Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think you will find there is only one hippy and he is one of a kind. Actually he is now oficially the hippo, by a slip of the tongue. But it fits because he gets to lug around the hydroton and basque in the photographic glory.

sure beats lugging around gravel - which is lucky because he looks a skinny bugger. Might need to get him on the fat bastard diet

the ap gods have been at work and i would expect to see the system fully stocked with some silvers by the end of the week. hopefully another happy ap camper to be.

can't wait to see some pics when they're in.

Tell me about it!!!!!

AP

Maybe a little jealous, but I reckon that the planing, scrounging, building, rebuilding, learning, tweeking, rebuilding again was half the fun and very much part of the learning process.

Are you using timers on these systems for flood and drain?

Good on you mate.
jim.

Yes Skygazer, We use timers and set them for 15 minutes on 45 minutes off.

Nice and sunny. The team pictures remind me of a ZZTop video - beards and legs.

The beautiful clear water has sudenly gone a thick green colour almost overnight. We can't see the fish to know what they are doing but they have gone off their food. Today I've caught 2 of them sunbathing on the surface and offered them an opportunity to swim in some garden bed soil!

I've just tested the water (API Freshwater Master Kit I found recommended on this site):
Temperature 27°C
pH 8.8+
NH3/NH4+ 0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite 0.5-1.0 ppm
Nitrate 5-10 ppm

History of what we've done:
21 Dec System installed, filled with rainwater and veges planted
22 Dec Added some Seasol to the water
23 Dec Scattered some Iron Sulphate on the water
24 Dec Added about 10 very small goldish to the small pond
27 Dec Added approx 100 silver perch fingerlings to the big tank
Over the next week or so the water went greenish then suddenly became clear again
5 Jan Faye seeded the beds with bacteria from another system and we builta shadecloth cover over the top of the big tank and placed a small log in the small pond so that frogs can get in if they so choose
9-19 Jan We were on holidays, neighbours were feeding the fish. Continued our regime of one handful a day

The neighbors say that the water was clear up until about 17 or 18 Jan then started going green. The fish were snapping the food off the surface on the 18th when they were fed.

On the 19th we got home. The main tank is so dark we can't see the fish. Tried scraping the bottom with a net to see if there were dead one there but found nothing. The goldfish in the small tank look healthy (when we can see them at low water in the small tank). Everything is coated in thick green algae. The food in the main tank was still floating on the surface (approx 8 hours after feeding)

Today (20th Jan) I have found 2 dead fish on the surface and. I added a smal amount of rainwater to the tank in the morning but the whole system is very full so couldn't add much. In the afternoon I tested the water and results are above.

Hopefully I can get some informed opinions on what is happening

Guessing algea bloom, causing a depletion of O2. Has your ph been the same from the start? You could lower it slowly a bit each day or just let it drift down naturally. From your nitrite and NH3 reading system is cycling yet.

Hey Alan,

Stop feeding.... The fish will be fine for many days without any feed, and uneaten food will cause problems. pH is 8.8? Thats rather high. The deaths are probably as John suggests, lack of oxygen because of the algae, and also possibly uneaten food. Check there is no uneaten food sitting in the bottom of the tank, then to help fix the oxygen, double your pump timing for a while by setting the pump to go every half an hour, especially in the late night/early morning..

I'm interested to learn more about your pH, that was rain water from your roof isn't it? Very strange that it's so high.

pH varies through the day. Test morning and night, u will get slightly different figures. Aquariums sell pH down stuff, dunno if it is recommended for fish intended for eating.
System is nearly cycled, just need to keep the air up and the food down for a few days, like GF and EB said. Lovely looking setup, welcome and good luck. The water will clear when ur system is fully cycled. At that time you may have nitrate readings but ammo and nitrite will read zero and all will be well with the world.

It is odd you are getting nitrate readings at all if you have plants in the system. I would guess a sudden spike in nitrates has caused the algal bllom and the resulting O2 depletion....

1. Stop feeding
2. Increase Oxygenation
3. COVER!! Try and block the sun for a few days to reduce algal growth.
4. Add more plants.... You want to suck up all that excess nitrates...

Tim - most of our systems tend to run with nitrates. Mine - before I ate most of the fish - ran at between 80 and 160 most of the time. I agree that covering the tank is definitely the thing to do at this stage as well as stopping the feeding till you can be sure everything is okay again. Increase DO as suggested by increasing pumping cycles and adding an airstone (unless you already have one).

Have a look at the healthy fish are happy fish article in the 1st edition of the BYAP Mag for some info on the affect of algae on pH and on DO.

8.8pH is a big worry. Check that again in the mornign and let us know what it is. If you can also test it at mid day and again at sundown and let us know what the reading is.