Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So our test kit has finally been bought...

First results for the FT are - (drumroll please)

pH - 7.4
NO2 - 0.125
NO3 - 4.0
Temp 16.3

Didn't do NH3 as I only took 4 tubes of water and needed two for pH just to be sure it wasn't high range.

Ah stuff it will go back out and get another tube, bear with me...

So the ammo test has been done

Ammonia - 1.5 (wifey says 2, I think 1 so 1.5 it is)

So the system has been running for 1 week, nothing has been fed, the 'guppies' or the red claw.
We saw two of the smaller red clay toes up this morning so hoiked them out. Could this be the reason for the ammonia level being 1.5? I will re-check ammo on Friday.

Any comments on the readings?

I'm looking to get 100 silvers to come and stay soon, so any thoughts would be great.

Yep , Solar just doesn't cut the mustard. Basically useless at this stage. A better way to look at it is " you are before your time". I'm sure solar will eventually give the outputs needed and at a reasonable cost, whether I will still be alive then ? who knows ,, maybe my grand kids.
On a more positive note ,, passive solar for keeping things warm is all GOOD .....,
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/resear ... 4-534.html

Ammonia level sounds about right, I am surprised your system is showing nitrite and nitrate already, did you innoculate your beds with some pond sludge from somewhere? Otherwise how much potting mix found it's way into your grow beds when you planted the seedlings, nitrate could be from that maybe?

Sure there will be someone with more knowledge than me that could be more informative.

Sigidi,

Condolences on your solar disappointment. As far as I understand it, there are three times solar is worthwhile:

1) if you are off-grid and would otherwise need to run everything off a generator,
2) if you have punitively high marginal rates for power (last time I checked we are paying $0.35/kw-hr), or
3) if you are getting a large subsidy.

If you are on grid and set up a large system, you get to avoid all the expense of batteries by buying an synchronizing inverter and pretending the whole grid is your battery. Just pull power out whenever you need it and dump as much into it as you produce. Works great!....but it's not as nice as independence.

Chappo and Hydro, yeah on the whole solar thing, I did think that solar power had come a lot further, especially just to run 5A - that's just disappointing.

Mike, the system has been running for a week, with the 'guppies' and redclaw in it and, the just the top bed has been hooked up. We didn't chuck in any 'starter' bacteria, but the plants came from pots. I know the boss cleaned 'em and knew about having minimal soil in the mix. Not sure if our bacteria have come from using a mix of creak water and rainwater? we did about half and half as we where too impatient and worried about our rainwater level to do it just with rainwater - we only have one tank hooked to rainwater and thankfully we have had nice sunny days for a while now, so no top ups.

Any other comments on readings, I'll do another one tomorrow, the instructions for the testing said to test every 2nd day for the first 3-4 weeks. What are the thoughts? I seem to recall somewhere reading about testing everyday while cycling the system?

Ok so after a furious time shoveling, wheelbarrowing, more shoveling, washing gravel and even more shoveling - gettin all the munchkins involved either washing stones, carrying buckets, wheeling wheelbarrows, rinsing dirty buckets, Wifey and I (plus the billy kids) got the bottom 2x1m GB filled with 10mm river gravel from our very own Mary River right here in Gympie.

We are still awaiting our bilge pump (bought on Ebay Friday) Wouldn't be so bad except our solar panel (bought on Ebay Thursday) turned up yesterday, so we where 'expecting' the pump today.

We made up for our disappointment, by going around town looking at gravels, then doing a bit of retail therapy The river gravel is a nice blend of colours which will compliment the deep, rich, reds of the timber and light 'surfmist' CGI colours the boss feels

So the top GB/herb garden has been planted out with;
Chives
shallots
spinach
lettuce
oregano
coriander
basil
tomato
baby carrot
capsicum
rhubarb
strawberry

I'm led to believe this won't change

Not sure what the boss is thinking to plant in the bottom GB, but I think it's on the cards to plant it up pretty soon.

Now the good news!!

