Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

(mumble) Everytime I see one of them growbeds I get Pissed.

That looks great what a tidy set up - am green with envy here... cant do anything on a huge scale for the moment until we get out of this renter and onto our land... in the year 2525...

with you there - they certainly do set off a nice AP system

Been back from my holiday for about 2 or so weeks, so thought it timely that I provided an update on my system.

Unfortunately, my float pump wasn’t sensitive enough to turn on and off once the grow bed was filled, so I ended up buying a timer (good suggestion Murray).

The grow bed fills in 3 mins, even with a valve cranking back the pressure and a return back into the tank! To drain the growbed, it takes about 1 hour – which contributes to aerating the tank too (see pics). Due to limitations with the timer I bought, I have the growbed filling every 2nd hour during the day and every hour in the evening. On reflection, I think I should have gone with a $20 pond pump instead of the 8000lph Grundfos and rigged up a continuous flow system!

The first cycle caused the tank water to go nice and brown (and I thought I cleaned the gravel!) with the water in the tank only cycling every 2nd hour it looked pretty cloudy so I bought a cheap external canister filter to help with keeping the water clear and to provide additional filtration / aeration. After two weeks the gravel bed is running clear and the tank is also starting to clear too. Albeit the water looks slightly grey / cloudy – which according to some research on the ’net is a bacteria bloom.

In sum, the total water capacity of the tank (1300L) cycles through the canister filter every hour and through the gravel bed once per day.

Also into the mix were 1 goldfish and 3 comets to help kick off the nitrogen cycle. They appear to have settled in very well and are all aggressive feeders. After two weeks they now “appear” at feeding time! A row of lettuce were also planted which have also germinated and are being “fed” with Seasol.

Next step (this weekend) is a partial water change to remove / dilute any ammonia which I assume has formed within the past two weeks (I am still to buy a test kit). PH is 7.3.

BTW Does anyone know how long the nitrogen cycle takes to kick in (ie: Ammonia turns to nitrite then nitrate?)

Next step is to purchase 20-30 Silver Perch Fingerlings…… in a couple of weeks.

Wow! What a beautiful setup!

Buy the test kit and test before you do a water change. To start up your nitrogen cycle, you have to begin with a little ammonia. If you just remove the ammonia, you set yourself back. The trick is to monitor the ammonia and nitrite, and only do a water change if the levels get stressful for the fish. Also, get some used gravel or filter pads and add it to the system. That will give you some good bacteria to start with. The simple answer is that the sytem will take about a month to cycle. However, that will vary substantially based on temperature, ammonia available, and pH.

Janet.

Thanks for the advice Janet - I have now bought an Ammonia test kit, so will perfom the test this evening and post the result here.

Marcus, won't take long for that water to clear, those goldies seem to be enjoying themselves

Ammonia reading 0 (!) and Ph 7.3. Do does this mean that my system has cycled, or with a small concentration of fish and large water volume the ammonia is just very dilute?

Although I have only had the fish for 2 weeks, the water has been in the tank for almost 8 and did contain heaps of dead insects which had landed on the water, so perhaps this kicked off the cycling? I wonder!!

BTW the goldies are really enjoying themselves!

M, i feel like the bloke at the aquarium when i asked "do i really need a nitrite test" He was a bit of a bastard about it.

It could quite easily be BOTH of what you suggested.

Test nitrite, if its not zero then you've not finnished cycling.

If it IS zero then test nitrate.

If nitrate is not zero then yes, you have cycled!

If nitrate is zero then you may have still cycled but its the water volume that is keeping it dilute!

OR just wing it if you're confident, but keep an eye on the ammo and NO2 just incase

marcus when you see the water clear up you will know that the cycle finish.

The water will be chystal clear

Thanks for the advice.

The water has now cleared (ie: I can see the bottom of the tank) and although I am inclined to go with Steve's "just wing it" angle, I plan to get the Masters test kit (as insurance):

http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shope ... r+Test+Kit

On the fish front, I thought I would play it safe initially and ordered 25 Silver Perch (2 to 2.5") which I collect this evening from "Glenwaters" in Victoria.

Go Marcus!!!!

Nice work mate, cant wait to see more fish pics.

I introduced the 25 Silver Perch fingerlings - around 2.5" to 3" - into the 1300L tank (almost wrote new home then!) last night. They seemed slightly stressed out and were racing all around the tank in shoals - the goldfish kept a low profile!

Today the Silvers appear to be settling in - due to thier colour (it blends in with the tank!) they can be hard to see unless you are close up. They do not appear to be shoaling, but doing "their own thing". Some of the larger perch appear to be accertaining dominance.

The goldfish seem to be keeping themselves to the upper part of the tank, the 3 commet goldfish, now have frayed tail fins, it appears this has been casued by the perch. The goldfish are still feeding well.

I will give it all a few more days to settle in and will report back (hopefully with photos!)

Marcus, great - I've got all this to look forward to this Friday - thanks for letting me know what to expect