Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

haha wooops, we all make mistakes

drop the salinity to about 3ppt and leave it be,

shading and air as much as possible is the quickest way to rid the algae

I think I scooped out the last cat this morning. The fungus really did them in and I did not help much I guess. Now the others are Blue Gills and I think the salt may get them too. Because of your post I went to check on it. I left one of the pumps unhooked and it was siphoning out the water. It lost a lot of water so am filling up about another 1/3 of the tank again. That should bring down the salt some more. I will check when I go back.
It is down to about 1.006 or so. I am going to do a water test also.
Temp 65
Ph 7.6
Am 0.5
rite less than 0.25
rate less than 5.0

about the same I guess

Just think of all the people you are helping as they read this. Hopefully they won't have the same issue due to their new found knowledge.
It'll get better. Keep pumping.

I had a fungus-ridden Tilapia, and I put it into a hospital tank and gave it antibiotics. This cured the problem. I then kept it in the hospital tank for several weeks with regular water changes. This allowed all the poison to work itself out before putting old Geoffrey back in the AP tank. No harm done..

Important to note that the antibiotics WILL kill all bacteria in the system (good and bad). (Thereby necessitating regular water changes in the hospital tank) NEVER add this to your AP system.

I have been doing a terrible job doing this AP garden so far. Maybe I can just settle down and do it right from now on. I am reading TClynx post on how to do Grow Beds and fish numbers and tank size. To start with right now I have 24 barrels 2x3 feet. That makes 144 square feet of Grow Beds which I will double soon I hope. 288 then. OK How many fish can I put in the tank? I intend to do both Catfish and Blue Gills 50% each. I don't actually know how big Blue Gills get. Catfish are pretty edible at about 2 to 3 lbs or about 1 foot long if I remember right.

The next part is if I did it right 20 - 25 lbs of fish need 130 gallons of water. 1100 divided by 130 equals 8 so 8 times 25 would be 200 for a max lbs of fish. Correct or not?
Any information here would be help full.
I have a 1100 gallon Fish Tank so should be able to handle what ever the beds can support. I just want to know how many is max so I don't over do it.

With 24 barrels you have approximately 4800 litres of filtration. (assumes 44 gallon drums/barrels)

The suggested maximum stocking of fish is 3kg or 6.6lbs (this is harvest size) per 100 litres of filtration. So with 4800 litres of filtration you have a maximum stocking level of 144kg (or 316lbs). If you plan to harvest your fish at 3 lbs then you can stock it with a maximum of 105.

As it is a new system and you have had a few problems thus far I would suggest stocking it with less than 100 fish.

HI Ruport
I have been running my pump since your message and I am wondering how long I should keep it up. The water was white and then it turned a little green and then clear today. I can see the bottom of the tank again.

I removed the metal pump screen. I made a plastic screen to keep the feeder fish out of the pump. I put in a few bait fish and hope for the best. My water test shows very little ammonia and almost no rites or rates. I was afraid the tank would have to be cycled all over again but just maybe it is ok now. Bait fish don't last long but I have a few left.
I can get fingerlings again on the 10th so will try again.

If the water has cleared... and the tests look fine... then you should be right to go...

After I finish my coffee I will go check and if it is still clear I will turn the timer back on.

How long does it take to finish a coffee? Is the water still clear?

I know coffee is very important. It is a staple part of my diet, so much that I needed to halve the amount I was drinking. I was drinking 6 cups a day but now down to 3 with one easy step: doubled the size of my cup.

Yes the water is clear and I changed it to timed cycle again. The plants look terrible so may replace some of them. What the salt did not damage the rain beat to pieces. Yesterday and today are to be sunny so it will start to dry up and maybe they will perk up some.

The water turned greenish again and the little fish are dead again. There is one little bitty minnow left and one of the bait fish. The others all have fought the pump and lost. The plastic mesh screen I made did not do it. This afternoon I checked the water again and found about half of the outlets plugged with fish parts. The last 3 dozen are gone too. I'm gonna put the metal screen back for now.

You know this has made me understand exactly why a sump is used. I will consider putting in a sump tank. Right now I don't have any fish too worry about so I could make changes fairly easy. Well not exactly easy but it could be done. I could get a 300 gallon tank to use for a sump fairly easy. A 60" oblong shape 26" deep for about $220.

Id have to take the tank out of the ground and put the new sump in and raise the tank up a few inches so it would flow out to the beds by a SLO pipe. It would really be easier to just make a screen that would actually work. Wonder where I can get some stainless screen wire?

donone i have used one of the floating net pots as a cover for my pump, just cut a hole in the top for the pipe to go thruogh, and it is working a trest, maybe that could be a option

You already have a sump. Now install a fish tank and covert to CHIFT PIST with a SLO.

What is a floating net pot? I had assumed it was just a plastic net bag like you get oranges or onions in from the store. I don't think it would hold up under 4000 gal/hour flow rate. Got a picture of one?

My water turned green again yesterday and I turned the pump back on full time again. Will go check it in a minute to see what it looks like now. Ill get a water sample also. Ahh the water is clear again. I can still see two fish in there. Will go get more baits today.