Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ivan in my opinion your pump is too small or you need to increase on time, I have been down this road at a head height of 1.5mt your pumping at 940lt per hour with 19mm pipe and 1100lph with 25mm, people I know in aquaculture suggest turning your water over around once an hour, NFI why but it works for me, if your running 15mins on and 45mins off it's taking around 4 hours to turn water over once, going to a 5000lph pump at the same head will give you 2700lph or roughly turn water over every 20 mins, with that pump I would be pumping 45 on 15 off, my system is about 5500lts as not full, have a 12,000lph pump pumping around 10,000lph at head runs 40 on 1hr off 24/7, something to consider with system 2 buy a bigger pump than you need, these pumps are great but the higher the head the less output , on the box of your pump it suggest max head 2.8mt, at this height your at 0lph not 3000lph, I don't know what head height you have but at a metre your pumping 1440lph so still need 40min on to get the turn over, again this is my opinion only, and others may disagree, and my first disaster was having a pump that was half what I needed because of the mistake of not taking head height it to account

Well I am already running it 24/7 now. The pump was supplied together with the BYAP 1000L + 2GB kit. I was about to upgrade it to the next size pump but was convinced otherwise. I should have done so.

Well anyways we learn through experience. Might buy a bigger pump from rockaroundtheblock. C1 was asking me to something of a venturi jet on the water. I doubt I can achieve it with this flow.

If the pump came with the system I would STRONGLY suggest it's size is suitable.
Look at your plumbing ,, ESPECIALLY right angle bends cause HUGE flow losses. Check pipes for blockage and check pump IMPELLER for damage.

Chappo I'm not suggesting BYAP has supplied the wrong pump but the way Ivan has it set up and his pumping times, system is not getting the required volume, I have seen them systems set up with GB's almost on top of the fish tank, by the photo Ivan has a higher head height and a lot more piping and as you suggest elbows, these style pumps are excellent but the higher and longer you go, volume decreases dramatically, my first and only massacre was due to algal blooms, 2000 lt tank, 2400lph pump, actually pumping 1200lph at best, same tank 4500lph pump pumping 3000lph no more problems until my overfeeding episode, just looking at Ivan's set up and using a pump calculator he would have to run non stop to turn over the water, or at least 45 on 15 off.
Ivan did your GB's fill to the top of the stand pipe when you were on 15 min cycles? my 2 GB's fill in about 2-3mins and stay full for the rest of the 40 mins, and just empty on the hour off

Get rid of the elbows ,, use larger flexi pipe and SMOOTH ROUNDED CORNERING suddenly your "head" is halved , FLOW INCREASES AND PROBLEM SOLVED.

Well I might have too many elbows. From memory, it takes about 6 mins to fill my growbeds (ie. before it starts overflowing via the stand-pipe).

So working backwards roughly, growbed is approx 500L, about 40% will be filled with water, hence 200L.
200L in 6mins, hence 2000L/hr. If I am running a 15 on 45 off cycle, my setup will turn over 500L/hr.
Full capacity of tank is 1000L. So was a full tank every hour?

From the ground to my growbeds entry pipe, it is about 1m. My FT is dug in slightly, approx 0.3 m.

Nocky, so you reckon a 4500L pump will help?

Chappo, I see your point. Unfortunately, my current system is already setup, and my means of transport (sedan) does not allow me to easily carry flexi-pipe. Hence my preference is to change out the pump as I can easily fit that in my sedan.

System 2, I will definitely consider bigger pipes, etc. System 1 is merely a proof of concept, which is not going really well at the moment.

Flexi pipe ..... I mean like a larger size garden hose.
Anyway up to you

Oh I c. Well it will be good know. Will do some searching for System 2.

Had 3 more deaths in the night since my last post. Hence in total 13 now.

Checked early this morning with a torchlight. No more deaths. Fishes seemed to have
regain their liveliness. Hopefully they pull through, and I can slowly top the water back up
again.

Ivan go to Rock Around the Block and use the Pump Size Calculator, you don't have to buy from their but it helps in selection, I would say a bigger pump would work for the way you are setup, as it worked for me, But as you have that pump, increase your on time, 1 hour on 1 off is better than 30 mins on 30 mins off, at one on and one off will cost less than $10 per month to run, and when you start system 2 buy a bigger pump than you need

three more deaths. Oh well, I have done all I could. If they make it, great. Otherwise, I will move on. Next time, I start a new system, definitely fishless cycle or goldfishes. Although goldfishes cost similar to trouts. hmm...

Sorry to hear about the fish Ivan. Did that have any marks on their bodies?
Tell me please what do your plants look like?
Do you mind showing some photos?
You have certainly had a lot of activity with a system that is only 1 month old.

Well yesterday during daylight, I saw 1-2 white spot near the dorsal fin (top fin?). Obviously these were only observed on some of the trouts that were slow enough for me to watch.

Other than that, I think the body looks fine, but then again it is my first time seeing trout close up.

Plants are pathetic, the seedlings I planted weeks ago, have not grown much. Considering them to be advanced seedlings may even be pushing it. We have put some seeds into the beds and some seeds have started shooting.
But on a whole not much activity.

Well if you consider the lots of activity by the number of posts, it is probably because I asked lots of questions.

From about two weeks ago, I had Ammonia at 1 to 1+ consistently for two weeks but nitrites did not show at all. I posted a comparison to a small fish tank in my shed, which already had nitrites and nitrates but ammonia was really high. Goldies took it alright.

Then the dirty greenish water came and it seems like we are back to where we started, maybe even worse with dying fishes.

Possibly being an outdoor exposed tank, it was quite affected by the weather. Not sure. Any comments would be great.

Don't know if you noticed Ivan but my ammo yesterday was 4+ and pH6.

Do you remember the date you planted the seedlings(if I read that correctly)...
I bet this next lot will jump out of the ground