Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Tell ya mate you're busy ... and to bring the wine and a bit of meat over to your place

Update -

Got a new pump for the blue barrel system , it now pumps up into the top ( 100L black ) GB in under 10 minutes ( it used to take 15 ), installed a new autosiphon in the top gb too , it works wonderfully .

the siphon kicks in within a minute of the water level trickling over , then screams down into the 2nd growbed

there was a bit of a problem there - the 2nd growbed is only 34 litres ...

Ive added a T in the drain line from the top GB , now it fills the bottom GB right to the top , so close to spilling over the sides that its not funny , but the mint plants love it

2 new IBC's aswell . once the one thats had propionic acid in is cleaned in a couple weeks , i'll slice the top off , flip it over as a GB mounted on top of the remainder ( 500L sump ) and use the other IBC as the tank

They look familiar
Looking good Boris

You planted MINT? I thought that was a no no in AP. Prepare to be overrun.

yeah , I planted a cutting in the first "system" I set up ( the one little tank , one plastic bucket ) and it went crazy , I was so happy with the growth that I didnt think too hard when planting it in my next system

still , its only quite small , if the roots get into the autosiphon I'll just have to do the hard work to fix it

Once the top gb has got enough bacteria in it and theres some tomatoes / capsicums or something , I'll rip the mint out & switch to lettuce or bok choi or something anyway

looking good boris,

look forward to seeing it all setup.

don't work too hard.

Hahaa , never do !

Just did some pH tests -

ibc with bore water / had agricultural molasses in it - 7.5 - 8 on the little pH colour chart

tap water - 6 - 7.5 , leaning closer to 7.5 in colour

ibc that had propionic acid in it , now full of tap water - 7.5 - 8 ( leaning closer to 7.5 ) , theres about 15 kilo's of natural lake salt in there dissolved . Im assuming that the salt raises the pH , otherwise the residual acid is somehow doing it , which would be a bit odd

4 days and I'll drain the propionic / saltwater ibc into the drain , wash it with tapwater , then fill it with tap water . Drop a pump in again for circulation and leave it for 3 or 4 days . Then I'll do a pH test on it comparing it against tapwater the same age , see what it shows up as

oh - and the blue barrel fishtank in the pics above is cursed - little air bubbler AND ehiem canister filter decided to die today . Should be fine though , its on its last cycle for the night & it turns over the entire tank and aerates it pretty good . Im sure the goldfish will survive till 10 tomorrow with the available oxygen , theyre as tough as nails

Boris,
You may already know this but it is something I experienced with my well water.

When I first fill a container with my well water and test it, it usually reads at close to neutral pH or 7.

If I put it in a system with aeration for several days, pH is up to 8.

Trick is, there is quite alot of disolved co2 in the water when it is drawn out of the well and this acts as an acid but over time with aeration, it is released from the water which (being drawn from limestone aquifers) is quite hard, alkali, and well buffered. This is the explanation the guy at Aquatic Eco Systems.

This seems to explain some of the pH readings I used to get in Hydroponics and my extreem struggles to keep the pH down where I wanted them. Using rain water helped for Hydroponics in my situation.

I don't know what your water stiuation is there, I'm in Florida, USA.

Suspect it's identical TCL.... Tony from WA and several others have noted the same phenomenon... and Perth is known for it's limestone aquifers.

What Rupe said. :ditto:

Welcome! I am sure you will do well. There is a lot of knowledge here.

here's a couple shots of todays effort ( after visiting the AP shop and getting myself an official BYAP stubbie holder , which is now being put to good use ! )

I cut the propionic acid ibc in half with a grinder ( and some safety glasses )

spent 3 hours in the sun smashing most of the wooden crate off the bottom with a crowbar ( man , why so many nails !? ) , leaving only 1 lot of wooden slats - this is to give even more room between the top of this section and the fish tank itself

flipped the top half of the frame over and cut the exposed "uprights" down by half , so theyre just over the top of the "lid" of the ibc , which is now a 33cm high growbed with a nice big black screw cap in the bottom to which I can fit whatever monstrosity of a siphon I come up with

got a mate coming over on wednesday to weld the cross braces into place ( I dont trust the bolts that are there completely ) , then weld the top half / growbed back on , at a 90 degree turn so that it sits across the top of the sump frame , rather than flush with the frame

now to measure and price up some nice decking to clad the thing with while Im waiting for the welding

oh yeah - and those bricks in the background are to go on top of the little brown brick wall in the back there , thats eventually going to be my main pond system , sealed with food grade SikaTite BE , the wall sealed with Ramset "rainaway"

the spare ibc & frame Ive got will be cut in half & used as two 500L GBs for that system , getting in the way of the clothesline slightly , as any good AP setup should do ...

I think that pond area is going to hold about 4500 litres , my math is horrible though , so it could be twice , or half that , I'll find out when Im filling it ..