Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Got fish!

I picked up 20 SPs today from http://www.ausnativefish.com.au. They range in size from about 8cm to about 4cm. They seem to be happy and healthy after spending the day in the tank. Now I need to find them some food - any suggestions for Brisbane northside?

The bloke who I got them from also had an interesting idea for using IBCs. He cuts off about 200mm from the top for the GB, and rotates this 90 degrees and sits it on top of the rest of ICB for the FT. Seemed very easy to do - I'm thinking about using multiples of these for the mother system up the back.

Is anybody else using IBCs like this?

Seen pictures of systems set up that way. I think they use clay in the top to keep the weight down. I'm thinking of using a couple cut in half as grow beds. More area for the bacteria.

i'd say youre cycling!

Keep a close eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels now that the fish are in, especially when you start feeding. Your cycling was only just done converting a single does of humonia to 0 and you hadn't had a chance to see if you could dose to an ammonia level of 1 and get both ammonia and nitrite to 0 within 24 hours. You could still see another spike. 1 ppt of non iodised salt into the system should help you if Nitrite climbs again. Be ready with some water changes and extra air in case ammonia or nitrite get over 1 again.

Patients and be cautious (as in do it very slowly while doing regular tests) with increasing the feed until things settle down.

Sounds like you are on your way!!!

All seems to be going wonderfully with the setup. I'll post some photos tomorrow of the growth.

The wife is suitably convinced of the merits of AP, and now wants to expand some GBs onto the back deck above my FT! The only problems are weight of the GB, height of water to be pumped, and ratio of GBs to FT. I was thinking of adding about another 200 litres of GBs.

As much as I think it's too expensive, perhaps hydraton might be the solution for the weight issue. If you look at my back deck, I'm confident it could hold double this weight at least, but I'll err on the side of caution. I plan on checking out B tomorrow for any suitable small planters (maybe about 30cm x 30cm x 90cm) to use as GBs. Anyone know the cheapest place to get some expanded clay in the north Brisbane area?

As for the height of the GBs, I have a pond pump I bought very cheap, that is overkill for the current setup. I figure if I utilise it, I can overcome the head height issue. The minor issue is the smallest outlet it has is 32mm. My current irrigation is 19mm ploy. What's the best way of stepping down from 32mm to 19mm?

Currently I have a 500 litre FT (probably 450 litres of water), and 400 litres of GB (2 split barrels). Can my system support another 200 litres of GBs?

Don't know if they are the cheapest... but Deception Bay Hydro... is just around the corner from you ....

Thanks Rupert - from memory, he wanted double the price for a pump as the local pet shop. Might give them a try just the same.

The hydroponics place at Kallangur had heaps of cheap Chinese made stuff, but I vaguely remembered reading in here that the quality is dubious...

If you are paying more than $35 for a 50 litre bag of good quality stuff (ie not chinese) then you should be able to do better. The margin on clay balls is pretty big. My local wanted to charge me $45 for a 50 litre bag and that was 2 years back .

If buying bulk - the price should come down. How much do you need Ryan?

I'd say 4 bags for 200 litres

Pay $30 per bag at the most - they are still making $10 a bag profit.

While I tend to agree that that would be a reasonable price to expect to pay, I know from direct experience that for a purchase of 4 bags, Ryan will not get it for $30 a bag in Brisbane. Through significant negotiation, I was getting it for $30 a bag for 10 bag purchases, but I believe I won't get it for that price again.

Though hopefully I'm wrong Ryan.

Best trade price (inc GST) is about $20/bag..... if you buy a pallet... 40bags/pallet...

And that's without freight....

$30 a bag would be a bargain, and the best you would get IMO.... and $40/bag would be normal RRP.... have seen prices to $50/bag...

Ok, after convincing SWMBO to allow me to expand my system by another 200 - 400L of GBs, I need some advice (as usual - it'll be nice when I'm experienced enough to start giving some advice back...).

The current setup has the GBs (400L) gravity draining back into the FT (500L). I now wish to place some more GBs up on top of the back deck, but figure my FT is too small. The choices I have, as I see it, are to get another FT, a bigger FT or a sump.

I'm thinking about maybe chancing one of the B 500L tanks available for about $80 to use as a sump. If I do this, I'm confused as to how to set it up. The way I understand CHIFT PIST is that water gravity feeds from the Ft tothe GBs. Given all my GBs will be above the FT, this is not possible. Is it possible to gravity feed the sump from an overflow in the FT? If so, this may be the simplest solution.

Anyone got any ideas?

how cool is that last graph where the nitrite drops and the NO3 rockets

Pump in sump, pumps up to growbeds, drains back to main tank, then overflows to sump. Very Very safe for fish

Exactly what I was hoping you'd say OBO