Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Have had to remove the goldfish this morning, as they don;t look good, hardly moving and looking spotty and awful.

The silvers seem fine, have salted, readings this morning are

Ph 7.6 (hasn't moved from that since system start)

ammo .5

nitrate 40

nitrite 5

temp 21

nitrates are high, higher than before silvers were added, I believe it's still spiking and will settle.

Steely

Are the Silvers "flashing" at all Neil???.... if they are, go to 3ppt...

That's the benefit of having a seperate quarantine tank... you can quarantine any new fish for a few weeks, so any disease that might be present in the transport water or the fish isn't introduced to any existing stock...

No Mate, the silvers are happy as larry, they're hiding most of the time, but are calm and making like a bait-ball, no flashing i can see.

Steely

Don't push the chicken mesh to far into the clay if it is gal. It can get into the water.

I've removed the chicken wire "pots", put up some uprights, and run more chicken wire between them, it's suspended above the growbed, do you think that'll be better, or should I still worry about water dripping from the mesh during rain?

Steely

Should be okay. Its mainly the AP water that tends to be a little acidic.

Couple pix from this morning, everything looking good here

Apologies for poor lighting, it was about to rain.

Here's what i call the bait ball, doing their thang



Plants



Artsy-fartsy attempt (focus!!)

Plants look like they're going great Neil...

I've lost 4 silvers in the last two days, it seems every time we get some heavy rain, I lose one.

I'm buggered if I know why though!

Readings

temp 20
PH 7.6
ammo 0.5
nitrate 0
nitrite 0.5

The water is clear, have some algae, the water pump has been on since installed, as has the (huge) airstone,(so I don't think DO is a suspect) I've noticed it's the smallest 4 that have died, I just fed the others, they're eating their heads off.

I salted up to about 2PPT on thursday, seemed to help (I think), and added another 500g this morning.

I know I can expect to have losses, and a couple of the others are looking listless, but I'm just confused as to why.

Will keep you updated

Steely

Little update, water temp got to 24 yesterday, and lost the 3 largest trout overnight (should have gone and got some ice!!)

Poor little buggers, they were nearly ready too

Steely

That's a bugger Neil.... hope you ate them anyway...

Naw, I binned them, there was a whitish foam over the tank this morning, and one of the trout had kinda exploded, guts hanging out of gills, wasn't pretty

Looking forward to my catfish arriving, they should be a lot hardier, am thinking of harvesting the trout that are left when I get home.

Steely

Bit of an update, did a harvest of the silvers a couple of months ago, am now growing the catfish out.

I decided when doing the harvest to give the tank a scrub too, so drained it at the same time.

The growbed is pretty constantly providing fresh veges (using seeds from diggers.com.au), so we're very happy with the system.

Thanks again Rupert

Steely

Starting to drain the tank



Fish get worried

http://users.tpg.com.au/steelyj/harvest/getting+worried.jpg

Catfish waiting to go back in

http://users.tpg.com.au/steelyj/harvest/catfish.jpg

Result!

http://users.tpg.com.au/steelyj/harvest/result.jpg

Tank needs a scrub

http://users.tpg.com.au/steelyj/harvest/needs+a+scrub.jpg

All clean, catfish happy

http://users.tpg.com.au/steelyj/harvest/clean.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/steelyj/harvest/result.jpg

You using explosives to get those fish out or just like eating the eyes

I used a hammer for the dispatch process, couldn't find my old fishing "priest", it was quick, but messy