Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What, no fishless cycling?

good job, feel good to get the beds filled? I'll be interested to hear how that media does for you.

Oh, we are fishless cycling... The boys think peeponics is the cat's meow!! Still, with 2200 gallons +/- in the system, it is hard to get the ammonia to register... We have also added several bucket loads of water from the water garden, so it may not take too long to cycle...

CB

System seems to be stable and fairly well balanced as the GBs fill and drain without any major water loss... There are a few leaks in the plumbing, but hoping sediment and waste/stuff will fill those.

Have begun hunting a source for tilapia, even though it is still 2-3 weeks before the system is cycled.

Took a morning temp reading yesterday and the FT was 56º F. This morning it was 58º with a late afternoon reading of 66º. Will read again in the morning as I am trying to figure out how much swing the temp takes through the day as well as get an idea of roughly when I can expect the temp to be tilapia friendly... Considering the water temp was in the upper 30s two weeks ago when I filled the tanks, it has warmed considerably with no heat source beyond the sun and the GH. I think the warm GB media is really helping to raise the temps.. That and only a couple cycles at night while it cycles on the hour during the day.

I started shopping for an air pump today and realized it was going to be a pretty big expense with the size/depth of the FT... So, time to consider alternate solutions. Then it hit me! D'uh! I have an oilLESS (no oil) portable air compressor...



So I glued up an air manifold with a couple tees and a few feet of garden water drip line (a very porous rubber hose). Then I used a faucet to control pressure and assembled it all. The result is a variable system that can bring that tank to a rolling boil. And, the compressor runs five minutes every 20 minutes, or about 15 minutes an hour. I may search out a better long-term solution, but considering it was already on hand and languishing in my shop, this was a cheap solution.



I have been pondering how to introduce a ton of tiny fingerlings to this system without loosing some to the drain system. Also, I was pondering how to have small fish in the system with other much larger fish... then I had an epiphany! A floating net tank within the tank.



Once I had the idea the execution was a pain... Initially I started to hand sew the seams of the net, but besides the fact that the only use I have for a needle is to dig out splinters, it was tedious work... So, today I saw a hobby/craft glue gun! Bingo. That was the solution and the rest was easy besides my two oldest boys clowning around while I worked and getting me burned... In the pic you see the lines where newspaper (to protect the counter) stuck to the glue... I expect it will disolve or be eaten after the net is in the tank.

More next post...

And another pic of the aforementioned short attentionspanned hoodlums... Using the left over pool noodle for personal decor...



And...



They are having a ball with the GH and learning, though at times they clain (falsely...) that I work them too hard!

CB

So peaceful walking in the GH and hearing the water flowing and not having MAJOR work to do... Pondering the next couple steps while I tinker with the current system and wait for it to cycle...

Water temp this a.m. was 63º and by late afternoon it was 73º!! We've been in the upper 40s at night with days in the upper 60s to low 70s this last week. While the GH gets blazing hot, I have intentionally kept the doors closed in an effort to drive water temps up before looking to get tilapia. It is climbing much faster than I thought!!

Won't be long before I roll the sides up and install fans, then i may have to ponder cooling the water... heheheheee...

Enjoying the journey!!

CB

You probably won't have to cool the water for tilapia but the plants may suffer for the heat. Tomatoes don't set fruit if it is too hot by day and doesn't cool off enough at night. If you find the water getting warmer than you like in summer, just run more pump cycles at night instead of during the day.

(By the way, in case you find that tilapia are too difficult to keep warm next winter, catfish can handle very warm water in summer, at least as warm as tilapia can I think, and they can also handle cold water in winter as long as they are not tiny babies for the winter temperatures.)

As to your air pumping. Yea, you will probably want to invest in a high quality air pump that can do the pressure you will need with the deep tank. The air pump might be a bit of an investment but quality should pay off in time on the electric bill.

Water temps continuing to come up slowly. The ph has settled a little and appears to be 7.4. The water clarity has improved considerably. I can just make out the plumbing on the bottom of the tank for the first time since washing the gravel and installing it.

The ph drop may be a function of two things (likely a combination of both...). 1. I added about 100 gallons of 6.6ph rain water today. 2. The dust of Stalite is supposed to have cause a highter ph read, but once settled/out of the system, the Stalite is supposed to be ph neutral... Guessing the ph move is a combined factor of both, but time will tell.

I have one scallion in the barrelponics system that is clearly growing... May soon be time to add a number of plants.

Worked on a bsfl 'pod of my own design today. Detailed pics in the Fish Feed thread titled Black Soldier Fly Nockypodon page 17.

