Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Faye but I have strawberries in the system and want them to keep going. I have a bit of a theory that the goldies will be able to handle worse conditions than the edible fish we want in the AP as they have been selected for many generations to put up with some really horrible conditions in aquariums. That is why I have not put in any SP or catties yet.

I have yet to see if my theory holds true though so its wait and see

At 1ppt, strawberries will be fine.

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Well, I have spent the last week adding SMALL lots of HCl to lower the pH as I was a bit worried that the high pH was slowing the Nitrobacter and keeping the nitrites high. Anyway, I don't know if that is true but now its great.

Readings:
pH - 6.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5.0

Plants are looking good and starting to get a bit of a go on as well. Now to feed the goldies more and organise some SP soon

Built the next rack of GBs today. Another four half drums which will have Afnaan siphons as opposed to the loop siphons on the original rack. Washing the gravel in the GBs at present and will set up the siphons when its clean.

Sore back but a great day

Looking really good Rob. Love the use of the sloping ground

Bit of trouble with the siphons, they were not letting go at the end of the cycle. Fiddled with them for a couple of days with no luck. Today I shoved a hose in each and guess what a whole lot of sand/dirt exploded out the end. Now they are working perfectly again. Looks like its one of the maintenance items for loop siphons which may influence my decision to convert to Afnaan for all beds.

Time now for some extra fish!!

Readings:
pH 7.2
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0

A week after the new fish arrived the readings are:

pH 7.4
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15-20

The extra silver perch are pushing things along a bit but the system is stable with readings like this.

A week of fiddling has finally got the second bank of GBs up and running. They all run Afnaan siphons which drain into a large storm drain pipe then into the FTs. They were really easy to set up and can handle an exceptionally wide range of water input speeds so it was worth the fiddling. They cycle MUCH faster than the loop siphons which will give me another type of system to find crops for. Now have 2 CF, 2 loop siphons, 4 Afnaans. All of these can be changed from siphon to CF either by removing the bell from the Afnaans or by pulling the bleeder pipe out of the water and laying it on top of the gravel for the loops. Really handy for planting small seedlings into CF then change to F&D when they are established.

Readings for this week:
pH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrate 10

Bump.
Hoop house? Plant growth? Toss those last loop siphons into the street?

Hoop house is "starting". Gathering the conduit needed for the job and trying to locate a supplier of the greenhouse film to go over the top.

Plant growth has been OK, not brilliant. Dark green veins in the basil leaves and yellowish between. Iron deficiency so added some iron chelates and its starting to go off but its cooling down here quickly now so the basil is really finished. Brocolli, chinese cabbage, lettuce and spinach are taking off though.

The loop siphons are history. All running on bell siphons now and its all good.

Noticed my Chinese cabbages were a bit on the yellow side so thought I would test the water. pH 6.8 - great, Ammonia and Nitirite both as close to zero as possible and the Nitrates at 5. Maybe I need some more fish to get the nutrients up a bit but the problem now is to find some trout as its getting really cool here overnight now and the water is getting quite cool for small SP.

Suppose its a "good" problem to have

Well the battle of the bower birds was nearly lost. I thought I had them beat with the bird nets but they worked out how to push the nets down and get to the goodies. They have shredded several broccoli and cabbage plants but they will grow back quickly if left alone.

Time to get serious so the boys and I started on the hoop house till the rain forced us inside. Its bird proof but needs a door, the plastic roof to keep the frost off and the over layer of bird net to hold the plastic in place.

Its a start..............

Time for a bit of an update.

Strawberries are going feral, zuchinnis, lettuce, rhubarb, rocket and spinach are powering on, the chllis and capsicum are really starting to grow with small chillis already.

The tomatoes are a total failure actually withering now in the GB while the ones in the dirt garden from the same germination are 12" tall, robust and have small fruit on them already. Bit odd really.

Got a couple of IBCs from my cousin for nix (really good saving there). All cleaned so half of one is going to replace the blue drums as the sump and the other is going to be a FT up above the hoop house so the GBs will be gravity fed from the FT. Once that is complete it will be time for some more IBCs for another system

More photos.

Looking great Rob
Everything looks very healthy.
I had a couple of tomatoes in the ap last year and they didnt do much, but this year they look better. They are nutrient hogs so the bigger fish I have now might keep it up to them, and time will tell