Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everyone, after reading up and seeing lots and lots of videos about aquaponics I decided that I would like to start one soon.

Soon came sooner than expected, as a friend of mine who does it casually gave me one of his old tanks holding approx. 100 gallons....and then his pump broke down and he gave me some of his tilapia. My neighbour in his excitement started bringing lots and lots of fish as well, so at the moment the tank has:

7 Tilapia
8 Kois
Several young guppies (in excess of maybe 30 or 40)
And sucker fish as bottom feeders.

And some others...my excitable neighbour cant seem to help himself and keeps on putting more in the tank.

The setup isnt as elegant as I hoped but its functional to some extent and I hope to upload some pics soon. Some questions however:

I have the system constantly circulating. Water leaves the fish tank, goes to a bucket with some sponge to remove the solids and its pumped up to 3 stryofoam containers which hold the plants. I just decided to use the floating raft, with some lettuce and some chive. I kinda made a mess in setting the heights of the pipes to drain, but in any event, the water in the container drain out continually, and back through the showerhead over the fish tank. The plant contaners remain full, but water drains out. Is this a good idea? I tried to increase the residence time of the water in the tank but I then decided that it might be a good idea to just leave the water level let it adjust itself. Since I am using floating raft, I believe that the roots would still be given ample opportunity to remove the nutrients from the water. How long should water remain in the plan grow beds before it is allowed to drain out?

Secondly is it a good or a bad thing to use sucker fish as bottom cleaners in the fish tank? Its primarily for the purpose of minimizing risk potential as In my view those are quite a few fish for that volume so it would be a good idea to minimize this risk as much as possible. Would removal of solids by a bottom feeder impact negatively on the system in terms of the nutrients available for the plants?

Thirdly, I cant seem to source a water test kit. I am trying to order one however it may take me about a month to get it. Can you suggest DIV/Homes some alternative I can explore? I am especially concerned since I know ammonia levels would increase. I have no real way of investigating what levels are safe etc.

Fourth......is there any way to encourage an accelerated population of the nitrites/nitrate backteria? I just am so worried about the fish being affected in a major way.


I have some others, but I'm loosing the battle against sleep. Any guidnace would be appreciated.

Hi Bourbon and welcome

You are from a great part of the world, Tabago !!! I grew some tobago last year, and YES, it is named from your part of the world.

You shouldn't need sucker fish , cause the kio you have in the system will keep the pump and tank nice and clean, they are a great fish.

Cause you don't have a test unit, please keep feeding the fish to an absolute minimum. Fish can go along time between meals, and this will give the nitrofing bacteria time to properly collinate, in the media your using.

if you can, add extra airation , so if you do have an ammonia, or nitrite spike, the fish might be able to survive it....

Look forward to seeing pictures

Well I sorted out all the leaks...two nights straight I woke up to about 8 inches of water in the fish tank.

System up and running well.

The sucker fish and the koi......hmm....that would be a task to get them out. I may have to set up an alternate tank for them I guess.

I have two bubblers in the grow beds and two shower heads returning water to the fish tank...and set it in such a way that the water hits the surface going two opposite directions....so the water moves around the tank.

The tilapia seem to be mortally afraid of me. Anytime i come near the tank they dart and hide in the pipes I put in. I know they would take some time to get accustomed, so what could I do to help? Wear the same color each time I come to feed them?


Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

An update:

Got two kits that test ammonia and Nitrate last week monday.

Tried them...got 5mg/L with the ammonia....0 mg/L for the nitrate.

Realised from what I was reading that was too high....held off on feeding them. I usually fed them sporadically since I wanted to give the system time to cycle, and some were still getting accustomed to me I guess and werent eating. Also I noticed the tilapia somewhat keeping to themselves cautiously eating when I fed them, the kois near to them..and the guppies moving around quite enthusiastically nibbling on any and everything that entered the tank.

Had the high ammonia for a few days. Still sporadically feeding...not too heavy...trying to be cautious. Also got some algae bloom in the water...so I decided to do a water change.

Did that yesterday...ammonia dropped to 1.5mg/L. Covered the tank completely. Fed them.

Got up this morning...and saw the tank completely devoid of guppies. None. Whatsoever.

I'm guessing the bigger fish decided to help themselves. I actually considered it after the shock wore off that the numbers were not as plentiful as they were when the friend brought them over a period of days so its not like that all happened in one night.

Tested the ammonia...holding about 1.5mg/L.
Nitrate test.....well the test said let it stand for 5 minutes after adding the reagent......which I did.
After about 3 minutes...it looked like it would be 0 mg/L again..but I decided to give it due time..and I got caught up in some things and only remembered it maybe like 45-60 minutes after.

When I came back, the nitrate test gave a color corresponding to about 15mg/L.
Didnt have the time to do the test over yet, I plan to deal with it in the morning.


Questions:
Is it normal for the color to change as to give an erroneous reading if left for a long period of time?

In some of the grow beds (remember I'm doing it floating raft) there are some slimy deposits that are green. I dont think its algae since most of the bed would have been covered by the styrofoam. I'm afraid to scrub it off, since I remember that the good bacteria form on those surfaces, and as such I may be undoing the system's progress thus far. I added some bubble makers to it to help. Should I leave it alone?

I got some sponge I use as a filter/solid removal media. It basically has a plastic-ish backing on one side...which seems to be working really well in my view to remove solids. I say so because I added it yesterday while doing the water change and while the water was still slightly green immediately after..by the time I got home that night the water seemed visibly clearer...and was still clear up to this morning.

Hi Bourbon Welcome to the Forum.
We like lots of pics and have lots of people to help answer questions and give advise.

I think you will need to add a bio filter if your floating beds are styrofoam coolers. The Grow Beds normally filled with a medium act as a filter to take the particles out of the fish tank water as it circulates through the beds. Read the forum especially the system threads of members systems to learn lots about AP. Learn about the nitrogen cycle which creates the food for the plants from the ammonia the fish make.

The slime on the sides of the tank is the Bio Slime and is the good stuff. You don't need to remove it.

Was planning to take some pics today...and noticed a fish died.
So regretfully my first pic would be about that. I'll go and take the others when the rain calms down.




What is it and how can I treat it? I noticed some other fish looking somewhat pale as well...so I'm guessing I'll have to chase them down and move them.

It rained for the better part of the afternoon, so I went out tonight to take the shots...and noticed another fish died.

I'm starting to get really worried...as I mentioned before, about 3 were pale looking. The one from earlier today can be seen in the previous photo. The latest casualty, a black koi was also pale looking..and when I took it out..the eyes were missing. Also...something I've noticed for the past few days, the water tends to be a bit foamy due to the aerator and the water falling in. You would see it in the pics. Still need to construct a bio filter...if someone could give some advice on that I'd be highly thankful. Ammonia level at 1.5 mg/L which I'm guessing is high.








Things a tad messy. Some of the chive were harvested by my father when he was in a rush to cook...and I wasnt home.



And the picture of the latest casualty.

Is the shower head metal?

Nope the shower head is plastic. No metal surfaces anywhere with water except for the mesh cover i put over the tank...but that doesnt come into contact with the water usually....aside from some instances when the water may flow and gush over it.