Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well I used a 250 litre esky and got 11 mature barras, could have put 20 in there but it would have stressed them a bit more being cramped on the way home,

No floaters this morning so all is good, still got the stress lines but will give them a few days for that to settle

If you purchase larger fish they will stress forever and you will always stress them by having a lack of tank cover and always looking over the tank.
They are just not used to having people disturbing them etc.
Be prepared to cover them and leave them alone.
My mate Hadyn Steyr from Port Lincoln in SA is breeding tuna in captivity and clearly states that stress is the cause of all the disease and problems of fish in captivity.
He is using sound proof and enclosures to attain a survival rate and is being very successful at it.
However for the aquaponics enthusiast fish grown from fingerlings will tolerate far more inspections and almost become pets.
Expect to see fungal growths on your larger fish and deaths related to the stress they will suffer when the kids look over the tank, splash the water etc.
Sorry but thats how it is
Gav

Hi guys, I'm the one that lost the 14 fish in transit. The surviving fish still look stressed out. With the cooler weather, how does one keep the water temp up for barra. I bought a water heater but because of the constant water recycling, obviously it doesn't work in AP.

When you say cover the FT do you mean keep it dark or is laserlight OK?

Theres a few threads on how to make the water hotter, the best Ive read so far is the black poly pipe over the roof or patio, in your case the greenhouse and pump it through that, will increase temperature dramatically, the day temps are pretty good now but it still dips down overnight, you need something over the top to keep the warmth in, also reduce your night time cycling to garden beds as this will cool your water down dramatically, the plants are fine overnight without water, I stop the pumping at 9pm and let it start up again at 7am, with the warmer weather coming I may pump again say 2am during the night but just once. just to make sure the roots stay moist and cool.

As far as how often to pump out tanks for the fish exrement, I have no idea, Ill let the others chime in for that

Based on what eaglerm added about diseases, I guess I should salt my tank to 3ppt as a precaution...

Guys,
Several things I learnt,
Salt every week is a very good idea.
As stated fish grown out from fingerlings tolerate humans looking in all the time and trout see you coming and expect to be fed.
If you buy large fish they are not used to us looking at them as they have not had a lot of exposure to that sort of thing they stress badly and seem to get fungal disease quickly.
I know Joel would disagree but I also am a firm believer in being able to remove your solids from the water.
Steyr is a great believer in clean water or solids removal and proves the idea is sound thinking, how would you like to swim in sewerage all day!!!.
You can do several things here, remove the solids via tank design and still put them through your grow bed or remove them from the system via a solids removal system, ie cyclone etc.
There is a picture of a fibreglass tank (one a page somewhere in the forum) in the US similar to the new Polyethelene one I have sent to BYAP, We have a smaller version on its way also, sloping bottom centre sump drain.
The tank has a centre drain and thats where the pump is, the water quality is superb, the swirl effect runs the water to the centre and all solids are removed and put through the grow beds.
Many of the flat bottom tanks are unable to do this and the excreta builds up accordingly.
The aquaculture facility that has the tank ( In the US) clearly states that this type of tank enables a higher fish density to be run due to its cleaning action.
Common sense I would have thought.
Gav

The small jade perch i got that were kept in a dark place have taken about 5 months to come round now when i go in the glasshouse they are wating for food

Hang on Gav, you should make sure you understand what I think before you try and tell others what I think. This solids debate just seems to be going round and round in circles in numerous different threads here. I have never said that it's good to leave solids sitting in your fish tank.

The best way of dealing with solids sitting on the bottom of your tank.... is not to overfeed...

I have scuz at the bottom of our 3000L tank which has a ribbed base. There was a suggestion to siphon it out with a siphon tube. I know what that is but do you do that?

Sorry to be completely clueless...

I meant.... how do you siphon it out? woops!

Well I just can't wait around and do nothing, so I too got motivated today...

One weird thing was the OTTO battery backup (had 4 batteries in there) did not last the whole duration of 35-40mins... One fish was on its back when I opened the box but not dead... Quickly plug the power in, and they all seemed to be okay after a while... But all every stressed out.... some white like a ghost...

Actually they were white at the Golden Ponds already...

By the way, anyone knows if the OTTO charges the rechargeable batteries??

Yeh mine were the same, from golden ponds pretty stressed already, theyve settled in and a couple of them today have the white fading and the others look the same as when I got them

I used a heater for a few weeks when I first got my barra. I simply put a small hole in a piece of foam and poked the heater through the hole. It floated on top of the tank and rose and fell with the water. The foam didn't get hot. Just make sure the heater can't float under any return pipes

fishrcool, are you still using your heaters now?? what is your pumping cycle??