Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well after scouring this forum many times over I thought I may as well post my own effort at a home made aquaponics set up.
2 IBC's with the top cut off to make the beds, pea gravel in the beds, an old pipe to join the 2 tubs to allow for a bigger pond area, and some tables built out of scrap wood.
Has been cycling about a week, added some plants, then 30 little silver perch and 4 yabbies yesterday.

Welcome Sunyata!

Love what you have done, looks fantastic.

Since you AP system has been only cycling for a week you will need to keep an eye on the ammonia levels.

Have you bought your self a test kit yet?

The Sp's I'm guessing are only small? If so I would keep the food to them at a minimum till your ammonia has spiked and then settled back down. They won't starve just one small feed a day til you are fully cycled.

Be sure to keep sending the photos and keeping us informed of how you are progressing. Any questions just ask, the forum is very generous with it's time and brains trust!

Welcome Sunyata... and nicely done with the system...

Thanks guys
I was just pleased when it all cycled through, getting the water go round was satisfying!
Yeah the SP are only small, thought that way it might help reduce the ammonia spike somewhat, plus having a few plants and some duckweed.
Have the test kit, so far so good, though the Ph is a little on the high side but I gather that is more due to the use of pea gravel?
Cheers

Welcome!!

Looking Great!!! Nice system there you have!!! Good to see yet another backyard on the path to Self Sufficiency!

you will need to Cover up those Tanks, and probably around your growbeds to Prevent an Algae Bloom turning your water too pea soup.

Will be good to watch the progress of the system, and yep some Nice Light Feeding for now!! Supplimenting plants with Seasol is good, although it stains the water and you cant see the fishes

Also Some Chelated Iron into the system would be a good idea, i add 1tsp a week to mine have done for about 5-6 weeks now it cleared up the yellowing and helped with flowering. you can grab this from the Nursery.


your PH will probably hover High until the Nitrofication kicks in... mine took a long time to come down as i used Blue metal and my starting water was 8.5 start with.

Paitents is the only key to PH i tried Vinegar, lemons etc but it would always bounce back up and the plants seemed to suffer more from all the up & downs...
what size are your silvers?? i just put some 65mm ones in

Very nicely done
I would be putting some bracing on those growbed stands though, just to be sure.

The Ammonia needs to spike for the Bacteria to start working properly, unfortunately.
Once you see it starting to head up best to stop feeding all together till you see it fall and it will just like that, high one day down the next. Once that happens you have a cycled system and the bacteria will be working.

As for the PH it will sort it's self out once your system is cycling properly with a full bacteria load.

I'm still fighting a high Ph but it's starting to fall slowly. I have tried all sorts of things to get it to stay down, but have come to the conclusion nature will sort it out eventually.

Patience is something you need a lot with AP!

Good idea Richo!!

Oh the memories of my first stand nearly collapsing on me and killing me

if it wasnt for my Water tank catching it she would have went!!! Not much fun Emptying all the growbeds gravel, plants etc, then spending 3 hours to fix the stand and refill everything.

Just noticed you have a jack russell that looks just like our Jack (I know) and we have a burmese cat named Indie

Nice neat work Spunyata... How did you install the interlinking pipe between the two IBCs, is it just siliconed into the tanks?

Yes one little Jack Russell who think he is a cat, and a Beagle that thinks it's human!



Yeah the crack has opened up the last couple of days, think it definately needs a brace!



If only patience grew on a tree! Cheers for the advice!



Half the silvers are about 60 mm, the other half are 80 mm. Thanks for the tip on the algae, pea soup is never an attractive look! The seasol I added turned it brown for a little while but cleared up after a cycled. Is the chelated iron just a regular gardening section item in a Bunnings?

Yeah, cut a very tight hole in both tanks then siliconed it, took a couple of adjustments to ensure no dripping leaks, the lawn enjoyed the water, when I had to empty the leaky side to fix it up each time! Works a treat now though, the fish like moving from side to side to be in whichever bed the pump is in!

I'd say so in a little plastic packet with a spoon in it

Very Tidy Spunyata.......you may even be able to stick that spindley looking pot plant in there

hmm you spoted that to hey Gnash