Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks all.

Thanks for the labour help Ron, should be ok though.

Monya, i agree fresh system might be best, but it just aint gonna happen by this arvo.

also thanks janet for giving me some added confidence inmy 5-step plan

will report back on progress.

doesn't seem as bad a task at 10am than it sis at 2am besides, i'm "taking one for the team"

Steve

Steve,
Things are going bad to worse.
I had an idea
How about separating the fish and quarantining the good and bad in tanks out of the system(if you have the space)
Pump all the water out,I wouldn`t put it anywhere but down the I/O of the sewage system.
Fill the system up with tap water as its chlorinated and start cycling again(with limited or no aeration)
Leave it going for the days you are away and when you get back add the salt as a make sure,Do another dump when you think the time is right and fill with more straight water, cycle up and go from there.
P.S. if there is anyway to heat the first lot of water do it,even if you dissconect the grow beds for a time so the plants don`t wilt/die.
GOOD LUCK and positive thoughts

Found this...
5. Columnaris

(Flavobacterium columnare)

Columnaris is caused by the gram negative Myxobacteria Flavobacterium columnare. Previous names for this bacterium have included Flavobacterium columnaris, Flexibacter columnaris, Cytophaga columnaris, Chondrocccus columnaris and others. The infection is most commonly and external infection found on the body and/or gills. In some instances a systemic infection is also found. The bacterium is a ubiquitous bacterium and the disease is often associated with stress of the fish.

The clinical presentation of the fish may include shallow erosions of the skin, frayed fins, and eroded gills. Lesions may take on a yellow color; the bacterium is a member of the yellow pigmented bacteria (Flavobacterium).

Histologically, lesions found in the skin and gills are characterized by necrosis. Wet mounts of scrapings of lesions will reveal long flexing rod-shaped bacteria that may aggregate into a characteristic “haystack” which gave rise to the “Columnaris” name.

Diagnosis is often based on gross signs an presence of the characteristic “haystack” aggregations of the bacteria. The bacterium can be cultured, but is usually most successful when either Cytophaga agar or Ordal’s medium are used. The colonies have been described as yellow rhizoid colonies that tightly adhere to the agar.

Treatment/management of this disease includes reduction of stress and application of potassium permanganate or formalin to reduce the number of bacteria associated with external infection. Antibiotic medicated feeds have been used for systemic infections, although there is not an FDA lable for such an application.

Another treatment is Copper Sulfate...

OK, all done!

Drained the tank onto the lemon tree

netted out many many many dead jades that had sunk to the bottom of the tank. FYI i've found that they float for about a fday after death, if you don't see them in this peroid then they snk to the bottom.

Found about 7 very healthy unmarked jades (one was a BIG mamma) and my three original goldies that look like they have been on roids.

put the good jades and goldies in a bucket with an air stone and dosed at 10 to 15 ppt salt for 1 hour, then reduced down to about 5 to 7ppt salt fr another hour.

nuked the tank with 10% bleach solution and scrubbed the algae off the walls while i was at it.

dosed the grow bed with a 10 to 15 ppt solution of salt for 30 minutes.

Drained and repeated grow bed treatment.

refilled the tank and de-chlored the water.

ph is same as quarantine bucket and temp is with in 1.5C

repatriated fish into newly cleaned system and they look happy. i can actually see them! The dark walls due to the film on it made it impossible to see them before.

re-connected grow bed, didn't flush with normal tap water as i thought i'd done enough damage to the bac population with out further harrasing them with chlorine.

A mate will be looking after everything while i'm away, and has promised me that he'll cover the tank with some gal. I'd like my tank to look as clear as monyas

sigh, now do i really feel like driving 882 kms

ok, c ya to all (until i find an internet cafe in syd )

Try to put it behind you Steve and have a great and Happy New Year

Steve, sorry to read about your problems, have a good trip

***time to make a new years resolution****

Hi Steve,
Disaster Recovery is looking good so far. Be sure to have your mate feed lightly and check water quality until you know what damage you've done to the bacteria.

You know, if you bermed the earth a little higher around the IBC, it would insulate the water when the air temps drop. You probably also lose a lot of heat through the grow bed. If you can insulate the grow bed and the piping to/from it, that would help, too. Another thought would be to shut down the water circulation over night if it's going to be cold. I've seen aquarium stores float bubble wrap on the top of the water for insulation. Of course, that cuts down on oxygen exchange, but it's an idea. Maybe suspend it from the top edges of the IBC instead... All ideas for you to contemplate to prevent such a stressful drop in temps. No fun!

I dont think he can - by cutting the top off it is not as rigid as it normally would be - so the dirt would push inwards more - although the earth would help insulate and store heat for the colder days...



Ive seen pool owners do the same - and to cut down on the level of evaporation from their pools


Be positive - you are bound to see SOME fires on the way!

Sorry to read the problems you have had mate - do the 882 KM and deal with it when you get back!

Yep, heat loss through evaporation is probably the bigger of the two - which is why ponds are generally colder than their environment. The best way to control that is some sort of greenhouse or glazed covering with reduced air exchange. Having the tank out in the open is also going to have a high radiative loss at night.

Gee, a bloke goes away for a few days and look what happens whilst he's gone. Looks like you pretty much nutted it out Steve, anyway so here is hoping that all your actions work ok.

Janet: yep, been meaning to "back fill" a little, but have been waiting on putting some planks around the sides of the IBC, i found that the sides collapsed in due to both the cutting away of the "lid" of the IBC and the fact that there is very little water pressure at the top.

From my observations the magority of my heat exchange is from my growbed. If you remember i had a small cont. flow system with a mini green house over the ibc earlier on in winter, then kept the minigreenhouse on when i converted to cont. flow bath tub, then to its present incarnation. The steel bathtub being flooded and drained every 5 mins acts a big heat exchanger. good for warming the tank up in the morning. Have seriously considered turning bed off at night, but will have to set up bubblers again.

No doubt bubble wrap over the surface of the water would cut out heat loss, especially if it was lined with foil, but then my O2 / CO2 transfer would go to the shit

Have also been considering "boxing" around the stand for the growbed, that would make a huge difference imo.

All in all, there hasn't really been a problem in the last 4 - 5 moths or so, but the christmas week was a freak show of winter weather (yes, even for melbourne) hence the WILD tank variation.

Thanks for all the inputs, much appreciated, and esp. to trout man who pointed me in the right direction with the SAP link. Identifying life forms is not my forte, gimme a name and i'll spring into action with a plan

I'm happy that its at least cronicled on the forum now for newbies. Might even make it a sticky.

Steve

BTW, trip was fine, last 260 kms were a bit of a drag, but got in at 2:30am, wonke my mate and then kept him up until nearly 5am

Had a good albeit reasonably tame NYE, watching the 9pm and 12am fireworks from his balcony about 2 KMS as the crow flies from the harbour bridge............mmmmmmmm fireworks.............

Have spent much time doing NOTHING, which is good. Have had a serious case of forum withdrawls. Thank god for the asian conveniece store in military road that has net access AND is open on NYD

Steve

Good to hear you are having a good one drive home safely