Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

"Thanks for the info, I will keep my eye on the ph. If it becomes a problem adding more shell grit should help? "

Froggo
Think Monya was pointing out that it may go to higher ph tending to lock out nutrients to the plants. Hopefully the normal downward trend in ph will be balanced by the buffer and you will be in balance . If not you may have to slowly add some acid to hold it for a while.

Looks like you need a sneeze guard on your salad bar Froggo!

Hi Dave Donley,

I'm liking this no dig, no bending gardening stuff.

Now how to convert the rest of my garden?

God bless froggo.

Hi Froggo,

Many thanks for picking up the extra 50 SP's from Glenwaters saved us a 400k trip to do so.
They are now all happy and feeding well, and I mean wellllll they are little vacuum cleaners.
Froggo your garden and AP unit are a credit to you, well set out, neat tidy and an enjoyable walk through.
It was a pleasure to view the work of someone that takes pride and care in what he is doing.
Alex

yep Froggo, the shell grit and marble chiops will have the same effect, ie to keep your ph up... obviously your growth shows you don't have a problem

Hi everyone,

as Alexmac said we have been to Glenwaters and picked up our Silvers.

I purchased 200 sp's and have put about 30 into my fish pond with the goldfish. These fish will fend for themselves eating natural food as do the goldfish. The plan is to try and emulate spawning conditions when they are old enough.

The other 170 sp's are in their 5000 litre tank. They seem to love the CHIFT PIST as it swirls the tanks water stirring up stuff.

My systems water test has just showed up a weird result for the second time running,

PH 7.6
AM .25
NITRITE 0
NITRITE 20

Does anyone have any thoughts about what's going on here?

God bless froggo.

With the new fish dont feed to much lay off for 2 days till the beds catch up

Nothing too wrong there though.

Hi Food&Fish, Outbackozzie,

I was not sure about the ammonia reading and why?

The last test before I put the sp's in the system showed the same reading.

I'll give it a few days and see what the next test shows.

Thanks for replies,

God bless froggo.

Some systems run 0.25 ammonia continuously - really depends on the amount of water being moved around I suppose.

F&F + OBO for short

Hi everyone,

hot, hot, hot, but no cooked fishies, I don't have a thermometer yet so don't know what the max water temp was.

The slivers and the redfin are all ok and still feeding well. The goldfish don't seem to give a hoot as long as there is food.

Work has started on my sons school agriculture project. The new growbed that he is building in the hothouse is approx 4x1metres.


The growbed will be built from treated pine stumps, untreated structural pine frame and marine ply sides and base.

The beds liner will be made from five layers of black/white silage cover. The gravel will be a smooth variety to prevent holes in the liner.

New cos lettuce and green bean seeds have been in for a week or so and have started to sprout.

New rhubarb plants are doing very well. They were a bit sad when I got them but the AP system has pumped new life into them.

God bless froggo.

jees i am sorry i dident see your system when i was in the area but when we run out of spc tinned fruit we deffinatley will call then

Hi Food&Fish,

your more than welcome to drop in when your in the area.

The sons getting stuck into building the new growbed. The posts/stumps and frame are going into place


My son attaching the marine ply base and sides to the structural pine frame.


If froggo junior keeps working at it over the weekend it should be ready for planting .

God bless froggo.

Nice sturdy post you have there

Hi everyone,

the new growbed my son and I have built is finished. The new growbed is 3600mmx 1000mm by 300mmdeep.



The bed has the 5 layers of heavy duty silage plastic for the liner.


The new bed just before the first test run.


The new growbed has put a bit of pressure on the 1000litre sump capacity of the CHIFT PIST system.

The quick remedy was to add two minutes to the sump pump time which pumped returning growbed to sump water back into the fish tank to go around again.

This works quite well but has it's problems when the water level in the sump is lowered by plant uptake and evaporation. It's much easier for the system to fall out of sync.

Froggo jnr rekons adding another 500litres of sump would be the go to give a bit more margin for error.

I tend to agree but not looking forward to digging another hole to put it in.

Hope froggo jnr is feeling fit

God bless froggo.