Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hmmmmm

pretty much the whole interior walls of the pond are covered in blanket / hair algae . The pH test in the morning gives a reading of 7.4 for 3 days in a row , the reading at 5 in the afternoon is always super high .

read a bit about algae and it looks like that could be a big part of the problem - the walls of the pond are COVERED in algae which is raising the pH as it photosynthesises durning the day , I'd be surprised if it was just the algae causing it though , thats a pretty wild swing

maybe I just need some type of fresh water fish thats gonna gorge itself on all the algae in the pond

I wouldn't be too concerned.
pH wont just keep going up and up.
Every time you try to alter the pH the water is fighting against you to get
it up again.
Algae is normal and may be what is required for balance to happen
in your system

I put a small amount of the potassium stuff in there yeterday afternoon , pH slowly went down to 7.4

stayed there overnight and its all dissolved now

12.30 in the afternoon & its been overcast and raining all day . pH is still at 7.4 , so now Im thinking it might be solely the algae thats been jacking the pH up every day

problem is now - every time it rains the water goes cloudy for a day afterwards ( this happens in both systems & the fish dont seem to mind that much )

need something to eat the algae , I put heaps of small snails in from the other system , but the pH swing every day kills them before they can make a dent in the algae infestation

well , its DEFINITELY the algae thats causing the pH spike after 11 or so each day - two days of rain / overcast , no sun = no pH rise ...

heres some shots Ive been meaning to post

silvers still dont like the food I feed them . theyre not dead though so Ive just given up trying to force them to eat

Why did you paint the barrel?

I had severe ph issues due to algae in a system a a year or 2 back. Solution was the addition of panda fabric to the top of the tank (white side up in summer). Algae was gone within a couple of days - at which time I left half the tank covered with the panda and place shadecloth over the other half to allow some light.

eventually the tank will be fully covered - 2 more GBs and 2 lids / frames with shadecloth

but I need to wait till I get the 2 more GBs cause the lids are going to be built off them ( that means finiding another360 bucks for 2 more 1250L IBCs - I want to use the leftover big halfs to expand the other system )

I painted the new blue barrel cause the guy I got it off said it had been pressure cleaned and was ok to keep fish in , but it had some sort of non-toxic soap or perfume or something in it . it still stank when I bought it home so I sprayed it hard with the bore hose for half an hour . the smell was almost gone but I didnt trust it and I have a HEAP of the bitumous sealer left , which is rated for potable water , so I thought why not

Where do I get panda fabric from ?

Hyrdo stores.

covering to prevent direct sunlight would certainly help with your algae issues i would have thourght, plus it may not be the food that your silvers dont like, but the water conditions?
look good though, i'll watch with interest...

The waters testing fine , apart from the rise in pH every day at about 11 , from 7.4 it slowly goes up to 8+ during the day , then drops quickly back down to 7.4after about 5 ( takes 3 hours or so )

the fish might just be stressed from the constant pH yoyo , but its swinging less & less every day

Im gonna swap sponge filters today - the 2400LPH pump thats churning out heaps of air into the system hasnt got a sponge in it , and the 2 pumps that pump to the GBs do . Im gonna see if putting a sponge in hte aeration pump clears the water and taking the sponges out of the other 2 helps push more solids into the GBs

Also had Duckpond over the other day and he reckons the new 660L GB probably isnt fully colonised woth bacteria , that may be half the problem , as the old GB is doing great , theres heaps of capsicums coming up now , but the new GB is still struggling along.

I should have posted a better shot of the new blue barrel - I cut the lid off at the ridge just under the rim , then flipped it over and put it back on . it fits really snugly & the existing holes for the bungs make it easy to get the pipes in the top . No sunlight getting in that sucker once it full o water

The Blue barrels now plumbed into the system , even with the ball valve open to it over halfway it still doesnt effect the functioning of the autosiphon in the black GB at the opposite end of the system

tearing out huge chunks of algae every day , pH is still swinging up to about 8.2 , but it looks like the fish are used to it - the silvers are eating everything I throw in , whenever I throw stuff in ( the black bream are eating everything as always , probably trying to eat each other too - cant see the bottom of their old blue barrel for all the algae )

The new blue barrel , with lid on , sealed from the sun is for some reason very murky / low visibility , but its become a great breeding ground for mozzies - Im keeping them in check by scooping out all of them I can everyday , the bream love them

Tried to get the next two IBCs to finish off the growbeds for this system but Rydlime was sold ut , so Im on a waiting list

Cant build the proper lid to cover the system without the missing 2 GBs to build it off of .

This systems sitting there having nothing done to it while I dig holes for expanding the other system / chicken coop / redfin pond / turnip farm ...

Had a loss today - 6 tiny bream - one got stuck in the overflow from the blue barrel , then the next 5 decided to follow . One bream left I think . That blue barrel isnt getting enough aeration anyway so now Im just gonna use it as extra water body , cant be bothered running ANOTHER pump in the system just to aerate 200 seperate litres ( there is an Eheim 1440LPH canister filter attached to that blue barrel and Ive lifter the outlet so it splashes down into the water though )

On a good note for this system though - the algae looks like its receding ( pH is still swinging a bit too much ) , Ive scraped up the cash for the final two IBC browbeds ( the algae will be gone totally after those are covering the tank )
And I scooped out some silvers to put in the new buried pond ( adding a couple every two or three days , six in there now ) and some of the silvers have doubled in size since I last checked them - one was over 20cm yay

Boris, I may be way off on this but from my experience with fish only sytems algae problems are due to to many nutriants in the water. Soo I would suggest you plant more into your growth beds to soak up those nutirants. You could also try to float some plants in the tank, soak nutriants and the floats create some shadow! Cheers!

theres not that much nutrient in the system , but whatever is there is definitley being gobbled up by the algae , plus the warmer water due to the pond being black

Once I've got the next two growbeds in ( hopefully this week ) I'll have something to build the two hinged lids that I want off of , plus the two extra growbeds will pretty much block out most of the direct sunlight into the tank except for midday

Looks like the algae is providing some benefit though - the small fish I put in from the lake down the road are breeding in it , once the silvers get a bit bigger they'll start eating them I hope

Im sure theyre not gambuzia , but they look similar

Just planted some apple cucumbers in this system , no real point adding heaps of plants until Ive blocked out the light with the new GBs , to kill the algae , to stop the pH swing , so that the plants in the newest GB stop dying

In the big GB on this system the one tomato plant is doing ok , lettuce is getting a bit warm , everything else apart from the dragon fruit ( I know - too much watering in an AP system for dragon fruit probably ) just dies

But in the old Black 100L GB at the top of this system , above the blue barrel , the plants are going great , almost ready to pick capsicums , spring onions & chives are going mental . The plants in the top GB dont seem to mind the pH swing at all whereas the plants in the new GB seem to hate it ( either that or the bacteria in the new GB isnt established and this is somehow killing plants ... )

Ive also discovered that an IBC cut at 60cm fits perfectly between the legs of , and under , the new cut IBC GB that overhangs the tank ...
AND the same will be the case wiuth the next two GBs ...

Time for another expansion - 3 more cut IBCs adding 1800L of water body on the front of this whole pond , just got to work out how to drill through the brick for piping without causing myself too many problems

My silvers eat algae all day and then take the pellets and go back to eating the algae. I'm going to use large rafts with duckweed later. Make them out of bread crates so the fish can't eat it. This will give the algae a run because it will block out a lot of light and take a lot of nutrients out of the water.