Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So Saturday morning I added in a filter to help clear the water. As you will see in the video and the photos it has cleared up pretty well.









By this evening it was pretty good will most likely turn the filter off in the morning and what ever is left will settle over the next few days.

Hope to put in some Silver Perch later in the week.

Transferred the gold fish last night and they are looking very happy today.

Also added 50l of clay balls from the test system to help get it started. When I did a water test on Friday evening it was showing Nitrate( 2.5) from the the balls I had added.

Now the fun begins!!

Make sure you test for ammonia and nitrites before you add fish, and after...

It will still need to cycle....

Nice filter. Wish I had of seen this idea before I did a complete water change two times to clear mine up

don't worry about the water, in a couple of weeks it will be crystal clear. Just get the nitrogen processed cycled before you put fish in it and by then it should of cleared up ready to take fish.

Looks good.

Regards
Matt

Will test the water again tomorrow evening, but with the 50l of clay from the test system already in there it show be able to deal with the gold fish.

Once I'm happy it's coping with the goldies will add the SP.

Was pretty happy with the filter, cleared it up much faster that I thought it would. Was thinking it would take a few days.

Did water tests today
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0
Ph 7.4

If I read that right, what little ammonia is being produced is being converted to nitrite as it is at 0 and the nitrate is at 5?

Might just cut back on the food a little for the next day or so and keep testing each day.

Here's a short video showing how clear the water is tonight.

Very nice,
I also have a filter ( settling chamber ) and my water is also very clear.

This morning the Goldies aren't looking so happy?
Did my regular water test and it really hasn't changed

Ammonia 0-.25
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.4

The PH is the same as it was in the test system

The fish are all huddled together at the back of the tank with some of them at
a 45˚ tilt. I have gone up and bought a bag of pool salt and added 1kg to my 1000l
to give me 1ppm.

My question is should I go higher?

Theres something called swim bladder disorder I think that makes them float funny like that, I could be wrong though. Its when they get some air into their tummies while trying to eat or something like that.

As long as they're not flashing, i.e. rubbing/scratching themselves against the tank bottom and sides or gasping for air at the top due to no oxygen in the water you should be good.

Hold back on feed for a day or so just to be on the safe side, that and the salt should get everything up and running.

Speaking of salt, I hope you diluted that and din't just chuck the kilo of salt straight into the FT?

Thanks Abdul,

They all look a bit better this morning, have had the air pump running all night just to make sure there is plenty of air in the water.
I diluted the salt in a bucket with some pond water in small batches, ended up adding another 1ppm of salt yesterday afternoon to bring it up to 2ppm.

They seem a bit more active this morning and there are only a couple left that are not quiet up right.

Will hold off on the food till they are all looking better. It's not like they aren't already carrying a bit around the middle being Goldies!

Just put my silver perch delivery off a few days till I have the goldies back on an even keel

Was suggested that I feed them some broken up cooked peas to help them in case they maybe a bit constipated?

Has anyone heard of this remedy?

Will give it a try tomorrow if they are still looking at little ill.

Decal, noticed you do not have a net/mesh over the fish tank, so the goldfishes could be at the back of the tank because they had "visitors" trying to pick them out...

Didn't think of that !

I think it's cause they are feeling a bit under the weather and seem to be staying together as a group. Even in the test system which was open to the world and at ground level they were never this tight.


But wil keep an eye on the local furry friends to see if any of them are visiting?

All back normal today with the Gold Fish.

Stopped feeding them for a few days and on Friday gave them some frozen peas defrosted in the microwave, split them in half out of there skins and put them in the tank. Took awhile them to work out what to do with them but came back a couple of hours later and the peas were all gone.
Also have been running the air pump 24/7.

Since then they started t6o pick and then today they are swimming up to the surface looking for food, so gave them a small amount and it all went in seconds.

To be safe might just keep the food on the low side for another couple of days. It's not like they couldn't loose a couple of mil's from around their waists!

The ammonia has been well below .25 all week with no sign of nitrates, PH has is at 7.4.





The plants have some new shoots coming up and hopefully the warm weather we had today will stay around for awhile and help move things along?

Also planted some carrot seed in the media to see how that goes?

Hoping to get a delivery of Sp's this week?







With the system only having been running for 2 weeks I'm pretty happy with how things are going. Just need some sun to kick the plants along and also the bacteria.