Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thats it right there. The gunk is very toxic when it has festered for a while, and if the fish are hungry they will go for it and choke.

The tank temp got up to 22degrees today. I am very worried about tomorrow with 32degrees predicted. I will definitely have to get some ice organised. I am thinking of harvesting half of the fish on sunday.

Heh, half might get self harvested tomorrow about 3pm

Good luck

What is your dewpoint? Could you run a fan to blow air across the water surface and cool things down? Even if air temp is 30degC you might be able to get temps down a lot if your dewpoint is more like 10C.

Water temp at 7am this morning was 21degree. My husband is going to get a bag of ice to add this morning. I am also thinking of getting another air pump to add a bit more air. I know nothing about keeping fish and this may be a silly question but..... do the trout swim around opening and shutting their mouths a lot? Is this a sign they are lacking air. They are not gulping at the surface.

My water results are still not perfect. Ammonia and nitrite both .25. I really don't know how to reduce them. I don't think I am over stocked - 65 trout, 200 - 250grams each in 2000L of water. Feeding rate of just over one cup of food a day. I am pumping 15 min out of each hour and then for a solid hour twice a day. The water looks crystal clear. i also have about 100 yabbies in the system of various sizes. I only feed about a tablespoon once a week. I have a air pump from BYAP shop running with two air stones. I wonder if my problem is not enough air? Any other suggestions?

More air would be great for all. and maybe some salt , for the hek of it. Salt is a brlliant tonic , especially with extra O2...Not sure about the mouth thing, but doesn't sound good, sounds like the fish are fighting to breathe

For that stocking rate you need lots more air for trout

As far as I have read, stocking level is determined by your amount of filtration (ie growbed)... If you have at least 3 BYAP 500L growbed, I think you should be fine... your ammonia and nitrite readings are similar to mine... Although I did not feed the trouts yesterday... apparently you should not feed if temperature hits 22degC and above...

Also growbeds store lots of heat and when the water is moved passed, it becomes a heat exchanger, heating up the water... Do not run your solid hour cycle during the day, but the night for now... I was told about this, so I am not 100% certain.

I would buy another air pump... I have got a 1000L tank and the same air pump, I have just put in another air pump and still think that I can do with another one...

For a 1000 liter tank, I think I would recommend at least 20 liters of air per minute from a pump that can deliver that amount of air at 14 kpa (sorry if the numbers are a little off since I'm converting from imperial measure as those are the rules of thumb I was told.) (I was told you want 1 cubic foot of air per minute at 2 psi for 400 gallons of water.)

I am running an air pump that give 2 cfm at 2 psi because I have lots of water and I'm thinking I perhaps could use another air pump and I'm not even thinking about trout. Even tilapia do better with lots of air though it is said they can survive on very little air. My catfish definitely do better with the extra air running full time.

I have a otto air pump from BYAP with two blue 'stones'. My husband brought a new airator today but after looking at the box it only pumps at 4.5L/min which is totally inadequate. I'll have to find out the rating for the otto air pump .

A lot of us are running air pumps that deliver 90 to 100 litres a minute

Do you know how much the otto delivers? Does 11litres a minute sound about right? On the web site it said that it runs 660litres an hour. I didn't realise that I was so under the appropriate level.

What air pump should I get....where from???? I have no idea about air pumps.

Here try try this they are about $80
http://www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/
then go to air pumps piston or electromagnetic

Obo has just got 1 rupt has 2 i have 2 jim has 1
just to name a few

Yeah "Guppy's" have all the models on special at the moment... you can find the direct links in this post... viewtopic.php?p=206077#p206077

But the Otto is fine in BYAP kits... the smaller 1000L based tanks are only stocked to about 30kg... and there's aeration by growbed return...

The larger 3000L kit systems have about 60+kg of fish... but also have aeration by water return from 4+ growbeds...

I'm running 50+ Silver Perch in a 1000L tanks with three growbeds.... and the Otto.... and I wasn't pumping through the night during winter...

But trout are a high oxygen demand fish...