Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks will have to keep an eye out for that.

Hi guys and girls.

Here are some more pictures. (last pictures were on the 22 june)


Add some produce!!!!


And the green tomatos.

Cool bananas Fodder! Looks good.

Sure does...

I can only dream my system looked that good.

Yeah, those tommies will ripen up eventually... Good to see it coming together for you at last fodder.

da daaaa...well done fodder are you going to let us see the fish too PLEASE ....

Hi Guys and girls,

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Apart from the evaperation everything is going really well. And on that side of things, What would happen to the fish if i covered the tank in black palstic to try and stop the evap?
Would the fish get upset?

Jess,

I would love to take a pic of the fish but i cant! they are very camera shy!
If they are not feeding they sit a the bottom of the pond and i cant get a shot of them.

I would estimate they are 80 to 100mm long now. There are a couple of bolters and a couple of straglers. They are a "finiky" lot When i add water they go off the feed, and some days they just dont want it. I am pretty use to it now. i feed them in the arvo after work around 5pm and somedays they go sick other days not interested.
I really only start to look for floaters if they dont eat two days in a row
PH is holding at 7.6 and they seem happy enough with that. As we are now on the the aquapher water from milstream the PH out of the tap is 7.6 so that is good. we wont be put back on the harding dam untill after the cyclone season at the end of the year. (which is good as the water is a PH of 8.6 out of the tap form there)

All in all the experiment for it to work up here is a succsess, as it has been in Onslow for Jessie. With a couple of execptions.

The heat in summer, fix that with some of those Mist sprays and some better shade protection
The water PH out of the tap., Fix that with a 70L bucket and an airrator, then modify the the PH with acid.
Water evap, have not got this under control yet.

The evaporation I believe is mainly from plants perspiring ...

As for fish feeding..the cooler temps will probably be putting them off some days...they wil pick up as spring and summer comes on

Good for you to have had a go...

I'd opt for shade cloth Fodder - black plastic will block all the light, and while fish don't need a lot of light, they still need to be able tot detect a day/night cycle. 90% shadecloth would definitely slow the evaporation from the FT, but as Jessy said, you will also lose a fair bit through plant transpiration.

Just as an experimant i am filling the tank back up now and i am going to mark the top water level.

Once that is known i can record the evap in MM or CM down from that mark. i know the dia of the tank we can figure out volume and side from teh small loss of the sloped sides of the tank it will be fairly acurate.

I agree that the plant will take up some water but (this is a guess until I get the figures) i am talking 100L litres per week.

But give me another week and i will have the actual figures to play with. Also dont forget we dont get any FREE topup (ie Rain) up here.

Also i just want to make it clear that he tank is always covered with 90% shade cloth and has been for some months. and that did not slow the water loss. there are no leaks in the system.


CH

Ok,

I have put a mark on the tank just near the roll of the lip.
I have filled the tank and let the system drain out.

as of 26/7/2010 the water level was 20mm from that line.

Faye, if you read this could you please chime in with the Dia of the 1000L tank just under the rolled edged at the top? From that i will, hopefully, be able to do the calcs & know how much water i am loosing.
This whole experiment is mainly for the fish health. Everytime i add water the PH changes enough for the fish to go off there feed for a day or so. If i can use this data to find the answer (evap or plants) i can make better decisions.

CH

Hi Fodder.

Just reading your thread about the water loss.

My thought was maybe putting a float valve in to gradually add the water as it evaporated? As this would be done gradually in small amounts it shouldn't (that's Shouldn't with an under-line) have too much effect on the Ph of the system.

You would need to fill the FT then run a cycle to fill the GB this would give you the height of the float, anything below that it would add some more water.

Brett

hi Fodder,
All I know off the top of my head is fishtank diameter is 1.7m, but that would be widest point of the tank, I have not ever measured the inside top I am afraid!

OK, see what your measurements come back with Fodder - I still don't think 100 L/week is excessive for where you are.

Do we know how much Jessy tops up a week ?