Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks heaps Rupe! I was starting to get lonely in my little thread

I'll go through the procedure you mentioned tomorrow (looks like a busy day ahead). I'm kicking myself about the feed, given I spotted the possible cause and did nothing about it

I'm totally confidant the feed was fine when I got it, and it was always dry. I think even though it was stored in an airtight container, the UV might have been the problem. All feed will now be stored in the dark at my house!

I've got some more SPs lined up, and will hopefully pick them up late tomorrow. Otherwise, it will be a peeponics system until I source some.

Thanks again - without the help on this forum I'd be stuffed.

I agree that the feed is a probable problem provided you are pretty sure that no other contaminant has gotten into the system via neighborhood spraying or runoff from some questionable surface getting into your system water.

Either way, Rupe's recommendations on system drain and clean out sound good. Seasol and hummonia will keep your plants ok for a while till you can get more fish.

Bummer about the losses.

The feed is suspicious Ryan... but I think the fish were probably fatally stressed by oxygen starvation from your pump failure a few days back...

The bad feed may have weakened them before that... kind of a straw that broke the camels back...

When feed goes off... apart from pure contamination and disease.... it rapidly loses its nutritional value... particular the protein content which breaks dow rapidly...

All good logical points, which seem obvious after I read them. The other slight concern I have is run-off from the back deck. It's timber, so almost certainly treated, and we've had heaps of rain over the past week. I would have thought that being so old, most preservatives would have leached away by now. I should also point out that the FT is protected by a tarp in such a way that it would be very hard for run-off to enter in to. As for the GB's that's another story altogether... see the photos in this thread a few pages back and you'll see what I mean. Then again, it's not the first time we've had rain like this, so I'm happy to count out run-off as the cause.

I think you're right Rupe in assessing the problem as pump failure being the catalyst, and poor quality food the finisher.

I'll be a busy be tomorrow!

Sometimes feed is just bad or has spores in it from the beginning.

Well, just drained my FT, to find 2 good sized silvers living on the bottom!! Guess the supplier gave me 22 instead of 20

Now this raises some more questions. What should I do with these SPs? I can't decide whether I should sacrifice them in the name of removing all possible contaminates, or let them stay, given they seem healthy (they were very hard to catch by hand, and look fine) some days after the initial catastrophe. I guess I'm clinging to the hope of not losing ALL the fish.

Also, I'm now tempted not to worry about the bleach, and just go with a drain, clean and refill like OBO suggested. I need to decide quick though, because I'm picking up my new SPs after lunch to get the ball rolling again.

My suggestion pan fry with butter, garlic and parsley and serve with an aquaponic side salad.

+1 lol, great Faye

I reckon that anything left in the tank is not much toxic anymore(due to the two fish still being alive), so I'd refill, bubble the bejesus out of it, and go again.

The two fish still being alive makes it much better.

I'm still blaming water quality rather than food, although the food would have contributed to fish weakness.

Guess you could.... having basically drained the tank....

With fingerlings on the way.... bubble the tank for sure as OBO says... partly to make sure you offgas any chloride from the water... unless of course you've got rain water...

Salt the tank anyway as a precaution... it will help ease transport shock for the fingerlings... and/or anything they might be carrying...

Did a bit of tinkering over the weekend, and now have the top 4 GBs draining into the bottom 4 before returning to the FT.

Each GB is using 20mm PVC standpipes with a 6mm drain hole at the bottom. I'm thinking to give the bottom 4 GBs enough water, maybe I should drill the drain hole in the top 4 GBs out to 8mm.

My thinking is if all GBs are draining at the same rate, the bottom 4 won't start filling until the top 4 start to overflow. Does this make sense (both the flow rates and the post!)?

if the bottom 4 use siphons, you'll have no probs. If they're slow drain, it's too hard, make the bottom 4 siphons.
Sorry for not reading back to find out what you're doing, but from your post I assume slow drain.

Been a while since I added some photos. Here's some of the herb garden on the back deck. Love the way the chilli's powering along!

Chilis certainly are powering...

But seem to have very few actual Chillies ,, I picked 400+ off my 3 tree's this morning.
Actually i think mine are FREAKS,, will keep some seed for others.

Yeh, the photo doesn't do it justice. I reckon at least 100 chillies on this one. I might pick the ripe ones tomorrow and whack them in my mum's dehydrator or in the freezer. I'll let you know how the count goes.