Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think that nurtient take-up graph that was posted showed that iron is taken up very poorly at pH8 - so you may well be right timmy.

Well, I have had my first real failure.

All my SP are dead as well as a couple of goldfish. The remaining goldfish are touch and go.

Not long after my last post re the alkalinity of the water, the water went all green. I did tests of the water and the Ph was still a bit alkaline (seemed to have come back down though), the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates were all ok, (0, 0, .5 respectively) so I was not sure what was going on. I also notices that that the fish were no longer showing near the surface.

Anyway I went out today and one of the Goldfish was on the surface and looking like it had a little slime on his body. I tried to net it to get a better look but it dived down so I couldn't see it. Next cycle for the GBs I waited until the water was at its lowest then tried running my net around to get it and my net brought up a dead fish.

I pumped out a large portion of the water and found all the SP were dead. No apparent sign of what was wrong. Judging my the condition of them they have not been dead that long.

I netted all the GF and put them into a bucket. I took the bucket down to the local fish store and they said that the slime was the "stress coat" coming off. Looks like the moving of the GBs and the associated changes to the water has been fatal to my fish.

I am trying to keep my GF alive but am not hopeful. I have emptied the tank completely and am starting again. Clean fresh water and a couple of days for it to re-establish itself then I will start again with more feeder goldfish.

We live and learn.

S

How have your temperatures been Simon... up round 30?

Could be that the green algae bloom (quite common after rain followed by warm/hot weather) and your high temperatures have combined to snuff the oxygen from the water....

What were your pumping cycles/times??

I agree, the algae would have sucked the O2 right out of the water and the SP died first since they don't have that goldie toughness.

Great idea if sealing open end barrels, as they are cheaper for me, i didnt think of that

I would have thought that if there was an O2 problem then I would have seen the GF gasping at the surface.

As it is, I have an 8 minute cycle every hour that has the overflow from the bucket flowing back into the water. I am confident that that would have created sufficient oxygen. The pump sucks water from the bottom of the tank and the flow would have oxigenated at the top. Surely if there was a problem with the oxygen then they would have been congregating closer to the surface. As I mentioned earlier, they were doing the opposite and seemed to be gathering at the bottom of the tank.

I am thinking that they had issues related to the sudden change to the Ph.

All of the goldfish have curled up their toes (or fins) and died as well. Not surprising if they were already suffering from stress then suddenly taken out of their tank and placed into a bucket. Ah well, have to go fish shopping. I think I will get 20 goldfish feeder fish and stay with that for a while.

S

bugger

Mate, you've had every thing thrown at you in the last couple of months...

Even the wrath of God ..... whos toes did you tread on

Hi all,

Have not been around the forum much for a while, but about to get back into it more. Thought I would give you an update on what I have learned and some of my thoughts.

System has been chugging away without too much stress for a while now.

I have 20 gold fish and 4 SP in there at the moment.

I have a lid on the tank now so the water is staying nice and clear. Ph is stable, Ammonia zero, Nitrite zero, Nitrate hovers around the .5 mark.

During summer I had lots of problems with caterpillars eating my plants. Also a constant attack from the grasshoppers.

A few times I have had my over-flow pipes blocked with roots which has resulted in overflowing Grow Beds. Murphy's law says that it has to happen when I am not around so I only find it when the water has flown out. Fortunately I have the float switch set up in such a way that, when there is an accident, the float switch stops the water from pumping out the last quarter of the tank so the fish have survived.

I have had problems with the pipes which deliver the water to the grow beds block up. Each pipe has a tap on it so I can control the flow. It turns out that those taps had a small grid across them and debris which was getting sucked up by the pump was getting stuck there, blocking the flow.

I had to use a chisel to remove the grid and devise a method of removing the end plugs off of the pipes so i can flush them.

Currently growing in my beds are:

Basil
Spring onions
Chives
Cucumbers
Strawberries
Capsicum
Eggplant
Lettuce
Cape gooseberry

I am having trouble with slow growth. I will be adding photos to this update, and there are two showing the lettuces growing in the beds on the balcony. They are over a month old and are only small. I was stumped for a while, but I think I know what the problem is. Not enough nutrients.

When I look at everyone elses phenomenal growth, I was getting really annoyed. Why were mine not growing as well. There was always Nitrates so they were getting enough nutrients.

Then I noticed a link in one of these forum posts regarding signs of deficiencies. It finally occured to me that my plants were not getting sufficient nutrients other than Nitrogen. I was already adding the cleated iron so I didn't understand why.

I think I know what it is. The growing media. I am growing my plants in Blue metal gravel. Research on the internet has lead me to believe that this gravel doesn't have a lot of mineral content in it. As a result, the additional vital minerals that plants require are absent from the system.

I went down to B and picked up a "Complete Trace Elements" product. I have been adding very very small amounts and watching the fish for any changes, as well as watching the plants. The plants have been showing an increase in growth and the fish show no signs of distress.

I have also been adding small amounts of Seasol and a bit of Charlie Carp.

In future I am going to be more selective of what growing medium I use. Ideally I will use a combination of different mediums in an attempt to ensure that there are the elements present.

One of my grow beds has a small leak. Initially I planned to shut that bed down and fix it, but then we had a huge downpour and some not so smart frogs layed their eggs in a body of water which I knew would dry up fairly quickly. So I collected all the tadpoles and have been raising them in a large container. Every time the system floods, the small leak drips more water into the tadpole tank. Every few days I bail the water out of the tadpole tank back into the fish tank. I figure that it is adding nutrients as well. I am also helping the local frog population.

I have had a green tree frog which had taken up residence in one of my overflow pipes. I was hoping to take a photo of him to post here, but would you know it, when I go out there with the camera today, he was nowhere to be seen.

Wasps have built a nest on my PVC pipes. My wife wanted me to get rid of it but I refused. Far as I can see, the wasps will probably predate on the caterpillars so they are more than welcome. Only problem is when my pipe separates, it can be a bit tricky reattaching it. I have not been stung yet (touch wood) but I suspect that it will eventually happen.

Anyway, that is a bit of an update.

Photos to follow.

Some more photos.

I have covered the GB with shadecloth. It looks a bit ratty, but one of the challenges is that I am in a rental property so I can only make temporary structures.

Here is a photo of the mineral trace elements that I am adding. I have also added a photo of the Cape Gooseberry fruit. I was hoping that they would grow and they seem to be pretty happy in the AP system.

Hey Simon... good to see you back... and to hear that things are still ticking over....

Thought you might have thrown your hands in the air in dispair and gone down the pub for a few months

I did!

They call it Cricket season!

Trying feeding a bit more and get the nitrates up for more growth