Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Guppies?? Are you heating the water?? I always thought that guppies are tropical fishes, hence prefer water temperatures of >20degC...

No I am not heating the water, I havnt done so in the aquarium but I guess that has been indoors. The guppies I bought were not in the tropical fish part of the shop and I am pretty sure they had no heating.

Okay... I guess you will know if they can take the cold water after few days...

all 4 guppies still alive. I will have to get a thermometer to check out FT temp.
I thought I had lost 2 but they were just hiding lower in tank.
I drained the water out of the FT this morning and plan to flush GB a couple of times to try and get some more grey out of the water.
I will have to get some shade cloth or something to keep all the crap out of FT. Lots of blossom, and general plant stuff blowing in there.

Unfortunately it looks like your right about the guppies Ivan.
I lost another 2 today.
I think I might get a few commets on the weekend to put in till I can get some silver perch.

Well I think Troutman is doing a run of silver perch to someone in Ellenbrook tomorrow. If you PM him or contact him you might be able to squeeze yourself in for a delivery...

Check out this thread... I think it was Hillsy who is getting some fish tomorrow.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8102&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

Tommorow might be a bit soon, I think I might let the system cycle some more and get some commets, just to get the hang of things.
Would the commets still be ok if I introduced the silver perch in a couple of weeks or would the SPs eat the commets ? or is that what they call fodder fish ?

Nah - the SPs won't hassle the comets to any significant degree, if indeed they bother them at all.

Yes, silver perches and comets will do fine together... The other option is to not use fish but cycle your system the fishless way by using an alternative ammonia source...

If you have not read this yet, do read it and see if you want to approach this instead...
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6809

Thanks fellas,
I read the thread, seems like a lot of testing testing in the fishless cycle.
Where does one buy testing kits from ?
Would be good to get one just to get familiar with all these levels and stuff.
If I get comets and plant a few seedlings, then say get SPs in about 2 -3 weeks would that be ok ?
What about a couple of Koi as well as the comets or would the Koi become to large and hog all the food later on when I get like my second run of eating fish like trout or barra going.
Also can I put seasol in with the comets to help the plants, if so how much. My FT is 1800mm across and about 800mm deep (round tank).
Skip.

You can either buy the kits online at a few places, check out one below. What you really need is a Freshwater Master Test Kit.
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=4787&catID=22

But sometimes after postage, it might be worth just buying from BYAP shop in Jankadot. A short drive and friendly people...



Well yes, you can add comets now and SP in about 2-3 weeks. One thing you need to realise is that it takes about 2 months to fully cycle a system. Adding SP 2-3 weeks later,
your system cycling will still be cycling hence you are still unable to provide full feeding to these SP. So either you get enough comets to get your ammonia level up and then stick with these comets until your system is fully cycled. Or you get the recommended amount of SP for the system upfront. I personally do not see benefit in first stocking with comets then 2-3 weeks later SP, because your SP will still experience both ammonia and nitrite spikes.

Not much experience with kois with SP, trout and barra to comment on kois...

I would say about approximately a capful of seasol for each 500L growbed... Just bear in mind, that you will not get much growth from AP plants while the system is still cycling...

I will head to BYAP to get the test kit.
I can see your point about adding the SPs in a couple of weeks.
Fishless cycle is sounding more positive. I dont want to loose to many more fish.
Any recomendations of ammonia source. I could use my urine but they recon its better to let it sit for a while, 2 -3 weeks from memory from that thread you sent yesterday, I suppose thats not that long in the scheme of things if it takes to months to cycle.
So much to learn, and I really appreciate your help.
Have a great day,
Skip.

Skip, if you are a perfectly healthy person and drink beer, the common advice is to get a six pack, drink and then go for a slash in the tank. Usually once should be sufficient, hence you require the test kit. Ammonia can only be tested after 1-2 days after the event. Once the ammonia is about 2ppm, do not add any more hummonia. Although you might still want to collect some in a bottle and age it. Just in case, your system has cycled but you are still not ready for fish or cannot get fish, you can dose the system with the aged hummonia.

Keep the system running and provide as much as aeration as possible. Air helps with the cycling process.

* Drinking beer is not essential, drinking water will have the same effect *

Cool, I have been on the rum and coke lately but I am partial to a beer so I will grab a 6 pack tommorow and give it a go.
I am planning to go to BYap jandicot on sunday to get test kit and thermometer.
I would like to get some plants in so if i put plants in should I still put the seasol in as well as pee ?

Didn't know the trout man did silvers, trout are still going from winter?????in fact winter is still going