Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Have them in a 200 litre aquarium Nick. I think part of the problem is that I started feeding them a larger pellet, which they can definitelly handle but didn't seem to like much. I expect there was a bit of uneaten food that has contributed to the levels.

BTW the fish that have died and the one that is sick seem to be quite badly bloated. Should I be worried about this. Is it possible that they actually have some sort of illness?

Stu - the problem is more the temperature. My aquarium is heated, but I am not going to try and heat the 2 outdoor ponds. I will have to wait until things warm up a bit. By next year I will have a greenhouse built (I hope). I will cycle the system using goldfish until things warm up and then chuck the perch in then. Murray's bed will join the system once I have the stand ready - which is only 1 weekend away if pull finger out, but really this is not a huge priority due to not putting perch in ponds.

Cool, I keep forgetting that even though you guys are up in Brisbane it is still cold overnight...

Regularly below 0 where I live Stu. We are about 6 degrees lower than the weather quotes for Brisbane, eventhough I am only 20 km from city.

VB, When you are ready to move the fish outside, i suggest dropping the temp in the aquarium as low as you can while still keeping the other fish happy (you do have other fish in there from memory?).

Then once you've given you goldies 4 weeks to cycle move the perch over in batches maybe a 1/4 per week. This will give the bac. a chance to "ramp up" to the new load.

Its what i did with my outdoor system.


Steve

The other fish in the aquarium are tropicals. Just have 3 clown loaches (2 of them are over 10 years old) and several bristlenose. What I mught have to do when the time comes is put the perch in 1 of the ponds, block the joining hose, put a heater in the tank and then drop the heat each day a bit until I can take the heater out. The heater would well and trully have its work cut out for it here at night, though mind you my aquarium is outside, but it is under roof and against wall in the entertainment area.

I'm going to get another 30 or so fish on the weekend, because I am scared that when spring comes there will be no fingerlings for a bit, and I will miss grow out time . Once I put these fish in the aquarium I will have to be very carefull. I think 1 strategy will be to feed them frugally - and not try and get too quick a growth rate out of them at that stage.

how many will that make in the aquarium?

You'll be tempting fate VB, i had to run the 200LT aquarium at PH 6.2 to keep the ammonia non toxic because i couldn't get the ammonia down with the existing biofilter. ammonia was 2PPM minimum. PLus had lots of Chloride dosed in there as nitrite was also high. The first time i had that many fish in there was with the silver perch, and an over night loss of power (and hence air) lost me all 44 of them.

Plus i was doing weekly 75% water changes. never even bothered testing for nitrates, but probably could have made my own fertilizer from it the herb patch looked like it was on "roids"

I'd hate for you to be posting a picture like EB's

You might be better off putting the new batch in the outdoor tank and just trying to keep the water temp at 15C or so. Bubble wrap the sides and put a tarp over the top if you have to. A 300W heater running 24/7 might just do it for ya.

Steve

This is one of the reasons why I want to have a grow bed, with clay balls, over the top of my fish tank. How long do you reckon it would take for the bacteria to migrate to the grow-bed. Can this happen through the water flow (which would be coming through the long standing canester filter, or do I need to take some media out of the filter and put it in the clay balls?

I reckon while they are quite small (and they will be if I get them from SEQFish) I should be right for a bit, provided I do regular water changes and don't feed them much

if you are looking for a good heater the eheim 300W are very good and they can heat up to 1000L. I currently am using one in my 500L tub and it is doing the job niecely, water is nicely warm to the touch even early in the morning. (costing me a fair bit though)

Yeh Nick - One of my attractions to the aquaponics is its sustainability. Now I realise that the pump is an esential part and that has to run on electricity, but I want to try and limit the electrical input to that. Of course this may not be possible in the beginning - so I will do what I have to. I already have a couple of heaters lying around, so am keen to use what I have. After my water change tonight the temp ont eh aquarium dropped about 7 to 8 degrees and its bloody cold tonight, so getting it back up would be a challenge. As result I bunged a 300 and a 150 watt heater into the tank to supplement the 300 watter already in there. Will switch off these extra 2 before I go to bed. Have not used these additional onesfor years, but seem to rembember that 1 of them would keep heating without switching off. Don't want boiled fish in the morning

yeah would love to have a green house or even just the space to have one. I know what you mean about cold tonight in brisbane, I am freezing at my house. Hope you have nice warm fish in the morning and remember to turn off your heaters to avoid fingerlings for breakfast. My fish love there heaters so much they sit just above it al the time, only moving to feed.

VB, There is always bacteria floating around in the water column, but personally i'd steal about a 1/4 of the media from the filter and put in under the top layer of your gravel. I'f you have a pouch of old carbon in your filter then that will do nicely!

As you said, be a little frugal with the feeding, especially for the first couple of weeks after you put the new fingerling in.

Yikes! I stress when my water temp drops 5C after a water change. I leant my lesson once when the tmp dropped about 12C, thats when quite a few of my fish got sick, It really lowwers their immune system when they get temp stressed. Now days i usually put a second 300W heater in the tank when i do a LARGE water change and feed the water back in SLOWLY via the hose, I usually do it over about 30 minutes minimum, that way the water has a chance to heat up and also the temp drop is not as sudden.

I'm not happy about having 2 300W heaters in the outdoor tank, but i do what i must for this winter

VB i would highly rec. some test kits if you are going to keep that sort of number in your indoor aquarium. Also familiarise yourself with the ammonia-PH relationship if you have not already done so.

Cheers

Steve

Steves right there is bacteria in the water. But it's HARDLY ANY. Because bacteria are naturally attracted to surfaces and they stick when they find them. To this end a gravel transference will speed things greatly.

I think also you're courting disaster getting more fish. To my knowledge, your filter isn't handling the load of your existing fish yet.

Patience, keeping the fish you have alive is more important than adding the ones lost back. They likely died due to lack of filtration and the problems associated. Save the fish money for greenhouse bits...

What can I say - I'm a risk taker. Tho honestly I reckon my main problem has been neglect. I should have done a water change a couple of weeks ago. THe signs were there for a week or so.

Was definitelly a water quality issue as believe it or not the biggest of my perch - which I actually reported as dead (because it was as good as) started recoverring within a couple of hours of me making the water change and is now clost to being fully okay. Just still looks a bit sluggish - which is a major improvement on being on side, unable to move, rigourmorticed (sp?) and gaping for air.

I will add a 15 litre expanded clay ball grow bed to the tank tonight and put some of my existing filter medium in this as well. I reckon if I am strict with water chnages etc I will be able to cope with the extra fish. Daily water changes for the first week will be in order I reckon.

Wish me luck, call me foolish or both.

VB, as long as you're willing to do the water changes, you should be ok. I got sick of it so heated the ouside tank and moved them out. There is only so much rationalising i can do about the water usage

Just watch the temp shift when you do large water changes. The BEST way is to have a 44 gallon (approx 200lt) drum with a small aquarium pump in it. then you can age the water for a day or so, while heating it to tank temp. then you can dump the water and pump in straight from the drum. I'm fairly sure no aussie states use chloramine in favour of straight chlorine yet, so gassing off of the chlorine is very easy, just put an air stone in there while heating the water overnight. Job done.

Steve