Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

To cycle up your system before getting barra. Look up fishless cycling in a search and you should find plenty of info about it.
My personal method would be to say, pee in it but some people are grossed out by that idea. Anyway, you want to dose the system up to 1 ppm of ammonia (be ware that fresh urine or urea balls take some time to convert to ammonia so be careful it is way easy to overdose and slow the whole process) Then let the system run until you start seeing Nitrite showing up. When ammonia drops you can probably dose again but you don't want to dose much if the nitrite reading is off the chart. Concider it cycled if you can dose to 1 ppm of ammonia and within 24 hours both ammonia and nitrite are back to 0.

Would probably be a good idea to run some water tests before you start so you can know your baseline readings of pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Keep an eye on pH as you go since if the pH drops too low, the bacteria can suffer and crash. 6.5-7.5 seems to be a good range to keep your system at though many of us start with well water and a system pH of 8 but that is usually fine for starting out since the whole process tends to bring the pH down over time. Having some shell grit (like used for laying chickens) on hand to buffer the pH before it falls too far is a good idea, if the pH falls to 6, it will probably take more than just shell grit to bring it back up.

Looking very good!!!!!!! You do nice work

Thanks for the info TCL. I am on tank water here so all my water supply is rain water. I have bore water but it is the colour of strong tea so this is not an option.
I have carried out a few water tests so far and the PH is 7.2 consistantly and all others are a big fat 0
I am starting with the Humonia method with the first dose in tonight (dont tell the wife as she and the kids think it is disgusting)
I will leave it for two days and test again then.

I have a question for those who have run Barra fingerlings before here in Perth. I would like to know what is the minimum conditions needed in water temps to take the fingerlings. I am intending to get them from Freo Tafe so I would have to imagine they are comming from the hatchery that has the water maintained in a specific temp range so I dont want to have my first HSM with a load of stressed fish.

20-30 degrees would be the optimal range... anything below 20 degrees for any extended period of time, would probably see them go belly up...

That tells me I will be waiting much later than September to take delivery of fish unless I go for short term heating
I was thinking the bottom end of Barra's temperature tolerance was around 16 Deg but maybe I have to start the heating questions ?

Another question this time about the green algae in the water. I did a fairly sizable water change on Saturday and then fitted the shadecloth covers to the FT and the ST. I am using fresh rain water and the algae is getting darker by the day. Does it require complete blackout or will this just slowly settle down with time ? You can see the covers in the pic below and these are made using 70% shadecloth.

Algae can settle down over time but I would suggest that near complete blackout for this period as you cycle the system up might make things a little easier. A bit of green on surfaces of the tank is not a big deal but if the tank goes pea soup, then you are likely to have pH fluctuations that are not good and the DO will tend to get way low in the wee hours of the morning.
I keep my tanks fairly dark (covered with black fabric, not just shade cloth) but there are always gaps and sections without cover so the fish get some daylight so they know when it's day and when it's night. Because I kept my tanks really well shaded, I never experienced pea soup though a thin layer of algae grew on anything that was exposed to sun light.

Yep, just because Barra will be available in September, doesn't mean it's a good time to get them. We didn't get them till December last summer.

MDP, I had the same problem with algae. What worked for me... Complete blackout with a tarp. This was with trout in there... Fishes don't need to see light. My water cleared up in about a week. Pump was running 24/7. I still have the tarp over the tank. I will keep it there until my system is fully cycled.

Ivan, you'll need to shade your tank even after cycling.... algae is a resilt of sunlight on high nutrient water...

And you've just started feeding again... imagine how you'll go through summer... feeding more, warmer water, higher nutrients.... if you don't shade your tank...

Granted, once cycled... and your growbeds are planted... you'll be extracting most of the nutrients from the system.... but start harvesting, lowering the nutrient uptake... and "bloom"...

Well I suppose I will keep the tarp on it for a while longer until I find other permanent means of shade. But the tarp is effective though but unsightly.

Thanks for the feed back on the Algae and the water temps guys. I must admit I am a bit deflated now as I busted my behind to get this built prior to September thinking I could just run out and get the Barra simply because they are available. I did not give enough thought or research to the water temp issue

With that little cry out of the way I have started to think about the ways around this

Q1 -If I just continued to fishless cycle though to Dec for example would there still be plenty of fingerlings available and would they still be the same price or has the price risen as they have been grown on ? If the price rises then this may justify me looking at a nursery set up in my shed with a heater.

Q2 - Is it worth trying to source some late season Trout to fill the gap for the next 2 -3 months ?

Q3 - For the plant growth at the moment does everyone recommend a weekly dose of liquid seasol and if this is the case does it interfere with the fishless cycling.

And yes I know the P in AP is supposed to stand for patience but I just want to see fish in there now

1 Should be the same, contact Freo Tafe ask for tony
2 Yes, you will pay more but will be worth it, don't know if troutman has any left you could PM him or EB may know a source, Golden Ponds will have some but may be $5 each buy now, call and find out, but even 10 would be a start, GP are at Mundijong and your not that far from there, some available down this way, but fuel would make it more economical to source closer
3 Seasol is fine but not everything you require, it also makes your water smell after a while, a weekly dose of Humonia would probably be better, but fish better still.
I never use seasol and plants are fine without any additives, may be different when we start the summer veg
In My opinion, someone will have another opinion and you will still be confused

MDP... just fishless cycle.. with seasol to power your plants...

You'll probably be cycled by end of September.... and both your day time temps... and more importantly your tank water temps should probably be up around the 20 degree mark anyway..

Even if you stocked Barra during November... you should be able to get them to eating size by April, which is when your tank temps would probably be dropping down...

Of course you can always eat some on the way through... and the rest at Easter....

Then stock your trout....

Rupe temps in the South West will not support Barra until the end of November, trout will grow til then or mid december