Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

todays test results.....


four days ago i added some pee and waited to see the results .. two days ago the nitrites were up and the ammonia was 0.25...

so...

and so with a rush of blood to the head.... i got some little guys;..


30 redclaw and 22 silvers... just a start and all i could afford today........

Nice recycling!
Where did you get the redclaws?

Wishing you all the best on your journey!

hey molj..

thanks..

got the red claws from noosa fish farm.... bit of a hike from slovenia..

so far the whole setup has cost about $750ish including pump fish and stones...stones being the most expensive.. most of it has been from the tip or secondhand... and ebay..

hmmmm need some advice or reassurance....please..

i took proud delivery of the reds and some silvers on thursday and placed the in their tanks.... but since then i have not see any evidence of the silvers....

the water in the fish tank is not clear... but has significantly improved since thursday... 3-4 weeks ago when i started the system cycling i didnt have enough water to wash the gravel... so it was a bit murky...(understatment!!)

i have placed food into the tank and waited patiently for the fish to eat... but it sinks after few minutes.. so i have no idea if they are there...

todays tests.... ammonia ..0 nitrites....0 nitrates....10 ph.....8

nothing floating..and all outlets running normally. redclaws happy and all seem well..

any thoughts??????

get a net and scrape the bottom and make sure no uneaten food, as this can poison fish relatively quickly, not a silver expert as we have the luxury of trout but rupe should have something to say, but when checking for food, fish should swim or float to the top, depending what condition they are in your tests seems fine, but watch for an ammonia spike, good sign of something dead.
Red claw look so placid compared to Yabbies

How big were the Silvers "losthippy"... and what size feed are you giving them... and how much??

Personally, I'd advise not feeding fish for a day or two when first introduced into a new tank...

Generally, the new surroundings, and the transport shock ... means they usually don't eat for a day or two anyway...

I might take a week or two before the Silvers "rise" to any feed... until then, they'll probably just wait for it to sink... or until it's dark...

As suggested.... drag the bottom of the tank to check for un-eaten feed....

If you find any evidence... stop feeding them for a couple of days...

hey rupe.

thanks for the reply and thanks nocky..

i havent got a net... but will try to fashion one this week..

the silvers were between 80mm and 120mm.. there was a mixture of sizes.. about 22 of them.. introduced slowly over a couple of hours in the tank...

i have fed them twice over the past 4 days.. about 1/5 a teaspoon of a very fine powder like food from the fish farm i got the fish.. it is the food they have been fed there..

btw... is the ph of 8 ok?? how can it be lowered???

the plants in th gb's are doing groovely...

not a silver expert as we have the luxury of trout


yes... next winter if all goes well... would love to give trout a go... spent many times working along rivers in victoria when younger... feasting off yabbies and trout.. thought redcalw would have been the same.... nudged them a few times to wake them up when i was introducing them to the tank... very docile .... still hope the tast good...

Ok, so you're probably not over feeding them...depending on water temp...

They're probably just getting used to you and their new surroundings...

Would have thought at that size that they're be off a "crumble"... unless it's a #3... and on to a 2mm pellet...

Might help to review this post... viewtopic.php?p=153744#p153744

i increased the amount of food...to two teaspoons a day for the first day... then had tests of...
ammo...0.25...
nitrites..0.25
nitrates... 10

so cut back to 1 teaspoon a day

now
ammo .. 0
nitrites.. 0
nitrates... 10

and this has been constant for the past 2 days..

some silvers have been seen swimming around... but not by me...
found 2 shells of redclaws... so i guess(hope)theyre moulting..

and....

the ph seems to have dropped to 7.6...

i will get a photo of the food, rupe, and see if i have called it right... the fish seller called it "crunch"

The ammo & nitrite spike was probably to be expected ... as you double the feed...

The fact that it was gone two days later, after you dropped the feed back... shows the bacteria were able to ramp up and deal with the extra load fairly quickly...

I'd up the feed to 2 teaspons for a day then feed 1 teaspoon the next... and test the next day... if readings are 0,0,10... or 0.25,0.25,10... then I'd repeat the 2 teaspoons for two days... and retest... cut back if needed...

Until you're able to feed 2 teaspoons consistantly...

so far so good..

all levels have stayed the same..

looking through gb's today and.....





so it seems i have a slight design flaw....

add this to the redclaw i found stuck in the inlet grate of the pump........ it has been a $^%## couple of days....

spoke to my fish man.... and he has the next size up fish for $2... tomorrow!!

it is getting very clear in tanks.. remarkably so.... so i switled the water in the fish tank around and there is still a number of fish left...whew

just my extreme sport fish in the photo....

wow .. what a bummer of a day....

got home from work this morning to hear no water running...
a quick check of the system found that all the growbeds were just under the trigger point of the siphons... and there was not enough water left in the sump to pump back to the fish tank.....and there was no water going into the fishtank......

thankfully... i put a diversion pipe back into the sump, which meant the pump was still moving water and wasnt dry... 1 bucket of water was all that was needed to trigger the siphons and away the cycle went again...

i am getting VERY low on tank water so havent been able to use any to top the tanks up.... a delivery of water is now on the cards....

this afternoon....when i got up.. i had a scrummage through the sump after finding another suicidal redclaw with is head stuck in the pump vents...(metal note...need to dissolve some prozac into the sump...).... i discovered another 7 dead redclaws... these were some small ones or bigger ones moulting or rather half way through moulting... but all were dead...

all tests are the same as the last few days.... ph 7.8. ammonia 0. nitrites... 0 and nitrates 10..

anyone got any advce?????????

wish I did have a quick fix answer... looking through the material I have collected on redclaw ATM... if anything pops up I will let you know Hang in there...