Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

as only new to the game i have set a ibc system that is approx 3 weeks old and running really good... decided to buy 30 rainbow trout for 600 ltrs.Monday put fish in tested water and everything was 0 except ph which was at 7.6 1 day later fed fish next day ammonia 1.5 so didnt feed tested the next day ammonia 2 again didnt feed next day ph 7.8 ammonia 2.5. on friday did 1/3 water change next day fish all DEAD! please help.....

Hi Troy, bummer... but an example of what can happen in a new uncycled system...

Your fish died from ammonia poisoning, and/or lack of aeration....

I'm assuming that you cut the top of the IBC to make a grow bed... this would have given you about 300L of filtration...

As such you should have only stocked about 10-12 trout initially....

Cycling with fish means that you need to manage ammonia and feed levels daily.... and probably means that you can't feed the fish for about the first week... unless you have a lot more filtration.... and/or do water changes...

Back on the horse mate.... bury the fish... let your system cycle... then look at getting some more fish...

Could I suggest you read through the "info" section... particularly the articles on cycling...

Or cycle if fishlessly like I am doing with my new system. Charlie carp is a good source of ammonia

Yrp... cycle fishlessly.... then "get some more fish"....

thanks for all the tips!! have read heaps of info from this forum and others but obviously missed a few points. I will cycle it for a few more weeks with testing it every couple of days. im not discouraged by fish deaths tho i do feel for the fish but hey i wouldve eaten them when they got bigger... i just would like to see the system up and and running and everything going properly..

any other help, tips, hints or anything else that maybe of help would be greatly appreciated.

Get some feeder fish in there to start it off as the are cheap and can handle crappy water ... I have 300 in under 1000 ltrs and havent put fresh water or have i hooked up to filtration and that has been for over a month... but there is air going into it

You do have plenty of air flow right? That can be another factor that will kill fish very quickly and all of them at once. But ya, fishless cycling sure is easier on the fish .

you need to do what DD says. put in some feeder fish. I cycled mine with 10 feeder fish(gold fish) for 1000lt tank. They did a great job and tough as anything. Once cycled I got silver perch fingerlings. Slow growing but no problems and went well with goldfish

is 10ltr per min air pump satisfactory or do i need a bigger one?
cheers

yeh definately need more air. Thats probably enough for one tadpole

can i ask what sort of air pump people use!!!

Get in touch with RupertofOZ. He will sort you out with the appropriate pump. Aint that right Rupe

Hey troy, have you got some pics?
BTW slow down, it can take a while to cycle. - like 8 weeks+ in winter.
It will happen soon enough and then you are away.
Cheers

Yeah, really need a picture of things to be able to advise...

How much water are you pumping & how often? It's often been said on these boards that all they pumping we do gives plenty of air. The air pumps really just help provide current.