Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys..
long time no see.
Matt, i assume you mean the 29th/28th worshop? sorry but im away on fieldwork....

so here is the new GB all set up, bit of fiddling to make it all work but nevermind.
my system is now a 800L FT (inc. 150L sump) with a total of 650L GB
i have a 3000LPH pump, and run it for 30min on/ 45 off on a conventional flood and drain system

sump drains into FT via a 1 inch pipe into the IBC drain, so no float switches to go wrong
i used peagravel and 60L of spare hydroton for the new GB

heaps of new plants (thanks BYAP )

cheers
Ben

cool,
I like IBC systems
regards
Matt

another one bite(ing) the dust . . .
woke up this morning to one trout not looking so happy, so quarantined himn into a salted esky with some air . . . he's swimming on his side and generally not looking so happy, and has a little bit of a ripped dorsal fin. question is why???

test results this am wrere
amm. .25
rites 0
rates 5
ph 7.2
Temp 10C

what i have done to the tank recently.
doubled gb size (2days ago)
salted to .5ppt
brought ph down from 7.8 to 7.2
addes massive air, now pumping in 800L+ / Hr

ive also just discovered im not feeding them that much, ramped it up a little this am but the checked the amm however this is not and ammonia spike. my system has been sitting on just under .25 for ages, and i just can seem to drop it to absolute 0.

system is now on constant cycle to bring amm down
marron is in isolation in the sump for his possible fin grabbing crimes

all the other fish look happy as
any ideas? possibly just a weak one being bumped around because ttheyre not being fed so much??

penny for your thoughts
Ben

IMO... constantly pumping... wont necessarily bring your ammonia down... indeed I've seen constantly pumped systems that have always recorded a level of ammonia and nitrites....

C1 seems to be the exception to the above...

IMO... you'd be better off going back to a timer based "flood & drain" cycle.... even if you add extra cycles in...

Once the new growbed kicks in... levels should drop.... especailly with the extra aeration....

The ammonia level isn't such as to be a grave cause for concern....

My thoughts exactly ( re ammonia toxicity). Ammonia has dropped from a green .25 to a yellow .25 during the day, putting it back onto cycles for tonight.

The little guy didn't make ut, he was missing a dorsal fin too......

Thanks for the advice
Ben

Don't try to alter your pH too quickly as well..

So i the new gb is alsomst cycled in... ammonia got up to 1.0, so i addaed a spare 1500lph pump to help it all filter. Ammo and rites are now on 0.25 and falling, and im feeding then 4x the amount i was before the new GB went on
i can allmost see the fish on the barbie.. oh and Ph settled on 6.8-7.0

found my marron crawling arounf the backyard yesterday, dog alsmost got him (or is it the other way round) anyway back in the sump with some chickenwire for security!

does anyone else have marron in with fish? hes a big one (about 6-8 inches body length) so i dont want him nipping the trout before i do!
cheers
Ben

Update:
Ammo is now happy on about .15-.2. rites are up again for some reason, got to 0.5 yesterday but i think the cooold weather and stormy days has slowed the bacteria down a little.
I played with my data yesterday, came up with this :
so fish started off small but now growing nice and fat

Ive also shaded the FT with shadecloth an bamboo, it seems to have moderated the temperatures out quite a bit, which is nice was getting up to 20ish and down to 8 isch overnight

about to harvest some bokchoi, 3 and a bit weeks from small seedlings to eating plant . my lettuce is pretty much the same aswell. atm im getting tatsoi plants to grow from seed to eating size in about 4-6 weeks, which is preety fast

today readfings, for those that are interested:
T: 13
PH: 6.7
AMM. .25
Rite: .4
Rate: 10

until next time,
Ben

Nice results mate! What's your current fishstock?!

BT

cheers
14 trout in at the moment. I started with 17 trout, 2 SP.... so havent lost too many for my first system. might be getting some yabbies this arvo, my neighbour is cleaning his pond out and has some small ones in ther

Yabbs and trout will co-habitate just fine. I now have yabbies with my barra fingerlings - if anything, the barra keep the yabbie in line!

you have barra already??? outside?

Yes and no.

I've had some barra in an aquarium since July. The fat lil buggers have put on some mass in the last few months, and seem all too cosy in their 26C environs!

I'm thinking about stocking up with more barra n trout on the weekend...

Still too cold for Barra IMO.... and soon might be too warm for trout.... although you might get three months, which should be enough for plate size...

mmmm i hope so
bluethumb: how big are the yabbies in with you trout?? mine are all anbou 1 inch - the sixe of my pinke big (not inc. claws), theyre in my sump atm but im wondering how small the trout will eat them??
i had blocked the o/flow from the sump to the ft with some foam, but of course that restricted the flow too much and i had a HSM moment with overflowing tanks . .
cheers
ben