Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A couple of notes:
Cool white bulbs work great. You do not need to spend more , save that money and get a second shop light.

If you have not allready, place the light 1-2 inch away from the plants. It is not to hot to use and will give them max lumens.

Rinse/soak rockwool cubes in a ph of 5.5 first before planting, they will drift up every time to 6.6 and greater.

If you have gravel/hydrotons/perlite you can seed right into it and skip the rockwool (Save that money).

Oh and most of all ...Show us more photos! We love photos.

Yep, putting the lights really close to the seedlings helps. Florescent lighting doesn't throw as far as well as other types of lighting. I've found that so long as the plants are not under a dome or plastic, the light won't burn them until the leaves actually are touching the tubes.

Now that you are gaining some experience, you can probably find cheaper methods for starting seeds if you want.

Leggy plants may recover just fine unless you have an over abundance. If you have too much and need to thin them anyway, then cull the weaker looking ones. Otherwise, leave them until or unless you have something better to put in their place.

Thanks for the replies all.

The rockwool cubes were great for plant starting. I had 100% germination. That was more than I had expected, though I only planted one seed per cube. They grew the way they did because I thought I had 4 or 5 days to buy and install the grow light. The lettuce disagreed though, and it was an inch tall at the end of day 3. The basil took longer to emerge, and is "normal" height.

The rockwool cubes I got were $10 for 98, and they seem to work okay. The cool thing is they are tapered, and will sit perfectly in the foam raft if the weather ever cooperates. I rinsed them in tapwater, and kept about 1/4 inch of fishwater in the bottom of the seedling tray. I did not adjust the pH, though the instructions said to..(I was out of lemons.) If I go back to the hydroponics store again, I'll look for a tighter-fitting lid on the tray.

New stuff. This morning I moved some basil and leggy lettuce in the rockwool cubes out to the gravel growbed. I buried the rockwool deeper for the leggy lettuce, so hopefully it will take the floppiness out of the plant. I also seeded daisies, corn, cucumbers, sunflowers, tomatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers into the bed. I wasn't sure what would germinate under those conditions, so I went overboard with it.

Tonight, if the weather and my washing machine cooperates, I will put the DWC raft in. This would be a good thing, as right now it is harvesting sunlight for the algae. I want to move some fish outside, but am afraid chasing them with the net will cause the mommies to spit-out the not-yet-hatched babies.

Any Ideas on low-stress fish transfer?

-ellie

Saturday I put in the DWC Raft and transferred the remaining seedlings into it. The lettuce seedlings in the garage had easily doubled in size since Wednesday, and the basil looked a lot sturdier. I also tidied up the deck a little.



In other news, this morning I fed the fish and checked on the plants only to discover... I have Corn! Five or six of the stalks popped through the gravel some time Sunday. I only planted these on Wednesday.. WOW! This farming thing is kind of cool. If you click on the picture you can see the sprouts running down the center of the gravel growbed.


We went to the Farmer's Market sunday as well, and I picked up a blackberry vine and blueberry bush. Those are probably safe from the aquaponics bug for now, but I might take a cutting or two or ten next year.

My water is obscenely green, and I haven't seen any fish since I put them in. I _have_ to get some shade on the tank ASAP. My son's b-day party is this weekend and I'd like to have the water clear(er) by then, but that probably won't happen.

That's all for now,
Fishfarmer Ellie

... I forgot to mention... We started Eggplant, squash, spinach, and oregano in rockwool yesterday. The spinach and oregano are to fill in some of the DWC holes, and the vining plants will (hopefully) grow off the back of the growbed and trellis the porch railing. They are under the bed germinating right now.. unless the kids found them that is.

To clear the water, aerate the water heaps and pump through the beds as much as you can - and shade.

If there is not anything supporting the sides of the beds, you may want to - once the plants get taller they well pull the barrels over.

Thanks for the tip on the growbeds. I never considered that as a possibility because they weigh so much.

On a sadder note, the "beta" fish, that is the one that tested the external system while the others tubbed around the aquarium, died. My assumption is that the pH swings from the algae plus the increasing ammonia levels plus the temperature swings from our nicer than usual weather plus the stress of adding two new fish to "his" tanks was more than he could take. I will run the tests tonight and I filled the vertical 55 gallon barrel for a water change tomorrow.

Following the adage, I only have kill 9,999,999 more fish until I'm an expert.

-ellie

This morning's water tests were quite surprising. Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, all 0, or too close to call. The pH was 8.4-8.6! The Ammonia and nitrites were much higher, so apparently the system has cycled. Yeah.



The Ammonia and nitrites were much higher previously, so apparently the system has cycled. Yeah. If I can figure out what is killing the fish, I can add more!