Had a friend over today and we looked the topbar hives over really well. he took some measurements and is buying lumber. I'll help him next week to build and place a hive on his property! He helped me move the one languishing hive to a better/sunnier location. Hopefully those bees can get going now that they'll get an earlier/warmer wake-up call... LOL!

OH!! The major deal today.... Besides picking up the lumber for a 10' x 12' pole shed to put then trash cans, bsfl pods, tiller and tractor under, I also scored seven FREE blue barrels with an invite to come back and get some more early next week... Woohoo!! Guessing this sudden wealth of blue will play heavily into the next step in my GH build....

Good day today!!

CB

Ph continuing to creep lower to about 7.2. Also!! My first good nitrite reading this morning with a slight darkening of the nitrate level... Guessing the fact that we added about 20 gallons of watergarden/pond water over a 6 day period has accelerated the cycling. Still expect it will be another week or so to be fully cycled as bacteria multiply, but we are getting there.

May add some plants today. Definitely adding fish late next week!

Continued fine tuning of flow rates to each bed and tinkering with the future NFT project.

CB

In need some help/verification on my math...

Getting ready for fish and want to salt the system... Also, have had an algal bloom that has raised the ph in 36 hours from 7.2 to 8.4, so am considering a good dose of muriatic acid, so would be interested in input and recommendations...

Salt: System has about 2200 gallons or about 8300 liters. 1ppt is 1kg salt per 1000 liters therefore 8.3kg of salt = 1ppt in system. Guessing I need to be at about 3ppt? So, 3 x 8.3kg = 25kg of salt or about 50-55 lbs of salt?? That seems like an awful lot!!

On the muriatic acid, I know to adjust ph slowly, and I know the tilapia will help a great deal with the algal bloom... That said, if I use it, the instructions on the jug, it states 1/2 gallon will move 10,000 gallons .2 ph. So, 1/2 gallon would move 1,000 gallons 2ph or 2,000 gallons 1 ph. So, a couple 1/4 gallon doses 24 hours apart sound about right? I want the ph a bit lower when I get the fish late this week, then if it drifts back up at least they adjust with it instead of the shock of dumping them in 8.4 water...

Thoughts on salt and acid??

Thanks all.

CB

You only need to salt to 1ppt ... to mitigate the effects of "nitrites"...

Salting to 3ppt, or higher, is used for disease treatment...

Adjusting pH by the use of acid... should only be done in pH increments of 0.2 ... probably no more than 3/week...

I'd suggest you deal with your algael problem firstly... and complete the cycling process...

Personally... I doubt that the algae was responsible for changing your pH so markedly in < 36 hours...

Thanks, Rup.

Salted to 1ppt today as well as added a bunch of plants... Also built a small pole barn structure to house the mower, BSFL bins, tiller and trash cans... Sorry, no pics. Maybe later when I give final shots of the new bsfl collection bin I put under the shed...

CB

Well, added 250 1" to 1.5" tilapia fingerlings today!! Drove down to Travis Hughey's place in Andrews, SC and spent about four hours talking with him and looking at his whole operation. NICE, but I also learned a new level of problem solving and land/space management!! That guy is a wealth of knowledge and fun to talk with.

FYI, for those interested, he ships fingerlings and has blues, niles and something else (can't remember....). You can also pick up with excellent prices.. 1" for 50¢, 2" for 75¢ if I remember. Larger if you want...

Anyway, with a head full of new ideas and things to ponder/think about, we headed home hearing the gentle sloshing of water in the back of the Suburban. (We, as in, my whole family went on the field trip. Very educational and vision expanding for our small farm!!)

I also got some duckweed and water hyacinth (future chicken feed once I get a raft tank set up out doors...). I put the fish in a floating net tank in the big FT and later slipped them a little food. They weren't shy!! With water temps at 65º at night and around 70º in the day, I'm guessing we can get them growing so I can release them into the whole of the tank when they hit 2-3" or so...

Pics of fish (if I can get this algae to slow down!) coming soon. If not, I expect they will clean up the algae when I turn them loose on the whole tank.

CB

Sounds all good CB.

The water hyacinth is a declared noxious weed over here and in many parts of the world. Both it and the duck weed grow rapidly so you should have plenty of chook feed .

My tilapia ate all the roots off the water hyacinths and ate the duckweed whole! Too many critters for the pasture to support....

Yeah, Travis warned that the hyacinth was to be kept clear of any water body other than the intended man-made trough I will be growing it in. The locals deem it noxious, too! Also, he recommended not growing it in a tank where fish will be present as they will indeed eat it instead of letting it grow out. For now I have both in my sump tank and will shortly build a large outdoor pond to grow this stuff in for chook and fish feed.

CB