Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

my first thought when you said ph pen was "has calibration been checked?"

i dare say if its metering your tap water at 4.9 (and you still have teeth left) then it may be out of cal.............

in which case i predict that when you test your water (use both low and high range kits) it will come in at about PH 8.2

drum roll...............................

Well you guys are right. out of cal. Will calibrate when buffer solution gets here.

anyway. I tested with my kit this afternoon, with both high and normal tests and it shows 7.4 on both test. well 7.4 on the high test, and between 7.2 and 7.6 on the lower test.

So should I leave the shell grit in, or take it out?

Leave it in, will dissolve as required.

Agree - leave the shell grit in so that it will continue to buffer...better than putting it in when the pH is way down at 6.4 or so and try to get it back up to neutral

cal your meter to PH 7.4 with system water. then you can use it until your buffer arrives.

i assume that its a single point calibration? if so then 7.0 to 7.5 would be the best place to cal anyway

Fish day at the co-op is this coming tuesday.

How many Channel Catfish should I be looking to start with Until system is cycled? I believe the ad said 6"catfish.

Will calibrate pen to water ph next test (this afternoon) Didn't have a small enough screwdriver to set it yesterday, and then it may not be correct, but at least it should tell me if it is rising or falling drasticly.

Later,
Steve

Oh, and when is a good time to start planting some stuff in there? should I wait till it is cycled completely, or can I throw some seeds in anytime, and just not expect much production till the nitrates start to rise? Is that how it id done, just throw some seeds in there and hope they don't flood away?

Gosh I'm such a newby.

Thanks for all your patience, for I will learn.

check the seeds in and dont expect too much show until the nitrates arrive

Todays test are the same as thursdays, except temps. amb is 67.5 water is 73.8

I put about an 8" bass in there. that should spike the NH3.

Bass comited suicide by jumping out of the tank . Guess I need to make some sort of lid for my fishtank. Got a liner for one of my wood crates. Should make a good 112 gallon sump/crawfish tank

Most fish jump Hence most of us cover our tanks with something to bounce them back down or if one has a huge tank, they just don't fill it up as much leaving the sides high enough over the water level to keep most fish down in the tank.

Those crates look like great grow beds! What are the actual dimensions? My beds are really just plywood with some 1X4 framing around the top and bottom of the sides to give something to fasten to and help keep the sides from bowing out. Are you planning to set them on the ground and then sink a sump into the ground? Great find!


As to your cycling, have you done a check of your tap water beyond just the pH? It would be good to know if your water has traces of Nitrate, ammonia, or Nitrite all on it's own. There are some places in this country that well water does have Nitrate in it due to pollution from fertilizer run off. I wouldn't really expect that in TN but it would be useful to know. How long after you added hummonia, did you do that first test?

First test was done almost a week after Humonia addition.

Will work on a lid tonight just for safe measures, I saw a fishing show saturday actually talking about fish that jump, and why. Catfish don't jump so should be ok, but will install lid anyway.

I am going to put one on a stand for a grow bed, the other I intend to fill with water and a couple inches of gravel in the bottom for crawfish, and sump. this tank will just be sitting on the ground as well.

Crate sizes are roughly 3.5ft X 5ft, 1ft deep.
Figures to almost 131 gallons. If I figure on 25% of that being gravel, and the fact I won't fill completely, I reckon that will add 97 or 98 more gallons of water to the system. This should help with system stablity should it not?

Will be testing water again this afternoon, hopefully with differant results, but we will see.
Will also test water straight for the faucet to see how close it is to the system water.

Later,
Steve

HSM

So I drained my Fishtank to instal my stand pipe drain so it would be CHIFT, and first thing my fittings didn't work, so had to re engineer it, go back to town and buy new fittings. then when I got it back together I pumped the water back into it. Wouldn't you know the dang thing leaked, so I had the drain the water back out into a temporary tank (what is gonna be my sump). So for the time being the minnows, and my turtle (his name is Slip, and he is a slider, red eared variety) are in the sump/crawfish tank (no crawfish yet), withe the pump for aeration. The rest of the system is just sitting there waiting to be turned back on.

The good news is I did get to test out my standpipe drain from the tank to the sump, and it worked. Also I found two small sprouts in the sump when I was putting the water back into the fish tank. I threw them into one of the growbeds. Don't know what they were. I hope they were some of the arugala seeds I threw in that had fallen out of the packet.

If they are the seeds I threw in there, what should I do next time so they don't drain into the fishtank?

Needless to say, I didn't test my water tonight. Will test it tomorrow when I get it put back together, and the catfish go in.

Yes I know it is too early to be putting fish in there, but worst case scenario I have to do some water changes, which I am fully prepared to do if the need arises. And it is only ten small ones.

FYI, catfish can jump, I have channel catfish and I did fine one on the ground beside my tank a while back. The tank they are in doesn't have much side above the water level so that one didn't have to jump far but he did jump. My tank is now completely covered with either the lid or netting.

Having a cover or netting also protects your fish from predators and a dark cover protects from too much sun causing algae blooms.

Put your small seeds into some cotton wool, then plant them

Yep, cotton wool works a treat but if you don't have that handy, a bit of paper towel will work too. You can even make the bit of cotton or paper long enough to reach down to the depth where there is moisture and yet keep the seeds shallow and they will still get enough moisture to germinate.