I got hold of a hatchery about 40min drive away today, they have silvers available $150 per 100 (only in lots of 100 though) it is a little more than SEQ Fish who are $100 per 100 with $30 delivery up to us from Brissy, I'd rather do a 40min drive home with new little silvers as compared to the little buggers sitting overnight in bags with couriers. BUT the better news is they have some 'larger' specimens!! These larger specimens are around 80mm and are going for $200 per 100, so even though I was wanting around 50-70 for our 'AP trial' I rang my bro (in law) (who we have infected like it was MLM or a pyramid scheme ) and he said he'd buy whatever we had over 70, when he next comes to visit

So one question I have now, is the extra 30mm worth the extra few dollars? My water is at the lower end of reported growth temp for Silvers at the moment and will rise to their optimal growth temp as the year warms up, so I figure it's a good time to 'jump in'

My opinion , yes go the larger ones. They will be far more likely to survive what is left of winter and then power on through spring and summer.

I reckon you should get that bottom bed planted up and let the system go for another few weeks as is before you dump 100 SP in. With your current water readings I think you are headed for trouble putting 100 fish into a 1500 litre tank attached to uncycled grow beds.

Have you done the math for your grow bed volume versus stocking density by weight (say in 3 months time when they have doubled in size) or are you planning more grow beds by then? Not sure what the ratios are but I know there ius a sticky thread here somewhere with it all on.

Burnsy

he said 70 fish ,, so see no problem there.I assumed on you waiting for beds to cycle before getting the fish,,, say at least 2 weeks and add gunk from someones aquarium filter.
Yep need more beds as they grow / or some other form of filtration.But can start culling when bolters are around 400 grammes, so total load is not really 70 X 400 .

Definitely go the bigger size... for the reasons Chappo mentioned...

I stock my system around beginning of October... with fish 80-100mm (overwintered) for exactly those reasons... to get enough growth on them during summer/autumn before they go dormant over the next winter...

(Although this winter.. I haven't dropped my tank below 15 degrees.. and that was only for two days...)

Well as I'm still awake, might as well make use of my time - MIKE!!

So the top bed has been cycling since 30th July, and yep bottom bed went in earlier tonight, will have it cycling as soon as the bleeding pump gets here from DanG Ebay.

The plan down the track is to add another bed at the near side of all pics, this will give me 1000l of growbed for my system. My Bro (in law, but more than good enough to be my bro, and as I'm not actually talking to my bro for the best part of this year so far, I'll be referring to him as my bro - just to let you all know) will take the extra fish off my hands, so I may even be talked down by the boss to say 50 silvers??? I'll see.

Mike you mentioned having nitrate's so soon, do you think it was the addition of half creek water and half rain water?

So the general opinion is to wait 2 more weeks now so this GB has time to cycle? man I dunno if I can do that?

Top bed cycling since 30th July ,, AHH ok , I recon your systme should handle 70 silvers NO problem:)
Just follow the golden rules , keep feeding small until bacteria get a chance to catch up.
GO for it i recon:)

Hey Chappo, I'm with you mate, I want my fish... I WANT MY FISH!!!

But I can see what folkes are saying about letting the system cycle a bit. We do have the 50 ish guppies in there and 35 redclaw crays. I'm planing on taking out the 'guppies' prior to slipping the silvers in, apparently these guppies haven't been taught to play nice and they like biting other little fishies fins

So I will wait a little bit, can't promise it'll be 2 weeks though Mike... but also don't wanna tip over my silvers when I get 'em, don't think the boss will be happy if we spend $'s on fish and kill 'em all???

We where doing so well, we had only spent $30 to get the FT made and filled, GB's made, fitted in place, faced with the CGI and the top GB filled and online. All the bits and pieces where surplus to our house build - like the wrong waste bought for plumbing, nails and screws surplus to the build, timber I had cut but was sitting around doing nothing, offcuts of CGI from the build - you know that kind of stuff.

Now we've bought our pH master test kit, bilge pump, solar panel, 2.3kg of redclaw, cubic metre of gravel, 20kg of fish food, 20kg of crayfish food, plumbing hardware and after we buy some fishies, then we will be knocking on $700.

Having said all this, the infrastructure will be there to keep growing fish and food for as long as we want to and if we get around 50kg of live fish in the year and 50kg of food from the GB then I reckon we will have made a profit on it all. A family of 5 (almost 6 sometimes with how much I like Wifey's cooking) doesn't have a small grocery bill

With good planning you should easily be able to supply all your families needs in Lettuce, pak choi , tomato's , herbs, broccoli , cabbage ....., etc etc . With the fish , you need to think what is a realistic amount your family will eat. For my family that is around 5 kilo a week Yes my Mrs and kids LOVE fish.Also when planning fish needs , plan in whole weight/not fillets. A 1 kilo fish is not too big for a normal family meal.
Don't forget your red-claw , they should make a few good meals also.