Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just take it easy with the food for a bit

just wanted to show the trout and goldies together

Jens do you have anywhere else to put the goldies for now? While the trout are on rations they are very agressive towards each other, and other fish. Usually the Trout win.

uhm... not really....but I'm rigging up another simple system - the same kind of system my tommyAP was. I'm thinking to put lettuce in that.
It will take me about 2 hours to do. I already have 2 gb's fixed, just a matter of moving the Fish Container and fill with water. Using bricks as stands and put the planks on em and then the gb's. Install a pump and the hydroton and it's good to go.

Main trouble will be catching the goldies...

Okay after this last post, I went off to acrobatics as I have this class every saturday. Then on the way home I bought some crushed coral, it's not shell grit but I figured they're close enough and some more food.

As soon as I got home, I tidied my things and set up my next basic system. it's just a pump on a timer in FT straight to the GB's, siphonage straight back into FT. If the pump overdid itself and overflowed the GB it wouldn't matter because the GB is directly above it so the overflowing water would just go straight back to the FT.

Then it was 6pm by the time I had it running, hydroton and aerator and all. I thought it was gonna be to hell and back to catch all my 16 goldfish. But within 15 minutes I got them all they're all alive, worse for wear as most of their tails were in tatters and I couldn't see some of their flippers. I think two or three are blind. They were so easy to catch . But they're alive..... all of them.

Thanks OBO for putting the idea in my head to set up my new system ASAP. If I'd done it tomorrow I don't think they'd be still alive.

With pH 7.8 - 8.0.... no need for shellgrit Jens...

I'd still feel better if it was all neutral.

Neutral being optimal... Some plants like higher some lower.
We need to remember we are growing veggies, and the fert method is fish.
So fish growth a byproduct you might say, as the veggie production will return the best
dividend... Only the way I see it

It will move toward 7.0 as the system matures Jen..

everything's going ammonia now.. I haven't really cycled both systems at all so everything's getting poisonous... I tried to get some carbon activating rock and some more bubblers to make it easier for them to breath but I'm walking a pretty fine line. I know that the Goldies would be able to survive the dirt but they can only take so much so far... and seeing I don't know much about rainbow trout, other than they need plenty of oxygen so I've got lots of airstones running in that system too.
I'm hoping that they'll be able to hold on tomorrow, and I'll get some normal aquarium filters for the time being... I'm feeling a bit stressed about ammonia already reached 1ppm ... if it goes any higher...

What's your test results, including pH and water temperature Jens.. ammonia reading at 1, might not be a problem short term while you cycle... but nitrites could be spiking...

You may need to salt to mitigate the nitrites....

How many trout do you have and how much are you feeding them??

Goldfish system (230L tank with 16 small/medium fish) - 1ppm Amm, 0 Nitrite, 11 C and pH <7.6
Rainbow system (700L tank with 30 20cm fingerlings) - 0.5 to 1ppm Amm, 0 Nitrite, 9 C and pH of <7.8

only minor differences in both systems and I'm happy to say that the Ammonia hasn't gone up... the Goldfish tank is under cover but still outside, right next to my outside door whereas the Rainbow trout tank is way out in the middle of my backyard in full sun (next to the Mandarin tree) and next to the fence. That might explain the temp differences but not a lot. I'm hoping that the Ammonia will stay at 1ppm long enough for the bacteria to grow and start making nitrite and nitrate.

and I'm feeding Goldies about one handfull a day, and the Rainbow trout about a handful twice a day. I'm only feeding them as much as they'll take in one minute. after that that's it. it's probably not enough but OBO said to feed them on rations. I'm also putting duckweed/azolla in there every now and again, so if they're hungry enough ...

Anything on the Nirates Jens?

Jen shell grit is alkali and will increase pH not lower it. To reduce pH you must add acid.