Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This is my first aquaponic system , it consists of one 500L fish tank , three 1 sequare meter GBs ,two 5 inches goldfishes , one half a kilo common carp , about 15 lettuces and onions from my cousin garden , and you can see the new plants from seeding the gravel 7 days ago ( they are 2 plants I do not know what are they may be tomato , lettuce , spinach ,swiss chard or cress , as these are the seeds I put in the GBs , you guys may help me with that . I can not wait to see the end results .
You may notice that the water color is greenish , it became so after I put the carp yesterday , before that it was clear and colorless , what do you think the cause of color change .

Best wishes and thank you for the valuable information you are posting in this great forum .
Katib

Welcome Katib!

Green water can happen early in cycling and also can depend on how much sun shines on the water. Blocking light can help. How long has the system been running - is it cycled already?

hi Dave ,
It has been running for 7 days now , so I suppose it is not cycled yet, what do you mean by blocking light .
Best
Katib

Covering up the water to keep the sunlight from lighting it. Algae can be reduced if they aren't getting light on them for energy.

Welcome Kat.

Is that a plywood panel you have in ur tank? Does anyone know if that is safe?

Hi DrLuke ,
Should I remove it ? I need an answer for you question .
thanks
katib

Probably should, is it to separate the fish?

One of those screens that are being used for the fish tank lid might work if that's what you're wanting, if the vinyl doesn't have holes in it so the metal doesn't rust. And if the metal is just steel or aluminum.

You might also want to make sure that the air pump is out of the weather...

I would personally remove it unles someone else says otherwise. You never know what is in the glue they used in the ply.

Yes it is to separate fish , because the carp is big comparing to the gold fishs .
Ok, thanks guys , I will remove it , just in case.But I have another point of view , You know English is not my native language , but from the definition of plywood when I googled it , it consists of many layers attached to each other by glue , this piece of wood is one layer , but may be it is not obvious in the picture , so what do u think , is it still harmful .
Best
Katib

Im not sure. Sorry.

I did consider that it may only be one layer. But I would still find an alternative.

Maybe you could float or hang a plastic tub with holes drilled in it in the fish tank and put the gold fish in that.

Looks like that plywood you were using was a type called Luan which is about 1/8" thick. If you had left it in, it probably would have disintegrated and more than likely would have started to leach out some nasty stuff into your water.

As an alternative, how about a small laundry basket or as Dr Luke suggested, a plastic tub of some sort (with holes) to separate the goldies from the carp. This could be partially submerged in the big fish tank, effectively giving you two grow out spaces for your fish. Same idea you had originally, just a bit safer.

Have any more pictures of your system? Plants growing in a system is always a good sign, and lots of fun too.

What type of weather do you typically get over there?

Hii guys,
I conclude that it is better to remove it , so I will as soon as I get an alternative.
Hello iammr.bill ,
About the weather , it is about 5 degrees centigrade , this is the minimum , max is about 20 degrees .What fruits or fruity vegetables can I grow in this case , I seeded tomato , but I think it did not work .
I will post some other picture soon .
You know , I was not sure that seeding the gravel would result in growth , but fortunately it does , it is not that easy to use the ordinary ways of growing and then transplant the plants to the GBs .
Best
Katib