Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah. I am not very happy with my 'water dispensing' yet. I might need to put valves on to fine tune the flow...

Cool. is it like a fishie whirl pool. Can't wait to see it running.

Hahaha, I like that Dufflight. Maybe I should have called my system 'the fish jacuzzi'

Ok so the fish Jacuzzi is cranking. Had some trouble finding hydroton in Brisbane, tried wallyworld, a landscaping place and found a hydroponics shop (but by the time it was found, it was shut). So ended up going with some crushed quartz. Also fiddled with the grow beds (tried putting the syphons at the bottom - so that the grow beds would drain better, the syphons seem to break better as well). Replaced my 'little nails' with some screws, and went a bit more extreme with the wire (also put in a back up wire in case the main fails - not in picture though).

Everything is cycling nicely now, and the water seems to be clearing (could be my imagination though).

So whats next, I used tank water to fill my aquarium (only 13L all up). I have a strawberry plant growing in the ground, how should I transplant this into my system? Also, I read about kick starting the system with seasol?? Till the bacteria build up?

So basically:
Add Strawberry plants (how?).
Add seasol (how much, how often?)
Wait and test water (need to get a kit first).
Add gold fish (just 1 I think?)

that would have to be our quickest F/D yet

I personally would not bother with the strawberries - they are not an ideal starter plant. Get some Cos lettuce or something similar that is usefull.

Add a capfull of seasol/maxicrop.

Add a small spoon of urea granules or alternative ammonia source.

Test water after a week, and post results

basils always a winner

chives is my pick.

I ended up going with what was in my seed raiser at the moment: 2 capsicum plants and a basil plant. The seasol makes it look like river water.

Quote of the moment from my other half "The aquaponics sounds like someone is peeing in our front room."

You can assure your other half that there is a definite ettiquette practised by AP'ers...

We only pee in our tanks.... wouldn't waste a precious resource on the carpet now would we?? ...

The seasol colour will dissapear quite quickly once the system is a bit more mature.

Here is a picture of the seedlings I took tonight, they seem to be doing well so far (haven't died yet). The basil is the middle one, the outside two are capsicum. Can't bring myself to pee in the tank, so I might have to get some pellets from Wallyworld or a nursery or something.

Don't have a test kit yet though, but started to measure the temperature of the water. First day it got upto 29c and then fell back to 22c overnight, it is currently 25c.... Are goldfish going to be able to handle those sorts of temperature swings?

Yep, goldies will - I have not subjected other brands of fish to the same sort of swings.

It has been a little while, but I finally got a test kit and some urea. The plants seem to be going alright with weekly doses of seasol. They didn't get any last weekend, as I added a small spoon load of urea. Not sure if I added enough though - I only ended up with some small readings.

Before urea -
Temp: 29 degrees
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

After the urea Ammonia only registered at 0.5 ppm. Do I need to add some more? Also, should I also add in a bit more seasol to keep the plants kicking along till I get bacteria generating nitrate?

nope, there is basically no nitrogen in seasol. Adding seasol will promote growth, increasing demand for nitrates. Your plants should (?) be okay, they just won't grow much until the system cycles.