I did a 50% water change and noticed the smaller Tilapia hanging at the surface. His eyes were sort of glazed ver and he was rather pathetic looking hanging at the surface. He kept swimming into the outflow from the Flood and drain growbed, and this is a clue, I think.

Cause of death could be...
1. Low Dissolved Oxygen. I don't have a test for this. I added a bubbler to the tank and a fan blowing across the top. Hopefully that is a step in the right direction.
2. Something leaching from the Barrel. - ? Another water change or two may be prudent.
3. Effects of the High pH.
4. Territorial behavior from the other fish I added.

I'm discounting #4 as an option, since another fish looks ill and he was tankmates with the other transfer. Currently the plan is to repeat the high range pH test tonight and see if that is an effect of the Algae or something of that nature. Brenden is going to help me make a PVC spraybar for the growbed Outflow to increase the circulation. We'll also refill the water-change barrel for future use. Finally I WILL get something to block the sunlight from the fishtank tonight.. Even if it is just a cardboard box. The possibility exists that it is a parasite or infection, but I lack the appropriate equipment and supplies to run cultures and stain the slides. Trial and error will have to do.

Here is a quick DIY. Air bubbling out of the end of a hose is better than no aeration, but an airstone is a lot better. More bubbles = More surface area. If you don't have time to run to the store, take a length of Aquarium airhose and block one end with a pebble from the growbeds. Using a thumbtack, punch a number of holes into the airhose. Then zip-tie it to something heavy, connect the aquarium pump, and drop it in the tank. Viola! Instant airstone.

TTFN.
-ellie

Yep ... fish behaviour is tell-tale sign of DO problem.... remember that the algae will be robbing your system of DO as well Ellie... especially overnight... and warm/hot water can't hold as much DO as cold water either...

Shade your system, add as much aeration as possible.... if need be run your pumps continuously.... this will probably lower the water temp as well... allowing more DO saturation....

I'd be tempted to knock the feed down as well.... fish are probably stressing... stressed fish metabolise faster and consume more oxygen....

Need to clear that algae Ellie.... if it's "clumpy""... then net most of it out...

Unfortunately it isn't clumpy. It is the really fine stuff that just hangs in the water. During the water change I scrubbed out the DWC halfbarrel, and that had a lot of it on the walls, so it's partially gone. I have a bag of sand, I wonder if I should knock together a sand filter... The traditional kind, not a fluidized bed filter. Diatoms are too small and would flow right through it, but the larger Algae should stick. On second thought that would probably just cloud the water with the suspended fines from the sand. What to do, what to do..

The fish are off feed, and haven't shown any interest in the occasional pellet for a week or so.

Please let it be Low DO.. That I know how to fix.

-ellie

Both definite signs of DO Ellie.... but I really think pH 8.4-8.6 is probably pushing the limits, even for Tilapia....

Think maybe a 50% water change and the other measures above Ellie... increased DO... and the water change should bring your pH back a bit...

My small 4 barrel system had a couple of fatalites straight after I started it - wasnt sure what was causing it, so changed out all of the water with a tap left running over night as a trickle.

It may be something in the water, DO?? If your running constantly, I doubt it. It may be due to the ph of the water, what ph did the fish come from?

What is the pH of your source water? How hard is the water? And finally what is the media in the half barrel?

I have hard water from a limestone aquifer -when drawn from the well it will show a pH of 7 but after outgassing the CO2 the actual pH of the water is 8. Even with my hard water, in a system with pH neutral media, the pH will drop, however I have tons of shell in my system as media and the pH can no longer drop below 7.6 but when I do a major water change, the pH will be back up around 8 for a while.

Anyway, that is just a side note. If your high pH is from the algae, you will likely have a very low pH first thing in the morning and a high pH in the late afternoon or evening.

Definitely get air going for those fish 24/7 till things settle down.

Hi TCL. Our water is really hard. The whole state is made of Limestone and clay. My growbed is a "pea gravel", composition unknown. "Tap pH" unknown, I'll check.

The pathetic looking fish from this morning seems a little better. He is more active at least. I didn't try to feed them.

How long does it take to bounce back from low dissolved oxygen?

I'm getting ready to run a pH test now. If it is the same or greater than this morning then I _might_ add some vinegar or lemon juice. As yet undecided.

-Ellie

Out of the tap, our water is 7.6-7.8. The water in the tank was at or above the top of the high range ph test. Algae is definitely swinging the pH. the problem.

I shaded the tank as best as possible with a couple of tarps. I'll see if I can improve on it in the morning. I also have another 25 gallons ready to add in the morning.

Goodnight all.