Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Most people are using pool salt, or sea salt....

Available at pool shops and supermarkets (IGA/Woolies etc)

Thanks Rup,

Been to Coles today but they didn't have any pool salt
and all the plain cooking salt had that anti caking additive.

Hope to get a lift tomorrow to B or Safeway.

Hi steve good to hear from you again on salt i use pool salt $15.00 for 20 kg on the berrys those 2 bushes you gave me have 10 on the bush and 20 on the ground

I just got solar water softener salt (sun and/or wind dried salt, not pellets or anything with additives) from the grocery store. It was less than $4 US for 40 lb (18.1 KG) It was less there than going to the big box hardware store.

This morning got a 25 kg bag of pool salt from B for A$5.78,
about the same price as you get it, TCLynx

dissolved 3 kg of it in a bucket and dumped into the sump.

Estimate about 1000 to 1200 l of water in the system.

The affected goldie still but barely alive, bit bloated, swimming close to the surface upright or at an angle upside down.

Sorry, but no picks,
daughter been away for two weeks with my camera but back tomorrow.

All the others very active, had no feed since yesterday until this afternoon,
the salt didn't have any effect on their behavior.

Never came to the surface to feed, always cruising close to the bottom,
so I can see only their silhouettes through the teacolored water.

Good, FF, I had all of them still struggling in the pots but today I binned
those two affected by mildew and planted out some of my bushes raised from seeds.

This year had some Hungarian "ALMA" paprikas (from Diggers) planted in the ground. Doesn't grow big, should be good for AP, but with only a dozen
goldies for now, did not have that option.

Steve, do you have a little airstone in with ur sick goldie?

No sick no more, buried her this morning.

No airstone but a small pump pushing water through a scoria filled filter
and dumping back into the tank.

sorry to hear that, hope the salt helps things.

Yesterday got delivered and expertly released 50+2 SP.
and today all are still very alive.

Was sooner that I expected, my backup power sys. isn't ready yet,
but tomorrow go to the hospital for the operation review and hopefully
will be allowed to drive again so should not take much time to get the parts needed to get it ready.

The water still gets stained by the cocopeat and as the SPs are keeping on the bottom,
they're hard to see, but at nite, under the torch light they're very active.

Also noticed that after putting the salt in, the goldies got more active,
swimming through all the levels, instead of keeping to the bottom as previously.

The PH quite low, around 6.5, tomorrow will get some shell grit to bury in the GBs.

a short update
took the first readings two weeks ago, my thermometer is kaput so no temperatures

DATE-TIME / Water Temp.-P H-HARDNESS -AMMONIA-NITRITE-NITRATE
15 / 04 / '08----------------- 6.8----2.88 mS---------0.1----------0---------0
27 / 04 / '08--------------------------2.32 mS

the Excel table gets scrambled when copying, that's the best I could do.

We had some rain last nite, overflow from the rainwater tank goes into a o/flow bluebarrels and from there
into the sump, so each time it rains the AP sys gets topped up or flushed and exes goes into the garden

That accounts for the reduced salt and clearer water

Have to find a way to take decent picks of the litle
took them at nite with a torchlight and flash.
The B/Barrel FT are green, not the water

The goldies not very happy, have moved the (well weathered) mallee root they enjoyed to graze on to the SPs,
but gave them couple black scoria rocks.

No losses yet, apart of that goldie

Its nice when you can see the fish

Looking good

Four new GB + the five used for F&D orchid watering sys. that will be eventually hooked to a tank
or IBC where the heap of scoria is.

Have to get more grommets (tophats), to finish the hoop siphons and overflow pluming.

the Back Up installed, the old floppy drive box contains a switchmode solar regulator
and a low voltage cutoff for 12v auxiliary.

It will be all housed in a bigger control cabinet when I get time to make it.

Whats your capacity and running times steve?

if referring to the Back Up, the panel can push up to 4 Amps, depends on the sun and battery charge
but the battery is only a small 26Ah deep cycle gel, for now,
used to be part of my camping gear, except for the inverter.

have a small pond pump "Rio Hi flow" thats permanently on, on main, circulating water into all FT to oxygenate
and the back up switches over if power cuts out

didn't try the running time yet