let it get bearing in mind its a new sytem before doing a partial water change?
I was feeding the trout a tablespoon morning and night and have stopped since the water test. Probably should have been a tablespoon a day??
Noticed the water temperature ranges from 6 degrees in the morning to 16 degrees in the afternoon, I guess this is normal??
Good to see you guys are happy to answer any questions and I hear you like photos so hopefully mine will attach.
Cheers.

Welcome Oldute...

From what I have seen of the WA pea gravel, it looks like it has a reasonable amount of iron content, and I have seen it oxidise around the steel posts I have on my property.

This oxidation may cause you some issues, do a search on the forum on rusty bath tubs, and see what you turn up, I know some people had issues with rusting bath tub setups, and this may be something to keep an eye on.

Others have used blue metal, and there is a quarry in the hills, so cost is reasonable, and may be worth considering for the expansion (depending on how you go). Just order the concrete agregate type, as opposed to the road base, as it should already be reasonably clean. Nocky has used blue metal in his setup.

In regards to clearing up the water (and pump size), if you put a tpce on the pump outlet, and a valve you can put an offtake back to the FT, and create a whirlpool effect in the tank, this might help to swirl the water in the FT and separate out the cloudy material (likely clay). Also helps with salmonoid fish growth, of which trout are (a treadmill for fish ).

Those temperatures seem normal for this time of year to me for a fully exposed system.

What's the bottle jack in the pic for? Is they material too heavy for the stand and you need to prop the centre?

Hi Oldute, never can have too big of a pump, but at that head height it is probably running at 1500-2000 max, as always high ammonia is a problem but you should find it will come down, but 2 is high, check your nitrite level as well, PH should be around 7-7.5, no need to check nitrates at this stage as I think they will be 0 anyhow, but as long as trout are feeding all will be and look lively they should be fine, mine survived those levels but only that high for a day and then came down fairly quickly, no food for a couple of days and see if it comes down, if it comes down a lot then half rations, I avoided a water change by doing that, water changes upset the cycling of the water you have in already, but post your full test results and the Guru's will have the answers

Thanks. Couldnt believe it, I made my stands out of 75 x 8 thick angle (the bought ones are 75 x 5 thick) and they were sagging a bit once full. I thought it would only get worse so stuck an old bottle jack under it. Also the weight kept pushing the legs into the ground so this extra support took some weight of the legs. I had to jack it up all round and put old tiles under each leg to stop it sinking.
Under estimated the total weight being so heavy, lucky I had a few spare jacks.

I read somewhere that with a new system amonia may go up to 5 ppm before it drops. Anyone had experience with this? Would the trout survive that?

Trout certainly are lively buggers.
They really smash any insects that land on the water and the pellets for that matter.

Welcome oldute... that's a bloody big fish tank behind your growbed and sump mate...

It IS your fish tank... isn't it...

They may or may not survive an ammonia level of 5, but they would definately be damaged. Try to avoid getting it that high.

Yep, 5 is too high for any period of time... might need to water change it back to a safer level.... with water temps down, and if you're pH is between 7.0-7.6... a reading of 2 would be as much as you'd like to see...

Looking at the photo again it does look like a fish tank seeing as I painted the top bit of pipe green!
One day it might be my fish tank!!! But I might need a few more grow beds!!!

So is it fair to say if the ammonia gets to 3, then do a partial water change?
I think ph was 7.6.

pH 7.6... water temp 10-12 degrees... ammonia 3 is about max... definitely water change above 2 IMO...